Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Events for March
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Seminar in Biomedical Engineering
Mon, Mar 02, 2015 @ 12:30 PM - 01:50 PM
Alfred E. Mann Department of Biomedical Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Adriana Nicholson, BME PhD Candidate, Medical Device Development Facility (Loeb Lab)
Talk Title: Electronics Design and In Vivo Evaluation of a Wirelessly Rechargeable Fetal Micropacemaker
Abstract: A miniaturized, self-contained pacemaker that could be implanted with a minimally invasive technique would dramatically improve the survival rate for fetuses that develop hydrops fetalis as a result of congenital heart block. We are currently validating a device that we developed to address this clinical need. Preclinical studies are underway to demonstrate that the device can be implanted via a minimally invasive approach, can induce effective contractions of the heart muscle with an adequate safety factor, and can successfully operate for the required device lifetime of three months using the previously-developed closed loop transcutaneous recharging system. I will present our progress in realizing the implant system and a method that we developed to evaluate the quality of each implantation in real time.
Host: Stanley Yamashiro
Location: OHE 122
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Mischalgrace Diasanta
This event is open to all eligible individuals. USC Viterbi operates all of its activities consistent with the University's Notice of Non-Discrimination. Eligibility is not determined based on race, sex, ethnicity, sexual orientation, or any other prohibited factor. -
Seminar in Biomedical Engineering
Mon, Mar 09, 2015 @ 12:30 PM - 01:50 PM
Alfred E. Mann Department of Biomedical Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Albert Keung, PhD, NIH-NRSA Postdoctoral Fellow, MIT(IMES)-Boston University(BME), Boston, MA.
Talk Title: Synthetic Chromatin Biology
Abstract: The genomes of eukaryotic organisms including yeast, plants, and mammals are packaged into chromatin, a constellation of proteins and RNA physically layered on top of the polymeric genomic DNA. Chromatinâs rich structure and intimate association with the genome drives highly sophisticated gene expression programs and is relevant in diverse cellular processes from yeast metabolism to cancer to stem cell differentiation. Due to the hundreds of chromatin components and their functional diversity and complexity, there remain many questions and hypotheses surrounding the fundamental mechanisms of chromatin regulation. Furthermore, we are just beginning to reveal and quantitatively understand the potential gene regulatory behaviors chromatin confers to eukaryotic cells beyond gene activation and repression. In this talk, I will discuss how systems-scale synthetic biology approaches can help address fundamental questions about chromatin regulation, reveal complex gene regulation behaviors, and advance our ability to treat diverse disease states. I will describe a library of 223 synthetic proteins that site-specifically controls chromatin states in the yeast, S. cerevisiae. Recruitment of these synthetic chromatin regulators to custom genetic reporters reveals diverse regulatory behaviors including: 1) two-input logic; 2) long-range regulation; 3) asymmetric spatial regulation; and 4) gene expression memory. Through gene ontology clustering analysis, this synthetic system also provides insights into the protein functions driving these behaviors and can be used to address fundamental hypotheses in chromatin biology. Just as over 15 years ago synthetic biology built a conceptual and experimental framework around the manipulation of DNA sequences, new systems to control and harness chromatin will deepen our understanding of eukaryotic gene regulation and provide a powerful layer of cellular regulation for biomedical and biotechnological applications
Biography: Dr. Keung is a postdoctoral fellow at MIT and Boston University. His doctoral work focused on extracellular biophysical cues and their effects on stem cell differentiation and neurogenesis. Given the importance of chromatin in these processes, and its ubiquitous roles in eukaryotic gene regulation, Dr. Keung became broadly interested in engineering synthetic approaches to manipulate and harness chromatin and other epigenetic sources of cellular information, with the ultimate goals of advancing biological research, human health, and biotechnology.
