October 14, 1998 was a great day for the department of Bioengineering at UCSD. The Department not only learned that the Charles Lee Powell Foundation would commit $8 million to its program, but it also received official notice of the granting of a Leadership Award of $13.8 million from the Whitaker Foundation.

Both the Whitaker Foundation and the Powell Foundation have been great benefactors to UC San Diegoís Department of Bioengineering, the Institute for Biomedical Engineering, and the Jacobs School of Engineering.

The Whitaker Foundation is a private, nonprofit foundation, founded by the late Mr. U.A. Whitaker, an engineer from the Midwest. The Whitaker Foundation has awarded over $380 million to colleges and universities to foster biomedical engineering research and education. The Charles Lee Powell Foundation was formed from the estate of Charles Lee Powell, a civil engineer from Los Angeles. Over the years the Powell Foundation has granted Engineering at UC San Diego more than $20 million.

The UCSD, Bioengineering program and Johns Hopkins University are the first to be selected by the Whitaker Foundation for the newly instituted Leadership Award. The purpose of the Award is to enhance and develop the infrastructure of the biomedical engineering programs at major research universities.

The decision was made by the Governing Committee of the Whitaker Foundation after a site visit on September 23-24, 1998. The site visit was a spectacular collaborative effort by not only the Department of Bioengineering but also the entire Jacobs School of Engineering (JSOE), the School of Medicine, the Division of Natural Sciences, the San Diego Supercomputer Center, CONNECT, UCSD and JSOE administration, neighboring research institutes, and industrial leaders. Chancellor Dynes, Vice Chancellor Alksne, and Dean Conn of JSOE spoke at the beginning of the site visit, and Dean Conn was present throughout.

The Whitaker Foundation Leadership Award and the Powell Foundation commitment, together with University Funds, will be used to construct a new building distinctively designed to foster and enhance the growth of Bioengineering at UCSD. The funds at hand will allow the Department to build a five story, 78,000 gross square-foot building (equivalent to 47,000 net square feet). Plans are under way to enlarge it to a six-story, 63,000 net square-foot building with additional funding to be shared by the Whitaker Foundation and the University. The building will be named the Powell-Focht Building, in honor of the late San Diego Superior Court Judge, James L. Focht, who served on the Board of the Powell Foundation and was very generous to the University. Construction of the new building is planned to begin in 1999.

With the aid of these remarkable gifts from the Whitaker Foundation and the Powell Foundation, the Department of Bioengineering will spearhead a visionary new education, research, and technology transfer initiative. This initiative will build on the already existing foundation of Biomechanics, cardiovascular research and tissue engineering to:

ï Provide hands on interdisciplinary training to educate biomedical engineers.

ï Collaborate with the vast talent and resources of the entire campus, neighboring institutions such as the Salk Institute, the Scripps Research Institute, and the Burnham Institute, as well as the local biotechnology industry.

ï Create advanced medical treatments, such as tissue engineering.

ï Improve diagnosis, treatment and prevention of diseases, by combining studies of engineering factors such as mechanical forces with research on biomedical functions such as molecular interactions.

ï Use systems engineering to organize biological information to develop a deep understanding of the molecular and genetic basis of biological function from single cells to the whole organism.

The New Building will house and accommodate:

ï Core education labs where students will learn how to use newly developed engineering technologies and apply them to biological studies.

ï A Technology Transfer and Development Center, which will include laboratory space and business planning support to help start-up companies.

ï Hands-on education laboratories and core research facilities for use by faculty, students and industry partners.

ï Growth in graduate student population.

ï Eight new faculty members (nearly doubling the present size of the Department of Bioengineering). Two of the new faculty will hold joint appointments with the School of Medicine.

