Attendees
S. Chien, R. Cosan, J. Onopchenko, D. Cuplin, G. Schmid-Schönbein, D. Gough, T. Matusov, M. Mazzoni, A. Paau, J. Penhune, S. Flaim, L. Phillips, I. Tyus, W. Butler, R. Bailey, A. Barrow, M. Konno, R. Lieber, M. Juravic.

Approval of Minutes from 05/04/00 meeting
Approved as submitted.

Graduate Training Presentation at Advanced Tissue Sciences Summer 2001
Mark Juravic, Bioengineering graduate student, gave a presentation on his Graduate Internship Training at Advanced Tissue Sciences, Inc. (ATS) during summer 2001. Mark first spoke about the Master of Engineering Graduate Training Program in general. The program helps bridge the gap between industry and the university and develops student industry desires. The advantages of the UCSD program are: large industry presence in San Diego and strength of UCSD Bioengineering Department.

Mark further discussed the benefits of the program for students and industry. The benefits from the program for the student are evident. They gain superior knowledge in a particular field of study, obtain valuable industry experience, earn a course credit, and work for a stipend. As for the industry, it gets quality students to work on a specific project. The program also helps the company recruit future employees and serves as a good public relations tool. The stipend is based on the general scale for Bioengineering graduate students, and is much less than a salary the company would pay to a regular employee.
The particulars of the graduate internship training program are as follows:

Mark spoke about his own experience. His project at ATS was to design bioreactors to tissue engineer a more mechanically competent cartilage sample. The project involved designing bioreactor apparatus, writing controlling software for the bioreactor, testing and validation of designs, gaining knowledge in the field of tissue engineering, especially with applications toward chondrocytes. Mark also presented examples of his work at ATS, as well as an example of the controlling software interface design.

At the end of his presentation Mark thanked his mentor Dr. Taby Ahsan and also Sabine Kunig at ATS. He expressed his gratitude to Dr. Schmid-Schönbein and Imany Tyus at the Bioengineering Department for helping him with his Graduate Internship Training.

Industrial Internship Program Update
Dr. Schmid-Schönbein and Imani Tyus gave the members of the board an update on the Industrial Internship Program. Dr. Schmid-Schönbein called Mark Juravic a successful example of the first year of the program. The program helps students move into professional life. At present there are ten students interested in participating in the program. The program coordinator Imani Tyus looks for companies willing to participate and able to provide mentors for the program students. The mentors must be scientists who possess a Ph.D. degree or equivalent experience.

The members discussed the mechanism of reaching out to the companies. The program uses several channels to advertise, such as this Board meeting, letters sent to companies, web site announcements, etc.

Dr. Chien complimented the Industrial Advisory Board for being proactive in helping the department with the Master of Engineering and other training programs.

Dr. Penhune suggested the program particulars be sent to the companies via electronic mail as an attachment. He considers this to be the most effective way of providing information to the companies. Imani Tyus agreed to send the students' resumes and letters of intent to the Industrial Affiliate Program participants.

Imani also explained that it is easy to coordinate the companies' and students' schedules as students are generally flexible and can either work during summer semesters (up to full-time) or on a part-time basis during the academic year. There are also no geographic limitations in regards to a participating company location. The main task for the program coordinator is to find mentors willing and able to participate in the program.

Dr. Schmid-Schönbein spoke about the intellectual property issue. He informed the members that students participating in the program would sign a confidentiality agreement with the company. They will generate a report based on the results of their project and submit it, following the approval by the mentor, to the Bioengineering Department. This report will not contain any confidential details of the project.

Dr. Gough called the program a fabulous enrichment activity. Dr. Penhune suggested that the program be extended to include Ph.D. students.

Breakfast with Industry
Vicki Chin who was scheduled to speak about the event was not present at the meeting. Dr. Chien gave a short announcement of the next Breakfast with Industry meeting. The meeting will be held on November 20, 2001 in the Faculty Club at 7:30 am. A good number of companies have already agreed to participate. This event, sponsored by the Department of Bioengineering and the Whitaker Institute, offers a distinct opportunity for industrial representatives to interact on a one-to-one level with graduate students, post-doctoral fellows, and UCSD faculty to discuss current and future research goals. The keynote speaker at this event will be Dr. Bill Craig, Vice President for Research and Product Development of ISTA Pharmaceuticals. Industrial participants will be seated with Bioengineering graduate students who have similar interests. In addition, attendees will receive a copy of the 2001 Bioengineering Student Resume Book. This book offers information about the research at UCSD and both graduate students and post-doctoral fellows in the Department.