Host: Stanley Yamashiro
Location: OHE 122
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Mischalgrace Diasanta
This event is open to all eligible individuals. USC Viterbi operates all of its activities consistent with the University's Notice of Non-Discrimination. Eligibility is not determined based on race, sex, ethnicity, sexual orientation, or any other prohibited factor. -
Seminar in Biomedical Engineering
Mon, Mar 16, 2015 @ 12:30 PM - 01:50 PM
Alfred E. Mann Department of Biomedical Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Talk Title: NO CLASS (SPRING BREAK)
Host: Stanley Yamashiro
Location: OHE 122
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Mischalgrace Diasanta
This event is open to all eligible individuals. USC Viterbi operates all of its activities consistent with the University's Notice of Non-Discrimination. Eligibility is not determined based on race, sex, ethnicity, sexual orientation, or any other prohibited factor. -
Seminar in Biomedical Engineering
Mon, Mar 23, 2015 @ 12:30 PM - 01:50 PM
Alfred E. Mann Department of Biomedical Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Xuefeng Wang, PhD, Postdoctoral Research Associate, Institute of Genomic BIology & Department of Physics University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Talk Title: CANCELLED
Abstract: tba
Host: Stanley Yamashiro
Location: OHE 122
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Mischalgrace Diasanta
This event is open to all eligible individuals. USC Viterbi operates all of its activities consistent with the University's Notice of Non-Discrimination. Eligibility is not determined based on race, sex, ethnicity, sexual orientation, or any other prohibited factor. -
USC PSOC Seminar Series - Dr. Min Yu
Fri, Mar 27, 2015 @ 11:45 AM - 01:00 PM
Alfred E. Mann Department of Biomedical Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Dr. Min Yu, MD/PhD, USC - Keck School of Medicine
Talk Title: Circulating tumor cells as liquid biopsies for metastasis
Abstract: Circulating tumor cells (CTCs), shed from primary and metastatic tumors into blood stream, contain potential rare cancer stem cells or metastasis-initiating cells. We have analyzed characteristics of CTCs in both mouse cancer models and human cancer patients. Previously, we have discovered an important WNT2-TAK1 pathway in promoting pancreatic cancer metastasis via enhanced resistance to anoikis, and demonstrated evidence of epithelial mesenchymal transition (EMT) in CTCs isolated from breast cancer patients. We have recently developed in vitro culture of CTCs, enabling in depth analysis of their molecular properties using next-generation sequencing and pilot drug sensitivity testing. In several CTC lines, inoculation of 20,000 cells into immunodeficient mice was sufficient for tumorigenesis. Thus, patient-derived CTC lines allow detailed interrogation of cancer stem cell properties at single cell level and its derived clonal populations, potentially contributing to the development of targeted therapies against the metastasis initiating cancer stem cells.
Host: USC PSOC - Dr. Mitchell Gross
Location: Clinical Science Center (CSC) - Harkness Auditorium, 2nd Floor
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Rosa Rangel
This event is open to all eligible individuals. USC Viterbi operates all of its activities consistent with the University's Notice of Non-Discrimination. Eligibility is not determined based on race, sex, ethnicity, sexual orientation, or any other prohibited factor. -
Seminar in Biomedical Engineering
Mon, Mar 30, 2015 @ 12:30 PM - 01:50 PM
Alfred E. Mann Department of Biomedical Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Andrew Laine, PhD, Professor of Biomedical Engineering, Chair of Biomedical Engineering (Columbia University)
Talk Title: QUANTITATIVE IMAGING INFORMATICS IN COST EFFECTIVE PET IMAGING AND CLASSIFICATION OF LUNG DISEASEâ
Abstract: âQUANTITATIVE IMAGING INFORMATICS IN
COST EFFECTIVE PET IMAGING AND
CLASSIFICATION OF LUNG DISEASEâ
Andrew F. Laine, D.Sc.