Bioengineering is a relatively new scientific field, which uses engineering principles to understand and solve important problems in biology, medicine and healthcare. The Department of Bioengineering at UCSD will endeavor to synthesize the rapid growth of new biological information, and organize it in a way to develop new medical advances and improve the health of mankind. Bioengineering at UCSD is already ranked among the top schools in the nation and with the help of the Whitaker Foundation and the Powell Foundation, UCSD Bioengineering will assume a leadership role to meet the challenges and realize its visions. (See remarks at Whitaker-Powell Celebration Ceremony on P.3)

-Shu Chien, M.D., Ph.D., Director, IBME

The Jacobís School of Engineering and the Department of Bioengineering hosted a celebration in honor of the Whitaker Found ation Leadership Award of $13.8 million and Powell Foundation gift of $8 million on November 2, 1998. The celebration was held in the courtyard of the Engineering Building Unit II, which stands just to the south of the site where the new Powell-Focht Bioengineering Building will be constructed using the funds from the Whitaker Foundation Leadership Award and the Powell Foundation gift.

Speakers at the event included Dean Robert Conn, Chancellor Robert Dynes, Shu Chien, Portia Whitaker Shumaker of the Whitaker Foundation and Herbert Kunzel of the Powell Foundation.

Chancellor Dynes, Dean Conn, and Shu Chien thanked the Whitaker Foundation and the Powell Foundation for their generous support over the years and especially for their recent award and gift.

Mrs. Shumaker, daughter of Mr. U.A. Whitaker and board member of the Whitaker Foundation, presented a brief history of the Whitaker Foundation and praised UCSD Bioengineering on the Whitaker Leadership Award application and Site Visit, which she attended in September. She was accompanied by her husband John Shumaker. Mr. and Mrs. Shumaker are residents of California, living in nearby Bonsall.

After Mrs. Shumakerís wonderful speech, Dean Conn introduced Herbert Kunzel,Chairman and Executive Director of the Charles Lee Powell Foundation. Mr. Kunzel gave a brief history of the Powell Foundation and made an inspiring speech. He noted Judge James L. Fochtís active role on the Powell Foundation Board. His wife Minerva Kunzel and other members of the Powell Foundation, Hugh Carter and Harold M. Agnew accompanied Mr. Kunzel.

The eveningís festivities ended with a tribute to the founders of Bioengineering, Benjamin Zweifach, Marcos Intaglietta, and Y.C. Fung of UCSD, Dr. Chien, and the Bioengineering faculty, with commemorative cards, which were fashioned to resemble baseball trading cards.
 
 

Todayís ceremony of celebration is also a ceremony of appreciation. On behalf of the Department of Bioengineering and the Institute for Biomedical Engineering, I would like to express our sincere gratitude to the Powell Foundation and the Whitaker Foundation for the most generous gift and award. One is always appreciative on the receiving end, but the appreciation is especially heart-felt in two circumstances. One is when the gift is given without being asked. The other is when the award is given after rigorous and thorough review. In both cases, the recipient is chosen by the donor on the basis of merit, and the award conveys a strong vote of confidence and trust. We are most fortunate to be chosen by two outstanding Foundations on these bases. While we are very grateful for the generous financial support, we treasure immensely this confidence and trust. As we receive these precious gifts, we pledge that we will give our very best to justify this confidence and trust.

These generous gifts will allow us to construct a new building to realize our vision. We will apply engineering principles and methodologies to study and analyze important biomedical problems. We will synthesize and organize the information from genes to organs, and from molecules to man, so that we can generate an integrated body of knowledge to improve the methods of diagnosis, treatment and prevention of disease. The new building will allow us to recruit new faculty to implement these research initiatives. It will house new technology facilities to support the research studies and provide hands-on education to the next generation of leaders in bioengineering. It will house the Technology Transfer Center to facilitate the transfer of technology from research labs to practical applications, and to enhance our collaboration with industry.

Our vision and programmatic plans have the overall theme of Integrative Bioengineering, and its implementation requires the cooperation of many units and organizations. In this connection, I would like to thank our leaders and colleagues in the School of Medicine, the Jacobs School of Engineering, the School of Natural Sciences, the Supercomputer Center, the CONNECT office, the central administration, all others in UCSD, and the Bioengineering faculty, students, and staff. I wish to thank the leaders and colleagues in the Burnham Institute, the Salk Institute, and the Scripps Research Institute, and our friends in industry.

