FACULTY NEWS
| Cross-disciplinary
research yields big dividends
“There’s a
lot of cross- pollination going on and that’s productive
for us,” said Brian Renk, director of licensing for the
Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation,
in a Dec. 20 Wisconsin State Journal story about UW-Madison’s
top-10 national ranking for royalties and other license income
from patents developed by university scientists. He said one trend
is the upsurge in patentable ideas from crossdisciplinary research
areas such as BME that combine engineering and medicine. The university
placed seventh out of 156 leading research institutions, ranked
eighth in the number of U.S. patent applications filed (204),
fifth in patents issued (87), sixth in invention disclosures (308),
and third in new license deals signed last year (156).
|
Associate Professor David
Beebe and Assistant Professor Caroline Alexander of the McArdle
Cancer Center recently received funding through the Department of Defense
Breast Cancer Research Program (BCRP). This three-year award focuses
on developing cellular-scale technology to allow the study of progenitor
cell regulation.
Beebe also has received a prestigious H.I. Romnes
Faculty Fellowship. Funded by the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation
in memory of the late WARF trustee H.I. Romnes, the award recognizes
exceptional younger faculty members in the intermediate stage of their
career and provides $50,000 WARF funding over five years to support
their research.
In addition, he is an associate editor of the Journal of Biomechanical Engineering.
The Whitaker Foundation has awarded Assistant Professor
Naomi
Chesler a three-year, $238,139 young investigator grant to study
the mechanics and biomechanics of vascular restructuring related to
the rare, deadly disease primary pulmonary hypertension. She is collaborating
with Wisconsin Distinguished Professor Rod
Lakes and Comparative Biosciences Professor Emeritus Inge Keith.
An invited participant at the Wisconsin Economic Summit
IV, held in Milwaukee Oct. 27-28, Lakes was part of a panel on partnerships
to link cutting-edge research with economic development. Topics discussed
included research of interest to industry and benefits to industry,
the state economy, and the University of Wisconsin System.
Professor Charles
Mistretta was elected to the American Institute for Medical and
Biological Engineering College of Fellows. The honor recognizes his
many distinguished contributions to the field as well as his demonstrated
interest, concern and involvement with critical issues affecting medical
and biological engineering.
Assistant Professor Nimmi
Ramanujam has received a $379,941 grant from the National Institute
of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering. The grant will fund a two-year
project to design a novel optical sensor based on near-infrared diffuse
optical spectroscopy as an adjunct diagnostic modality to image-guided
breast needle biopsy.
John Wiley & Sons Inc. has published “Bioinstrumentation,”
a new book by Professor Emeritus John
Webster that addresses measurement methods in medicine and biology.
He wrote the book based on BME 310, “Bioinstrumentation,”
a core course in the BME curriculum that he developed. His approach
introduces students to measurements, covers the necessary electronics,
and then builds from small to big measurements on molecules, cells,
organs and the body. It includes homework problems, references for further
study, and a website with more educational resources.
Webster also is editor of the recently published book,
“Electrical Measurement, Signal Processing, and Displays,”
printed by CRC Press of Boca Raton, Florida.
