NYSTAR was happy to see that you recently were awarded the 2005 Rita Schaffer Young Investigator Award from the Biomedical Engineering Society. What does winning this award mean for you?
I have been involved with the Biomedical Engineering Society since I was a graduate student, and it is always gratifying to be recognized by one's peers. The highlight for me was the chance to give a plenary lecture at the society's annual meeting in Baltimore MD. It was nice to tell a larger group about what my lab is doing, and I think it was good exposure for Rensselaer and for what is going on in New York State. I never met Rita Schaffer, but it is clear she was a remarkable person. She was Executive Director of the Society when she died and she left her estate to the Society to help students.
Why did you pick biomedical engineering as a focus of interest?
I got interested in biomedical engineering as an undergraduate, when I realized that you didn't have to be a physician or nurse to contribute to impact human health. Engineers have important skill sets that can be applied as well to medicine as anything else. The addition of biology as an underlying science in the field just made it all the more fascinating to me.
Describe an average day for you at RPI.
To me, one of the attractive things about being a faculty member is that there is a lot of variety in what I do. Right now, an average day consists mainly of preparing for class in a new undergraduate course I am developing and spending time writing a grant proposal on one of my new projects. Of course, I still meet with my graduate students both in the hall and during scheduled meetings, go to seminars on campus, advise undergraduates, and I have various other administrative duties as well. But next month, when my grant proposal has been submitted, I will probably spend more time on writing papers and focusing on ongoing research projects. Also, there are scientific conferences that I travel to, which serves to break up any routine that has a chance to form. I like the fact that my schedule varies day to day, week to week and semester to semester.
Please describe your top three scientific accomplishments.
Currently I am very enthusiastic about two new projects that are coming out of my lab. One is the project that NYSTAR funded. It's a collaboration with Dr. Pulickel Ajayan in Rensselaer's Department of Materials Science & Engineering. We are making collagen protein matrices that incorporate carbon nanotubes and living cells with the aim of creating electrically conductive biopolymers and tissues. We came up with what I think is a novel idea, and so far the project has been progressing nicely. The other new project deals with directing the differentiation and function of bone precursor cells using what we call "defined microenvironments". We are basically creating 3D niches of proteins around cells, in order to control their function. Our approach is fairly unique, because we are trying to use native proteins in this work, as opposed to modified synthetic polymers, which others have tried. I work with Dr. George Plopper in Rensselaer's biology department on this project, and I think it has many potential applications. Of course, I am still excited about what is really my lab's main focus, which is vascular biology and tissue engineering. But that project is more established and we are working in more of an incremental fashion - but it is still a way to move forward.
Why you feel this research is or will become useful?
Biology in general is advancing at such a rapid pace that I think Engineering has some catching up to do. We are learning a lot about how biological systems work, but we need to be able to apply that knowledge to improving human health. My work is partly aimed at getting a better understanding of some biological processes, but it is more about applying what we know to come up with better treatments for disease. That is how I hope we contribute.
What's going on right now in your research laboratory that you'd most like to share?
There is lots of activity going on right now. I have only four PhD students but they are all up and running on their projects and are generating good data. In addition, this semester I have five undergraduate students doing undergraduate research projects in my laboratory. Each of them is directly mentored by one of the graduate students, and I think this is a great learning experience for both mentor and mentee. Plus our undergraduates are excellent students and I am usually very pleased with the progress they make on their projects. Undergraduate research opportunities are emphasized at Rensselaer, and I think it really helps students decide what they want to do. Scientifically, I am probably the most pleased with the way the projects are converging on a common theme: the understanding and application of cell-extracellular matrix interactions in biomedical engineering. I Iike the fact that I have three very different projects that all share a common underlying principle, and that I think my
lab is well suited to contributing to the field.
Where do you see your research going as you continue on in your career?
That is hard to predict. I have found that one of the most enjoyable parts of my job is starting completely new projects. I hope to continue to be able to do this, so who knows where that will lead. My lab focuses on how cells interact with the extracellular matrix. This is a very broad field, which is good because we now have some strengths in this area and there are many paths we can follow.
Who are your key research and development partners?
As I mentioned, I have several close collaborators at Rensselaer, including Dr. George Plopper in Biology, Dr. Pulickel Ajayan in Materials Science and Engineering, and Dr. Badri Roysam in Electrical Engineering. I also work with people regionally, including Dr. Hal Singer at Albany Medical College, who is an expert in the vascular cell type that I study. I have really been happy with the way researchers in the Capital Region are willing to help a newcomer. Before we had some of the newer facilities at Rensselaer, I used equipment at several regional institutions with no hassle. Bill Samsonoff at the Wadsworth Center in Albany was particularly helpful in getting some very nice high resolution electron microscopy images. I am continuing to expand my collaborations, and two researchers at the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York City are participating in the grant proposal I am currently working on.
What challenges do you and your team encounter in research and development?
We work on pretty hard problems, for example understanding and treating atherosclerosis, and the systems we use to study them are complex and include living cells. This makes our research a challenge, and keeps us in awe of nature. Recreating even the simplest tissue is immensely difficult, but there are a lot of good people working in the field and we are making progress.
You were awarded a Watson grant on the basis of your work applying biomaterials and nanotechnology to build a cardiac "patch" for damaged/diseased tissues. How has the Watson award money impacted your research?
