The Virginia Tech / Wake Forest University

Last Revised June8, 2006

The Virginia Tech - Wake Forest University

School of Biomedical Engineering and Sciences

Brian J Love

VT/WFU School of Biomedical Engineering and Sciences

Work address:

Dept of Materials Science and Engineering (M/C 0286)

Blacksburg, VA 24061

Short Summary:

The core purpose of the program is to address create a viable home for significant biomedical research without having to create the infrastructure necessary to establish either a separate college of medicine or college of engineering at the respective campuses. This linkage offers the ability to create an umbrella organization that facilitates increasingly seamless interaction between campuses to address both the educational and research components. Health oriented research continues to be seen as a growth area for many researchers, and the ability to harness these resources in a grouped way is an enhancement for both Virginia Tech and Wake Forest.

The distinguishing factors of operation:

Integrated interaction between campuses in terms of video classrooms, joint faculty meetings, and a burgeoning seed grant program tied between the campuses. The most unique attribute for our program is the inclusion of a College of Veterinary Medicine allowing SBES to be able to translate research from the bench through animal studies to the clinic. Graduate students in SBES also participate in clinical rotation as part of the educational experience during their matriculation.

What were the institutional barriers to creating the program and how has that been dealt with.

The obvious issues of space and oversight were the expected problems. Proximity could be a problem, but the institutions have been supportive in facilitating interactions between campuses. Between institutions, resolving how a public school in one state would organize with a private school in another state. As a result, there are differences in hiring practices for faculty and staff, support for graduate students, and institutional expectations in terms of promotion and tenure. There was even a discussion of what this new diploma distributed by the two schools would look like. Institutional barriers at Virginia Tech included how the school would operate seamlessly between existing departments on campus, and the inevitable issue who gets credit for advising students, teaching classes, and bringing in research dollars.

Status of the Program: Significant increases in funding have been seen over the last three years, although larger group grants have not been successful. There will need to be a focus on more targeted center based proposals and that may require a crisper determination of how we can organize SBES faculty into facilitated groups. We’ve identified three main areas, but those are too broad to warrant extensive center based support at the current moment. At least four new direct or affiliated faculty are scheduled to arrive in August 2006, and we hope to maintain the momentum that has already given us some prestige and visibility.
The Virginia Tech - Wake Forest University

School of Biomedical Engineering and Sciences

Strategic Plan: 2005-2010

Elaine P. Scott (Acting Director) and Pete Santago (Associate Director)

Vision

The Virginia Tech – Wake Forest University School of Biomedical Engineering and Sciences (SBES) will be a leader in biomedical engineering (BME) and related sciences through innovative academic programs and research collaborations. Accordingly, we aim to become one of the top ten BME academic programs in the United States, obtain international recognition for our research centers, become a major contributor toward economic development within the region, and provide a catalyst for broader initiatives between Virginia Tech (VT) and Wake Forest University (WFU). To achieve these goals, we will seek to augment our faculty in strategic areas. We will expect these new faculty members to provide a significant increase in extramural funding and graduate student support, but we recognize that to do so, they will require sufficient space and infrastructure. In our pursuit of this vision, SBES will be a key contributor as VT and WFU continue their advancement as top-tier research intuitions.

Rationale

Top-tier research institutions invariably have strong biomedical and engineering components. Therefore, SBES was formed to bring together the strengths and assets of the Virginia Tech College of Engineering, the Wake Forest University School of Medicine (WFUSM), and the Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine (VMRCVM) through the development of a joint academic program. As the efforts are directed at fostering research collaborations, the academic program is focused at the graduate level. Our strategy with regard to increasing our faculty is to build upon our strengths in an effort to (1) secure international prominence in several key research areas and (2) pursue selected new research opportunities in potential growth areas.

Current Strengths and Proposed Growth

Current Strengths and Research Collaborations

Currently, our greatest strengths in BME research and academics include biomechanics, tissue engineering, imaging, and medical physics. Research activities in these areas are growing rapidly; for example, BME-related research expenditures have grown nearly 500 percent at VT alone over the past 5 years, and collaborative efforts between VT and WFU have increased dramatically in recent years. Table 1 provides a summary of these collaborations. We believe other collaborations exist that have not yet been identified, and numerous projects currently based at either VT or WFU offer potential for collaboration.