The Whitaker Foundation Leadership Award and the Powell Foundation Gift will have tremendous impact not only on Bioengineering, but on the whole campus; not only on UCSD, but also on the scientific community in San Diego; not only on academia, but also on industry. In fact, the impact will extend to the entire San Diego community. The enthusiasm expressed by everyone present here reminds me of the enthusiasm San Diego expressed recently for the Padres. Winning the National League pennant is the beginning for Padres and San Diego teams for bigger and better things to come. This celebration today also is only a beginning, I am confident that the generous support of the Powell Foundation and the Whitaker Foundation will trigger many exciting events that will lead to the improvement of the health and well-being of humankind as we enter the twenty-first century, and indeed the new millennium.

-Shu Chien

• Application of sophisticated assembly and homology comparison techniques to EST databases
• Use of induced mutation techniques to develop animal models. Microarray-based expression analysis technologies to compare gene expression patterns in normal and diseased tissues
• Suppression subtraction hybridization techniques to identify genes whose expression (or lack of) may be linked to a given disease state.

John West, Professor of Medicine and Physiology, recently published a new book, "High Life: A History of High-Altitude Physiology and Medicine." Published by Oxford University Press, New York. The narrative ranges from the earliest beginnings of high-altitude medicine through the early balloonists, the various high-altitude expeditions and the unforgettable saga of climbing Mt. Everest without supplementary oxygen. Information on the book can be obtained by calling: 1-800-451-7556.

UC Engineering Enrollment to Grow, The University of California will enroll 800 additional engineering and computer science majors, thanks to a $6 million allocation in the final 1998/1999 California budget.

Dr. Michael Berns, Beckman Lazer Institute and Medical Clinic, University of California, Irvine, is taking a year sabbatical in the Department of Bioengineering, UCSD.

Dr. Anushka Michailova, Assistant Professor of Biophysics in Sofia, Bulgaria, is working with Dr. Andrew McCulloch, Cardiac Mechanics Research Group on cardiac excitation-contraction coupling.

Dr. Ute Henze, Medical Faculty member of the University of Aachen, Germany, is working with Dr. Shu Chien on biomechanics and gene expression of vascular cells. Dr. Henze is here on a German Academic Exchange Service Scholarship.

Dr. Jun-Lin Guan, Associate Professor of Molecular Medicine, Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine, is taking a half-year sabbatical in the Department of Bioengineering, UCSD.

Yuan-Cheng Fung, Professor Emeritus of Bioengineering, UCSD, received the 1998 National Academy of Engineering, Founders Award "for superb accomplishments in biomechanics and aeroelasticity research, for broad contributions to the scientific discipline of biomechanics, and for outstanding leadership of the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the Institute of Medicine. He is one of the few scientists who is a member of all three national academies. He is recognized for his pioneering work in aeronautics and biomedical engineering. The NAE presented the award on October 4, 1998 at the Academyís 1998 annual meeting. Dr. Fung received a gold medallion and a certificate. Established in 1965, the Founders Award, which is the most prestigious award of the Academy, honors "outstanding engineering accomplishments by an engineer over a long period of time and of benefit to the people of the United States." This is the first time the Founders Award was presented to a bioengineer.

Dr. Fung was a founder of the Bioengineering Program at UCSD. He laid the foundation, provided leadership, and continues to give guidance for UCSD to be a top program in the nation and in the world. Dr. Fung established the field of biomechanics and is widely regarded as "the father of Biomechanics." In addition to his superb research accomplishments, Dr. Fung is also an outstanding teacher. Many of his students are leaders in bioengineering in academia and industry. He has written several textbooks , which are widely used as the standard texts throughout the world.

Dr. Y.C. Fung is the pride of UCSD Bioengineering, and indeed the University and the field. As his colleagues, friends and students, we rejoice in his well-deserved reception of this top honor in the field of engineering. Our warmest congratulations and sincere thanks to you, Dr. Fung!
 