The NYSTAR award was what got that project off the ground, and allowed me to put a PhD student to work on it. We are trying to develop electrically conductive collagen, which I think could have several interesting applications. Our first focus is on creating engineered cardiac tissue, which is a good example of electrically conductive tissue, but there are other possible applications as well. As I said, I think the project has high potential, and I am putting together some grant proposals to get it funded further. Also, I have been in touch with several other researchers at Rensselaer and we are forming a team to put forth a more comprehensive effort on this technology.
The Watson Program is designed to help early career researchers in the life sciences who demonstrate a willingness and ability to develop research into economic development opportunities in the State. What challenges have you faced in identifying commercial opportunities for your research?
I have submitted two invention disclosures on technology from my laboratory since I arrived at Rensselaer. Our Office of Technology Commercialization is very diligent about evaluating and then acting on intellectual property. In one case they determined that the technology was probably already covered by existing IP, although there may still be room for new IP in that area, so we are still evaluating that case. In the other case, which is in fact the technology that NYSTAR is funding, we think we have a very novel idea and have filed a provisional patent. However, translating that IP into commercially relevant licenses or concrete product is still a challenge. I am hopeful that we will move forward to get a full patent on the technology and then develop it some more in house.
Did you like science as a child?
I've always liked science, but was not completely enthralled with the field as a child. My friends and I did have a "chemistry lab" in the basement, but mainly we just burnt things.
As a child, what did you dream of becoming?
I'm not sure I had a single dream job. I remember wanting to be a pilot, and later an architect. My father is a professor of economics at Queen's University in Canada, so obviously an appreciation of the academic lifestyle must have rubbed off on me at some point. I have worked in industry in research and development, and I liked that, but for now I am happy teaching and doing research.
Why did you become a scientist?
I consider myself to be partly a scientist, but mainly an engineer. My undergraduate training is as a chemical engineer, and I followed my older sister's footsteps along that path. When I was an undergraduate at the University of Toronto I had the opportunity to summer research in bioengineering in the lab of Dr. Michael Sefton. I really enjoyed it, and have been doing it ever since. I did have a short stint in the chemical process industry designing chemical plants, but realized quickly that I did not want to do that for the rest of my life.
What do you like to do in your free time?
I wish I had more free time, but what I do have I mostly spend with my family. I am a recreational runner and cyclist, so I do that when I can. I am also active on my town's Trails Advisory Committee, with the aim of creating more trails to walk, run and bike on.
How do you keep up with the daily progress made in the field of molecular biotechnology?
There is a lot of information being generated in this field all the time. The only journals I look at every issue of are Science and the Annals of Biomedical Engineering, because I get hard copies of those. I also get the Table of Contents of several other journals sent to me by Email. But I find I learn the most when I write a new grant proposal, because there is usually a period where I will immerse myself in the topic and become as expert as I can before I start writing. I consider that a benefit of my job. Also, one of the classes I teach uses very current primary scientific literature as a teaching tool, so that is a fun way to learn and teach at the same time.
What changes do you anticipate seeing in your chosen field of research during the next 20 years?
Again, hard to predict because science and technology are advancing so fast. Cell-based therapies and engineered tissues are having a hard time making a commercial impact at the moment because they are so complex and have all sorts of unresolved regulatory, legal and ethical issues. But there is a lot of research in the area and I am a believer that these technologies will make it and will dramatically change health care.
What advice would you give someone interested in learning more about organic chemistry?
There are a lot of new biomedical engineering departments all over the country and the world, and many have new websites with a lot of information about the field. I would start by surfing the web to read some of the information on these sites and others, to get a flavor of what the field is all about. A particularly good source of information is the Biomedical Engineering Society website, which also has a FAQ area about biomedical engineering careers. It is a very broad field, so I would also try to figure out what sub-part I am most interested in. As an undergraduate, I would seek out the opportunity to do some bioengineering research to see if I like it or not, and to learn more about the field in general.
Could you please name some of your most recent publications?
Our lab has just published two new manuscripts. The full citations are:
MacDonald RA, Laurenzi BF, Vishwanathan G, Ajayan PM, Stegemann JP, "Collagen-Carbon Nanotube Composite Materials as Scaffolds in Tissue Engineering", Journal of Biomedical Materials Research A, 74(3), pp. 489-496, 2005.
Batorsky A, Liao J, Lund AW, Plopper GE and Stegemann JP, "Encapsulation of Adult Human Mesenchymal Stem Cells within Collagen-Agarose Microenvironments", Biotechnology and Bioengineering, 92(4):492-500, 2005.
Also, I recently published a review article with one of my PhD students and my PhD advisor:
Stegemann JP, Hong H, Nerem RM, "Mechanical, Biochemical and Extracellular Matrix Effects on Vascular Smooth Muscle Cells" (Review), Journal of Applied Physiology, 98(6), pp. 2321-2327, 2005.
What keeps you up at night?
Mostly my kids, who are three and six years old and still like to jump into bed with Mom and Dad occasionally. I'm a pretty good sleeper, but sometimes when I wake up at night I do find myself thinking about research and what grant application is coming up next. Or I think about when I am going to find time to mow the lawn, or how we will get the kitchen remodeled by the holidays. I should probably be more worried about world peace and the environment, but I guess I leave the big issues for the daytime.
Do you have any advice for those considering a career in biomedical engineering
It is a challenging field, but that is what makes it exciting to me. Engineers have always contributed to improving health care, but the growth of biomedical engineering as a field has really made that aspect of engineering more evident and accessible. If you think you are interested, you should try to get some exposure as an undergraduate, for example by doing bioengineering research. In general, I tell the undergraduates I advise to make the most of their college years to try out different fields and see what hooks them.
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