The William J. von Liebig Center for Entrepreneurism and Technology Advancement
Dr. Abigail Barrow announced the recent award received by UC San Diego's Jacobs School of Engineering to launch the William J. von Liebig Center for Entrepreneurism and Technology Advancement. The new center will foster the technology transfer of UCSD research, and educate students about the process of moving innovations from the laboratory into the marketplace. The center is funded by a $10 million gift from the William J. von Liebig Foundation of Naples, Fla.
The center will be located in the Powell-Focht Bioengineering Hall and $2 million of the award will be put into the ongoing construction of the building.

Joseph Bear has been named Acting Executive Director and Abigail Barrow, who was the former Director of Programs with UCSD CONNECT, has been named the von Liebig Center's Managing Director. The new center will complement the services provided by CONNECT and the Office of Technology Transfer and Intellectual Property Services. The center will offer complete assistance to UCSD inventors, from identifying the commercial potential of a great idea to taking the steps necessary to get that idea into the private sector for the public benefit. The programs of the von Liebig Center will begin in Fall 2001.

Dr. Barrow also spoke about William von Liebig's life and career. Born in 1923, William J. von Liebig was a medical-device entrepreneur, and a pioneer in vascular grafts with a very keen interest in manufacturing textiles for use by surgeons. As a young man, he dreamed of becoming a surgeon, but when World War II began, he was called into service and he put aside his dream of attending medical school. After the war, he finished a degree in textile engineering and went into textile manufacturing. By the 1950s, William J. von Liebig began to merge his interest in surgery with his expertise in textiles, working with physicians and surgeons to manufacture textiles for use as vascular grafts. He established Meadox Medicals, Inc., in 1961, which manufactured and distributed vascular grafts and other devices designed to treat cardiovascular disease. In 1975, he created The William J. von Liebig Foundation, which generously supports medical research, primarily for the treatment of vascular and cardiovascular diseases. William J. Von Liebig died in 1999.

The von Liebig Center has two missions:

Dr. Barrow handed out the program flyers to the members. The meeting went into a discussion of the issues of intellectual property, technology transfer, and conflict of interest in regards to launching new enterprises through the center. Dr. Paau of the Office of Technology Transfer said the issues would be treated in accordance with the existing university regulations.

Announcements
Dr. Chien reported that the construction of the Powell-Focht building, which has been helped greatly by the $2 million allocated from the von Liebig gift, is on schedule, with a projected occupancy in September 2002.

Further, Dr. Chien spoke about the Whitaker Foundation site visit that took place on August 13, 2001. The visit was conducted to review the progress of the Biomedical Engineering Leadership and Development Awards at UCSD. Dr. Chien received a letter from the Whitaker Foundation about the results of the visit. The comments were very positive.

Dr. Chien also updated the members of the board on the status of the Multicampus Research Unit (MRU) proposal. The proposal has received enthusiastic endorsement by the Committee on Research and the Graduate Council of the UCSD Academic Senate, and is now being reviewed by its Budget Committee. We will have to considerably reduce the initially proposed budget in view of the state budget stringency. But the most important thing is to launch the MRU and then work on the budget issue. The MRU will benefit all the participating campuses. UC Santa Cruz was the only campus that did not join the project at the beginning, but joined the proposal during the summer. Thus, the proposed MRU will encompass all nine existing UC campuses.

Dr. Chien informed the members about the search for Director of the new Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB) at the NIH. Dr. Chien serves a member of the search committee for the NIBIB Director. The search committee is now in the process of processing nominations, which will be closed on October 31, 2001. The Committee plans to submit a short list of top candidates in December to the NIH Acting Director Dr. Ruth Kirschstein for selection, and the final decision will be made by HHS Secretary Tommy Thompson. Dr. Donna Dean, the Interim Director for NIBIB, has done a great job in getting the Institute started. As the NIH had not planned on setting up NIBIB when it was signed into law in December 2000, there was no allocated budget for the coming fiscal year. By moving some of the other budgeted funds and by transferring some of the grants in the fields of bioimaging and bioengineering from existing NIH institutes, there is now a $100 million budget for NIBIB. The institute will benefit bioengineering greatly though the other institutes will still have their bioengineering portfolios.
Dr. Chien introduced and welcomed a new member of the Board, John Onopchenko, Vice-President of Johnson & Johnson Development Corporation in San Diego.

Other Business and Next Meeting Date
A survey form will be sent to Board members to select the most suitable date for the next Industrial Advisory Board Meeting.

Respectfully submitted: Tatyana Matusov