 

President Wulf, Dr. Brenner, Fellow Members of the Academy, Colleagues, Friends, Ladies and Gentlemen: I deeply appreciate the great honor the Academy is bestowing upon me with this Founders Award. I am glad to receive it because I feel that by honoring me, you are honoring the fields of biomechanics and aeroelasticity and all my colleagues working in these fields. In front of my colleagues and your distinguished presence, I am filled with a deep sense of humility. Dr. Brenner, I thank you for your most kind introduction.

I wish to thank my nominators and the members of the Awards Committee for their kindness and generosity. I thank many of my life-long friends, especially Drs. Shu Chien, Van Mow, Savio Woo, Bob Nerem, Sidney Sobin, Mike Yen, Shu Qian Liu, and Wei Huang; and my deceased mentor Ernie Sechler, and my friend Chia Shun Yih. To my wife Luna, my son Conrad, my daughter Brenda, my son-in-law Ken, and my grandson Nick, who are here, I give you my love and thanks! I wish my parents could be here to receive my thanks.

I would like to say a few words about my field, biomechanics, how I got there, as well as my perspective today.

I spent the first twenty-four years of my working life first in China, then at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, California. My early research was on the dynamics of the airplane in turbulent weather. Combining solid mechanics with fluid mechanics, we call that kind of study the theory of aeroelasticity. Later, I focused on aircraft and spaceship safety, performance and design. In 1958, however, I took a sabbatical leave from Caltech with a Guggenheim Fellowship and went to Germany. There I had time to think about problems other than aeronautics. I became interested in the mechanics of the eye because my mother was suffering from glaucoma. I studied the medical literature, but found it avoids mechanics. Gradually, I was convinced that the understanding of the function of our bodies could be improved if the roles played by forc es and motion and stress and strain were analyzed as thoroughly as we do for airplanes.

Upon returning to Caltech, I began to work on blood cells, blood vessels, and microcirculation. At that time, there was a mystery in physiology. Our smallest blood vessels, with walls of thickness about one tenth of our hair was found to be the most rigid of all blood vessels. From this came Fungís tunnel theory of the smallest blood vessels. In the meantime, I predicted that the smallest blood vessels in the lung are the softest of all blood vessels because they have no neighboring tissue to support them. That prediction turned out to be true also. Then I got a theory to explain why our red blood cells are so strong. Billions of these little cells circulate through our smallest blood vessels whose diameters are about the same as that of the cell. Imagine yourself swimming in a tunnel so tight that both of your shoulders touch the wall, and swimming fast unceasingly for 120 days! These little red blood cells survive such gruesome condition! Whatís the secret? I found the answer, itís their biconcave shape like a donut without a hole. This shape guarantees that the stress in their wall will be zero. So the red cells have a geometrical design which guarantees a stress free life. This reminds me of Taoism in China; the soft wins over the hard, feminism wins over machismo!

In 1965, I published a paper to theorize that if we know the structure and mechanical properties of the materials of a living organ, then by the principles of physics we should be able to predict the functions of that organ. This was a vision I was willing to work for. I decided to give up my first love of aeronautics and resign my professorship at the California Institute of Technology. This decision was very difficult for me because I loved that institution. But I had fallen in love with biomechanics. In 1966, I left Caltech and moved to the University of California, San Diego to initiate a B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. program on Bioengineering. On research, I decided to clarify the blood circulation in the lung. I formulated a sheet-flow theory. To fill in all the experimental details, I worked with my friends Sid Sobin and Mike Yen and many students on the anatomy, histology, microscopy, design and construction of new instruments, testing, theorizing, and calculating. We finished the first round of the lung work in 12 years. It was a fun filled period. We found new things right and left. All together, we published about 100 papers on the lung, each clarifying a piece of the puzzle. Toward the end, all ad hoc hypotheses were removed, out sheet-flow theory was established, and the agreement between theory and experiment was gratifying.

