Grant from UMass President’s Fund will help College  researchers build on bioengineering strengths
 
A UMass President’s 2006 Science and Technology Initiatives Fund grant totaling $150,000 will make it possible for the College of Engineering to build on its research strengths in biomaterials, cell preservation and rehabilitation engineering and expand into areas including tissue engineering and implantable devices.

Dr. Alex Fowler of the Department of Mechanical Engineering said that the grant will enable the College to expand on collaborations that already exist between UMass Dartmouth faculty members and researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital, Tufts University, UMass Lowell and other institutions as well as industry. In addition, he said the grant would support creation of a “virtual engineering center,” that would tap into the bio-medical talents at Brown University, University of Rhode Island and other regional hospitals.

“To have an expert in every area is impossible so we want to reach out more broadly and bring the researchers in New England more closely together,” Fowler said. “It’s a great opportunity to grow.”

The collaborations would put UMass Dartmouth in a stronger position to seek substantial federal grant funding for projects. The university currently has a small, but successful PhD program in biomedical engineering and biotechnology as part of an intercampus, interdisciplinary program. “This (award) will help us to gain the credibility that is necessary when applying for large national grants,” Fowler said.

In addition, the funding would allow junior faculty members to work with researchers at other institutions and be exposed to their knowledge and physical resources. Fowler said that two faculty members will be chosen each summer for the collaborations over the next few years. “It is important for young faculty to work in labs in other environments and see the way our collaborators approach their high level research,” he said. “The best research is done by interdisciplinary groups.  With teams, each person brings unique talents to the forefront.”

In addition, faculty members would mentor undergraduate and graduate students as they pursue research in the booming bio-engineering fields. “Nothing builds collaboration like supervising a student and getting to know what he/she is interested in,” he said.

Graduate students would also be hired to create the “virtual” aspects of the proposed center such as web design of the PhD program site, Fowler said. Eventually, the goal is to build a physical center on campus.

The other members of the UMass Dartmouth project team include Dr. Paul Calvert, chairman of the Department of Materials and Textiles Engineering; and Dr. Sankha Bhowmick, mechanical engineering; Dr. Peter Hart, biology; Dr. Howard Michel, electrical engineering; and Dr. Steven Warner, materials and textiles engineering.

The grant has made it possible for UMass Dartmouth to host a regional bioengineering and biotechnology conference on Friday, February 9 and Saturday, February 10.  The conference begins at 9 a.m. on Friday and concludes at 3 p.m. on Saturday.

The event, free to all members of the academic community and open to the public, will be held at Woodlands Commons with parking available in lot 7. Online registration is required.

Speakers include:

• Dr. David Kaplan, professor and chair of Tufts University’s department of biomedical engineering and director of the Tissue Engineering Resource Center;
• Dr. Mehmet Toner, professor of surgery at Harvard Medical School and director of the NHI BioMEMS Resource Center at Massachusetts General Hospital;
• Dr. Buddy Ratner, professor of bioengineering at the University of Washington;
• Dr. James Iatridis, associate professor of mechanical engineering at the University of Vermont;
• Dr. James Marks, professor of anesthesia and pharmaceutical chemistry a the University of California San Francisco; and
• Dr. Arthur Coury, vice president, biomaterials research at Genzyme Corporation.

The conference is sponsored by Chancellor Jean MacCormack’s Building Bridges Fund, the UMass President’s Science and Technology Initiative Fund and the UMass Dartmouth biomedical and biotechnology program.