Table 1: Current and developing collaborations
Area / Collaboration
Biodefense / ·  Steve Mizel (WFUSM) and BSL3 Facility (VMRCVM)
-  NIH Program Project
·  Kevin High (WFUSM) and Gerhardt Schurig (CVM)
-  NIH: Brucella, Aging and Role of IL-17 in Host Defense
Cancer / ·  Pilot projects funded by both Radiation Oncology and VMRCVM
Tissue Engineering / ·  BME Faculty key players on several NIH submissions
·  Proposals submitted for ~ $17 million (direct cost) over 5 years
·  Vascular grafts, scaffolds, and nanomaterials
Minimally Invasive or Noninvasive Tissue Characterization / ·  Pepper Center and BME (NIH funds)
·  Aging muscle characterization with ultrasound (NIH)
·  Fiber-optic biopsy
Scoliosis / ·  Jeff Shilt (WFUSM) and Harry Dankowitz (VT ESM)
-  2nd-year and industry funding promising
CT Colonography
/ ·  Pete Santago (WFUSM) and Chris Wyatt (VT ECE)
-  NIH funded and new submission at NIH
Lung Trauma
/ ·  Mark Payne (WFUSM Pediatrics) and Joel Stitzel (WFUSM BME, CIB)
-  NIH submission
Active Imaging with MRI / ·  Bob Kraft (WFUSM) and Chris Wyatt (VT ECE)
-  NIH submission
Trauma, Intensive Care, and Bioinformatics / ·  SIMON: Informatics with Surgery and BME
·  VT-WFU Center for Injury Biomechanics
Drug Delivery / ·  Localized drug activation (WFIRM and BME)
·  Transdermal drug delivery (WFIRM and BME)
Wireless Lab Monitoring and Devices / ·  Sam Deadwyler (WFUSM) and Al Wicks (VT ME)
·  DOD and possible industry funding
Materials / ·  Bruce Rubin (WFUSM) and Brian Love (VT MSE)
-  Characterization of Mucus as a Biopolymer
Automotive / ·  NHTSA CIREN
·  Ford
·  Autoliv France
Multi-scale Modeling / ·  T.M. Murali (VT CS) and Jacquelyn Fetrow (WFU CS/Physics)
·  NSF/NIGMS submission
Modeling of Redox Signaling Networks by Integrating Algebraic, Experimental, and Statistical Approaches / ·  J. Fetrow (WFU Physics), Reinhard Schneider, Pedro Mendes, and Vladimir Shulaev (VT). Submitted: $400,000 to DMS-NSF/NIGMS for Mathematical Biology Initiative
Coenzyme A-linked Redox Control in Bacillus anthracis / ·  Al Claiborne (WFUSM),PI, David Popham (VT) co-I
–  NIH funded.
·  Homeland security fellowship to graduate student
Active-site Profiles of Flavoprotein Disulfide Reductases / ·  Al Claiborne (WFUSM), PI, Joel Gillespie (VT/VBI)
–  NIH funded.

Program and Faculty: Proposed Growth

Our proposed growth will build on our current strengths and at the same time will allow pursuit of selected new opportunities. Although considerable expertise is available throughout VT and WFU in biomechanics, tissue engineering, imaging, and medical physics, the demand to expand SBES into new areas of opportunity, particularly neuroengineering, bioinformatics and computational biology, bionanotechnology, and bioinstrumentation/biosensors, is considerable. To accommodate this growth, we propose adding 20 primary and core faculty members within the next five years – 15 at VT and five at WFU. Figure 1 and Table 2 indicate the growth in each area. Faculty growth is proposed in strategic areas. For example, the additional positions in applied biomechanics would be focused on spine studies, and the faculty involved would be expected to interact with the new neuroengineering and neuroscience faculty at WFU. In addition, the growth in tissue engineering will be directed towards collaborations with the Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine, the cardiovascular group, the Center for Injury Biomechanics, the neurosciences team, or a combination of these.

Another excellent opportunity for growth is in the Northern Virginia Engineering (NVE) division of the College of Engineering at Virginia Tech. The NVE could provide a gateway for SBES to the national capital region, and provide opportunities for both training and research programs. Expanding the faculty at NVE in key areas would provide the essential links to VT and WFU to facilitate these efforts.

Table 2. Existing primary/core faculty and proposed growth
Existing / Proposed / Total
Area / VT / WFU / VT / WFU / VT+WFU
Biomechanics / 10 / 3 / 5 / 1 / 19
Cardiovascular / 3 / 1 / 2 / 0 / 6
Applied / 4 / 1 / 2 / 1 / 8
Injury / 3 / 1 / 1 / 0 / 5
Imaging / 1 / 5 / 3 / 1 / 10
Tissue Engineering* / 4 / 7 / 5 / 1 / 17
Neuroengineering / 1 / 1 / 1 / 3
Bioinstrumentation / 1 / 1 / 0 / 2
Bioinformatics / 1 / 1
Medical Physics **
Bionanotechnology
Total / 17 / 15 / 15 / 5 / 52

*The tissue engineering faculty includes seven members from the Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine.