Following the lung work, we looked into the heart, the intestines, the ureter, the tissue remodeling under stress, the problem of high blood pressure, etc. The field is so rich that in every direction we looked there were interesting fruits to be picked. But the most remarkable thing is that the whole field is now in full bloom. What was vision to my earlier is now a common sense. Now the field has many, many experts, working on many, many fronts. The scouting boats have been replaced by big ships. The water level is very high: and the explorers are diving to great depth. A field, which was dominated by continuum mechanics before, is now working on molecular mechanics. Nevertheless, the aim of biomechanics remains the same. The aim is to clarify the role of forces in relating structure to function in biology.

Thus, molecular biomechanics connects the molecular structure to molecular function. The cell membrane biomechanics connects the membrane structure to the membrane functions. Similarly, cell biomechanics links cell structure to cell function, tissue biomechanics links tissue structure to tissue function, organ biomechanics connects organ structure to organ function, whole body mechanics links up body structure to body function. Hence, biomechanics is the middle name of biological structure and function. Bioengineers use the mechanics to invent ways to help the biologists, the physicians, and the patients.

But becoming important is not the whole story. To me and many of my colleagues, the factors of personal interest and satisfaction are significant. Perhaps because the field of bioengineering is so large, and its maturity is still far away, it is easy to feel that you are still a pioneer making personal discoveries. I am sure that the sum total of our effort will benefit mankind. Thank you, very much.

-Y.C.Fung
 

Dr. Sangeeta N. Bhatia joined the Department of Bioengineering UCSD in the fall quarter of 1998 and will make he r fulltime transition in January 1999. She received her M.S. in Mechanical Engineering from MIT, her Ph.D. in Medical Engineering from the Harvard/MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology, and her M.D. degree from Harvard Medical School. She received multidisciplinary training in the Center for Engineering in Medicine at the Massachusetts General Hospital under the guidance of Dr. Mehmet Toner, a world renowned tissue engineer and cryobiologist. As a student she also helped to found KEYs (Keys to Empowering Youth), a nonprofit organization devoted to increasing the exposure, interest, and retention of young girls in science and math Her undergraduate training at Brown University included both electrical and biomedical engineering. She also had several stints in industry in the areas of biotechnology, medical devices, and in pharmaceutical drug development. She holds a number of patents for both clinical and technological applications.

The main focus of Dr. Bhatiaís research has been in tissue engineering of the liver. The most diverse human organ, the liver, is responsible for much of lipid, carbohydrate, and fat metabolism, detoxification of foreign compounds, production of bile for digestion , and production of many serum proteins. Failure of this organ is the cause of death of over 30,000 patients in the US each year, and transient decompensation of liver function is responsible for over 300,000 annual hospital admissions. Therapy for liver failure is currently largely supportive (fluids and intensive monitoring), thus many researchers have examined alternative approaches to the treatment of liver disease. Since many liver functions are important for survival, the use of cell-based therapies to replace a full complement of liver functions has gained in popularity. Three main approaches have been taken by the scientific community: transplantation of liver cells by injection into the blood stream, development of liver tissue substitutes for implantation, and extracorporeal circuits which house liver cells to ëprocessí the patientís blood. A common limitation to all these approaches is the difficulty in maintaining liver-specific functions of isolated cells.

The fundamental influence of the local environment (or ëmicroíenvironment) on cell function depends on many factors: extracellular matrix, soluble cytokines, physical forces, substrate topology, and interactions with neighboring cells. Dr. Bhatiaís laboratory, the Microscale Tissue Engineering Laboratory (MTEL), examines the influence of the microenvironment on cell function for therapeutic applications. Using techniques developed in the semiconductor industry for manufacture of integrated circuits, she has developed techniques to control and study cell-cell and cell-ECM interactions. These studies demonstrated, for the first time, that identical cell populations when rearranged spatially can produce different levels of function in the resultant tissue. The mechanisms by which these cell types interact to generate a highly functional tissue are currently under investigation in Dr. Bhatiaís group.