Percy K. and Vida L.W. Hudson Professor of Biomedical Engineering
Professor, Department of Radiology (Physcis)
Chair, Department of Biomedical Engineering
Columbia University, New York, NY
USA
This talk presents a novel method for emphysema quantification, based on parametric modeling of intensity distributions in the lung and a hidden Markov measure field model to segment emphysematous regions. The framework adapts to the characteristics of an image to ensure a robust quantification of emphysema under varying CT imaging protocols and differences in parenchymal intensity distributions due to factors such as inspiration level. Compared to standard approaches, the present model involves a larger number of parameters, most of which can be estimated from data, to handle the variability encountered in lung CT scans. The method was used to quantify emphysema on a cohort of 87 subjects, with repeated CT scans acquired over a time period of 8 years using different imaging protocols. The scans were acquired approximately annually, and the data set included a total of 365 scans. The results show that the emphysema estimates produced by the proposed method have very high intra-subject correlation values. By reducing sensitivity to changes in imaging protocol, the method provides a more robust estimate than standard approaches. In addition, the generated emphysema delineations promise great advantages for regional analysis of emphysema extent and progression, possibly advancing disease subtyping, including COPD.
An important tool for studying brain disorders is positron emission tomography (PET), a nuclear imaging technology that allows for the in vivo functional characterization and quantification of blood flow, metabolism, protein distribution, and drug occupancy using radioactively tagged probes (tracers). Full quantification of PET images requires invasive arterial input function (AIF) measurement through online arterial blood sampling for the duration of the scan (1-2 hours). The AIF is used to correct images by accounting for the tracer bioavailability, which depends on an individual's physiological capacity for clearance, distribution and metabolism of the tracer. However, AIF measurement is invasive, risky, time consuming, uncomfortable for patients, and costly. Perhaps most importantly, it is impractical at the point-of-care and therefore limits clinical utility of PET. We believe an integrative multi-modal approach is possible via the amount of personalized information about the physiological and biochemical makeup of individuals available in their electronic health record (EHR). This talk will outline a novel approach to combine EHR and dynamic PET imaging data in an optimization framework based on simulated annealing to non-invasively estimate the AIF. Techniques that will be outlined are applicable across imaging modalities, organs and diseases, such as functional imaging of prostate cancer images where increasingly more complex tracers are utilized for assessment and require AIF measurement.
Biography: Andrew F. Laine, D.Sc.
BIO-SKETCH
Andrew F. Laine received his D.Sc. degree from Washington University (St. Louis) School of Engineering and Applied Science in Computer Science, in 1989 and BS degree from Cornell University (Ithaca, NY). He was a Professor in the Department of Computer and Information Sciences and Engineering at the University of Florida (Gainesville, FL) from 1990-1997. He joined the Department of Biomedical Engineering in 1997 and served as Vice Chair of the Department of Biomedical Engineering at Columbia University since 2003 - 2011. He is currently Chair of the Department of Biomedical Engineering and Director of the Heffner Biomedical Imaging at Columbia University and the Percy K. and Vida L. W. Hudson Professor of Biomedical Engineering and Professor of Radiology (Physics). He is a Fellow of IEEE and AIMBE, and he is currently the President of IEEE EMBS (Engineering in Biology and Medicine Society).
Professor Laine is a leader in medical imaging, image analysis and signal processing, computational biology, and biometrics research. He was the first to apply multi-resolution representations for feature analysis of digital mammography and cardiac ultrasound. He pioneered work on medical imaging that he first introduced in 1992 using nonlinear processing techniques of wavelet representations for contrast enhancement. He currently analyzes real-time video 3-D ultrasounds of the heart in an effort to better understand and treat heart disease. He is developing software that will measure the strain on the muscles of the heart in real-time 3-D and localize infarcted or ischemic tissue that could be salvaged by intervention, thus recognizing at an early stage what tissue is damaged or at risk. Director of the Heffner Biomedical Imaging Laboratory at Columbia Engineering, Laine holds two patents related to 3-D processing of ultrasound, has authored more than 300 peer-reviewed papers, and has graduated more than 25 doctoral students in the field of medical image analysis.
Host: Stanley Yamashiro
Location: OHE 122
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Mischalgrace Diasanta
This event is open to all eligible individuals. USC Viterbi operates all of its activities consistent with the University's Notice of Non-Discrimination. Eligibility is not determined based on race, sex, ethnicity, sexual orientation, or any other prohibited factor.
