Message from the Chair

Welcome to the Fall 2024 newsletter for the USC Viterbi Alfred E. Mann Department of Biomedical Engineering.

The Alfred E. Mann Charities and Alfred E. Mann Foundation's historic $35 million gift to biomedical engineering at USC continues to support research excellence, the recruitment of talented faculty and the strengthening of exciting new research collaborations.

As part of this mission, we are building stronger research ties with the Keck School of Medicine of USC. We are fortifying our cross-school research with our new Mann Pilot Grant Initiatives, to foster enduring interdisciplinary collaborations for future medical breakthroughs. We are also establishing a physical footprint for biomedical engineering on the Health Sciences Campus via the BME Core Space — a new space that will be dedicated to biomedical engineering, with integrated laboratory, office and research facilities.

Our annual Grodins Keynote Lecture was held this year at the USC Health Sciences Campus in collaboration with Keck School of Medicine and the USC Norris Cancer Center. Our featured speaker was Director of the Center for Cell Engineering at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, Michel Sadelain — an international pioneer in human cell engineering and cell therapy to treat cancer and hereditary blood disorders.

The BME department recently opened our new Innovation Space in the basement of the Denney Research Center. The facility provides our students with access to state-of-the-art equipment and expertise from faculty such as Gerald Loeb — leaders in medical device development. We hope the space will be an essential incubator for the next generation of med-tech pioneers.

Our department was also home to 2024 USC valedictorian, Asna Tabassum, a testament to the high-caliber of our biomedical engineering graduates. Tabassum co-founded a student group that distributed medical supplies to areas of need around the world, including Ukraine, Turkey and Syria after the 2023 earthquake. She was also the director of projects for Los Angeles Community Impact, aiding children's hospitals and immigrants in Los Angeles.

We are excited to continue forging a pipeline from research and innovation to real-world patient applications of our life-changing technologies. We hope you enjoy these recent highlights featuring our outstanding faculty and talented students.

Peter Yingxiao Wang

Department Chair, Alfred E. Mann Department of Biomedical Engineering

Dwight C. and Hildagarde E. Baum Chair in Biomedical Engineering and Professor of Biomedical Engineering and Molecular Microbiology & Immunology