**Medical Physics is focused in the Department of Radiation Oncology, and new faculty members specific to that area would typically be hired into that department. However, the Medical Physics track is highly dependent upon the imaging faculty, whose members are hired by BME.

In addition to these technical strengths and areas for new opportunities, some emerging areas represent applications that capitalize on the strengths of VT and WFU, in engineering as well as other areas. Three that have spontaneously arisen and for which we recommend continued support are cancer, biodefense, and aging.

New faculty members in these areas will be expected to develop substantial research programs in support of the goals of SBES. These new research expenditures will provide funding for additional students in the BME program. Support of these activities will place new demands on space, the academic program, and the institutional infrastructure, as outlined in the following sections.

Increases in Research Funding

The Virginia Tech Center for Biomedical Engineering (VT-CBME) was established in 1998, the WFU-CBME in 2001, and SBES was officially established in 2002. In this short time, research funding for BME areas at Virginia Tech has grown substantially (465%). Given the collaborations already established (Table 1), even greater growth can be anticipated with the arrival of new faculty and students.

Table 3: BME research funding increase (total)
Fiscal Year / VT
1999 / $434,244
2000 / $529,506
2001 / $686,039
2002 / $1,218,426
2003 / $1,416,032
2004 / $2,010,848

Table 4 shows the expected growth in research funding, direct and indirect, attributable to the additional new faculty members. The following assumptions are held: (1) $100,000 in funding the first year hired, (2) an average of $300,000 per year per faculty member after 5 years, and (3) hiring four new faculty members per year starting in 2006. Currently, $300,000 is the level used for VT faculty members, who may also have a higher teaching load than those on the WFU campus. By comparison, the BME program at the University of Washington, which has a top-tier BME program with a large research effort, states an average of $368,000. We can expect that SBES faculty members with a substantial research effort, particularly those with a need for wet-lab research, will easily exceed the $300,000 level.

Table 4: Expected increase in research funding attributable to new SBES faculty
Year / No. of New Faculty / Increase in Research Funding
2006 / 4 / $400,000
2007 / 8 / $1,000,000
2008 / 12 / $1,800,000
2009 / 16 / $2,800,000
2010 / 20 / $4,000,000
2011 / 20 / $4,800,000
2012 / 20 / $5,400,000
2013 / 20 / $6,000,000

Proposed Seed Grant Program

Although much progress has been made to initiate collaborations between the two institutions, more work needs to be done. We propose to initiate a seed grant program modeled after two very successful activities at similar BME joint programs – namely the Georgia Tech – Emory BME and the UT Austin – UTHSC - Houston programs. A key component is that each seed grant would require funded participation from both universities. Funding for the grants would be provided by both VT and WFU. A minimum of four seed grants would be awarded each year on a competitive basis. Each will be required to submit a joint external proposal by the end of the grant period to be eligible for continue funding (up to one additional year). Funding would be provided to minimally support a graduate student to conduct pilot studies for the external proposal.

Student Growth

Historically, the BME program has placed students with researchers in diverse departments (including clinical departments) such as Pediatrics, Orthopaedics, Physics, and Radiation Oncology to pursue their research. We believe it is consistent with our mission and the interdisciplinary nature of modern research to provide engineering expertise for projects that traditionally have not had such an opportunity. Therefore, student growth and support are critically important. Although the BME program at WFUSM has focused on Ph.D. students in the past, SBES provides opportunities for M.S. students, who often complete theses that prove valuable for proof-of-concept projects or develop prototype instrumentation (e.g., the development of springs for infant cranioplasty in conjunction with the Department of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery.

Table 5 presents predicted student body growth for both the BME degree program and the BME option program, as projected in spring 2002. Two different growth scenarios are presented. These projections are based on the assumption that approximately one third of incoming students will seek the option program. A further assumption was that growth would level out after Year 5 with approximately 85 students enrolled in the combined BME programs. These projections do not, however, take into account the addition of 20 new faculty members as outlined above. Current student enrollments (34 degree-seeking students and 27 option students) exceed the targeted range for Year 2 of the program. The first graduate of the program received an M.S. degree in summer 2004.