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 Mankind
is currently experiencing a revolution in our understanding of biological
processes, from those occurring in "simple" bacteria to those occurring
in human beings. Like other scientific revolutions of the past, rapid scientific
advances lead to rapid development of engineering disciplines to assist
in the understanding and application of this new knowledge. We are seeing
this take place today in the development of the discipline of "bioengineering."
Bioengineering is a broad term and includes the application of engineering
principles to biological processes.
My
research is in the area of bioengineering. I have current interest/projects
in the broad areas of cell culture, ranging from the study of human stem
and cancer cells to industrially relevant cells. I also have interest in
the emerging area of functional genomics, especially as it is related to
cell culture, cell separation, and cancer cells.
One
specific project involves the ability to identify and separate cells based
on specific immunological markers. In collaboration with a colleague at
the Cleveland Clinic Foundation, we have developed three new, patented
immunomagnetic instruments. One of these instruments is an analytical device,
while the other two are separation instruments. All three of these instruments
have a large number of applications as indicated by the research support
that includes the National Cancer Institute, the National Science Foundation,
the Whitaker Foundation, and a private corporation. Some of these applications
include: human stem cell separation for bone marrow transplants, isolation/separation
of rare cancer cells circulating in human blood, and identification and
separation of genetically engineered cells with specific phenotypes. Besides
studying the engineering principles of this separation approach, exciting
fundamental and applied biological questions are being addressed with respect
to these isolated cells using the latest molecular techniques.
Another
research area involves the development of better fundamental understanding
and scale-up criteria for bioprocesses using animal cells. While large-scale
animal cell culture has become quite common, a number of important questions/issues
remain unresolved. For example, what is the optimum hydrodynamic environment
for a suspended or anchorage-dependent cell? What is the mechanism of action,
from a molecular point of view, of surface active agents in cell culture
medium?
Finally,
my research group is exploring collaborations with systems research faculty
to develop approaches to understand the great wealth of genetic information
which is rapidly becoming available. This research will have specific applications
with respect to the cancer cell separation projects as well as more general
interest. |
