December 13, 2005

Making the Biomedical Connection

  — NC State and UNC–CH join forces to meet the challenges of a cutting-edge discipline

Dr. Nagle is the founding department head for the newly created Department of Biomedical Engineering. (Photo:Rober Winstead)

Twenty years ago it was the combination of engineering and medicine in the Research Triangle that attracted Dr. Troy Nagle to the area. He had recently completed his medical degree and was searching for an environment that would support his combined interest in engineering and medicine. UNC–Chapel Hill’s graduate biomedical engineering curriculum and NC State’s strong engineering college made North Carolina the perfect place for Nagle’s research. In January 1984 he came to UNC–CH as a visiting professor and found the Research Triangle area very much to his liking. In August of that year he accepted a permanent appointment to the NC State faculty.

Twenty years later, after working with his colleagues to establish a department of biomedical engineering, Nagle, professor of electrical and computer engineering at NC State and biomedical engineering at NC State and UNC–CH, was named founding head of the joint Department of Biomedical Engineering at NC State and UNC–CH in 2004.

“The synergy of the College of Engineering at NC State and the School of Medicine at UNC–CH creates an environment in which researchers can draw from various fields of expertise to develop new approaches to finding solutions to medical and health issues,” says Nagle. “The cooperation among the faculties has already produced new processes and new tools that will benefit everyone.”

Nagle points out that while the department is still in its infancy, its reputation is growing as a leader in biomedical research in North Carolina and across the nation. The new department has attracted talented new faculty to the NC State campus. For example, Dr. Glenn Walker, assistant professor of biomedical engineering, who joined the faculty in 2004, is an expert in microfluidics and has developed lab-on-a-chip technology that can run multiple toxicity assays simultaneously on a single one-inch-square chip. Dr. Elizabeth Loboa, assistant professor of biomedical engineering, who joined the faculty in 2003, has recently announced a breakthrough discovery in human mesenchymal stem cell (hMSC) research and is collaborating with doctors at UNC–CH to find ways to use hMSCs to grow bone tissue. Dr. David Lalush, assistant professor of biomedical engineering, also joined the department in 2003 and collaborates with the UNC–CH Biomedical Research Imaging Center on microcomputed tomographic imaging for small animals.

The department also draws on the expertise of existing engineering faculty at NC State. Dr. Mohamed Bourham, professor of nuclear engineering, and Dr. Marion McCord, associate professor of textile engineering, chemistry and science and biomedical engineering, have collaborated to develop antimicrobial fabrics, and Dr. Greg Buckner, associate professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering, has developed new tools to improve thoracic surgery. Dr. Eddie Grant, professor of electrical and computer engineering and biomedical engineering and director of the Center for Robotics and Intelligent Machines, is developing a system that will automate the cell micro-injection process. Dr. Ola Harrysson, assistant professor of industrial engineering, is working with Wake Med to improve surgical techniques using rapid prototyping, and Nagle collaborates with Dr. Jerry Cuomo, Distinguished University Research Professor of Materials Science and Engineering, and others to develop biosensors.

In addition, the NC State researchers collaborate with researchers and doctors from the UNC–CH School of Medicine. For example, Walker and Lalush are assisting Dr. Rudy Juliano, professor of pharmacology at UNC–CH, in applying nanotechnology to cancer research. Loboa is improving orthopedic treatments for cartilage repair with Dr. Dirschl, professor and chair of the Department of Orthopedics at UNC–CH, and Lalush is also assisting Dr. Etta Pisano, professor of radiology at UNC–CH, in establishing core imaging facilities on the NC State and UNC–CH campuses.

“The unique partnership between the two universities gives NC State’s engineers and Chapel Hill’s medical researchers an easy conduit for working together to find novel approaches to meet medical challenges and to advance biomedical knowledge in the 21^st century,” says Nagle. “This department will benefit us all.”

— weston —

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