Current and future work in Microscale Hepatic Tissue Engineering includes the following general areas:

1. Elucidating the structure/function relationships of the liver. The liver acinus, the functional unit of the liver, is a complex, highly vascular, repeating structure, with hepatocytes interacting with other hepatocytes, a fenestrated endothelium, stellate (Ito) cells, extracellular matrix, and the blood stream. Using microfabrication techniques, Dr. Bhatia will study the influence of extracellular matrix composition and topology on the hepatocyte phenotype in vitro. In addition, microfabricated co-cultures will be used to examine the role of cell-cell interactions in the pathogenesis of liver fibrosis.

2. Liver Development. The role of the hepatocyte microenvironment is also a key component of organogenesis of the liver. Indeed, some cytokines (e.g., BMP-1) have already been implicated in this process, but in vivo studies are often multifactorial and difficult to interpret. The role of various environmental cues in liver development can be more precisely examined in vitro. The findings will have applications in the tissue engineering of artificial liver constructs for therapeutic use.

3. Cell-based Biosensors. The differentiated hepatocyte has a natural ability to sense and respond to foreign compounds. Dr. Bhatiaís group is interested in harnessing this feature of the hepatocyte on hybrid ëchipsí for pharmaceutical testing and environmental toxin detection.

4. Microscale Cellular Technology Development. Just as semiconductor fabrication techniques have been effectively applied to biological research, Dr. Bhatiaís group is interested in the development of novel technologies based on existing materials and manufacturing engineering techniques. The use of mature techniques (e.g., injection molding, rapid prototyping, and robotic printing) offers promise in their application to the study of cells and tissues.
 

Selected Publications:

In recent years the Department of Bioengineering has received consistently high ranking from various sources. The most comprehensive and scholarly survey is generally regarded to be that conducted by the National Research Council of the National Academy of Sciences and National Academy of Engineering, which is published approximately every ten years. The most recent report released in 1995 ranked UCSD Bioengineering number 1 in graduate education and number 2 in faculty quality.

The U.S. News and World Report conducts an annual survey of graduate programs based on somewhat different procedures and criteria. In addition to giving a relatively long list of rankings for professional schools, they gave a shorter list of the top programs in each of the disciplines. UCSD Bioengineering was not in the list until five years ago, when it made Number 5 in biomedical engineering. It maintained a ranking at Number 4 for three years, and in the most recent issue, its ranking rose to Number 3.

Wayne Akeson, Professor of Orthopaedics, was awarded the Distinguished Service Award for his commitment and service to the School of Medicine. This is the highest award possible in the Orthopaedic community.

Shu Chien, Professor of Bioengineering, is the 1999 American Physiological Societyís, Daggs award recipient in recognition for his contributions to the Society and the science of physiology.

Albert Chen, Postdoctoral Fellow of Bioengineering, received an award from the "Innovation Grants Competition" sponsored by Merrill Lynch

Richard Lieber, Professor of Orthopaedics and Bioengineering and Jan Friden, Professors of Orthopaedics, received an award for outstanding scientific presentation, at the recent meeting of the International Federation for Societies of Surgery of the Hand in Vancouver Canada.

Andrew McCulloch, Professor of Bioengineering, was elected a Fellow of the American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE).

Robert R. Myers, Professor of Anesthesiology and Pathology, was awarded a three-year grant entitled Anatomical Basis of Osseoperception from the VA Rehabilitation R&D Service. Dr. Myersí NIH grant, Pathogenesis of Nerve Fiber Injury and Repair, was renewed for the 16^th consecutive year. Dr. Myers has been named the Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of the Peripheral Nervous System.

Alan Hofmann, Professor Emeritus of Medicine was given the Distinguished Achievement Award of the American Association for the Study of the Liver. In June, 1998, Dr. Hofmann was elected an Honorary Member of the Serbian Academy of Medicine.

Paul Johnson, Adjunct Professor of Bioengineering, was recently elected as a senior member of the Biomedical Engineering Society.

University of California, San Diego

Institute for Biomedical Engineering

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La Jolla, CA 92093-0427

(619) 822-2290