Director's Message

WIBE Industrial Affiliate:
IntraLuminal Therapeutics, Inc.

Back to beginning.

6354 Corte Del Abeto, Suite A
Carlsbad, California 92009
Phone (760) 918-1820
Fax (760) 918-1823
www.intraluminal.com

IntraLuminal Therapeutics

Intraluminal Therapeutics (ILT) is a medical device company focused on developing a platform of products for the interventional cardiologist and radiologist to cross and recanalize totally occluded arteries. The Company was co-founded by Dr. Geoff Hartzler, a pioneer of percutaneous transluminal coronary intervention (PTCI) and a recognized thought leader in the area of interventional cardiology.

IntraLuminal's first coronary case was in March 1999, demonstrating a rapid development from proof of concept to human use. The first US trial (CATS) to support the product approval for the Safe-Steer system began in 1999, and the second generation trial (GREAT) began in the US in 2001. Approval for the Safe-Steer in the United States and CE mark for the Safe-Cross were achieved in Q1, 2002.

Total Occlusion

Coronary Arteries

Total occlusions (TOs) are the primary reason for the interventional cardiologist to refer his or her patients to either coronary artery by-pass graft surgery (CABG) or medical management. It is estimated that in 30% of the 4 million angiograms performed worldwide on patients this year, one or more TOs will be present. When the patient is diagnosed with a TO, the cardiologist will recommend one of three treatment options:

1. Manage patient with medical therapy (65%).
2. Refer patient for invasive CABG (23%).
3. Attempt to cross lesion with minimally invasive current technology (12%).

Conventional products and other technologies have a high risk of arterial perforation and dissection associated with them. This is generally due to lack of visualization within the TO or distal to the blockage. ILT technology provides

Peripheral Arteries

Fourteen to eighteen million people worldwide have peripheral vascular disease (PVD). Of this group, the company estimates that this year there will be more than 1.3 million patients worldwide diagnosed with iliac and femoral-popliteal total occlusions, which represents a huge opportunity. When the patient is diagnosed with a TO, the cardiologist, radiologist or vascular surgeon will recommend one of four treatment options:

1. Manage patient with medical therapy (82%).
2. Refer patient for invasive vascular by-pass surgery (13%).
3. Refer patient for surgical amputation (3%).
4. Attempt to cross lesion with minimally invasive current technology (2%).

There are two significant issues that must be dealt with when treating peripheral total occlusions - high restenosis rate and long/calcified occlusions. The interventionist will need a combination of products to safely and quickly cross long/calcified TOs and to reduce restenosis. With the proper crossing products combined with a drug coated stent, minimally invasive treatment would increase from 2% (22,000 patients) to 26% (375,000 patients).

ILT technology provides patient and cost benefits in both peripheral and coronary procedures.

IntraLuminal Solution

IntraLuminal is developing a series of novel products that will assist interventional cardiologists to cross and recanalize coronary and peripheral artery total occlusions. The Company has developed a proprietary platform that uses guide wires and catheters in combination with a fiber optic guidance and control system based on optical coherent reflectometry (OCR). The OCR system measures the reflectivity of a beam of near infrared light that travels down the center of a crossing guide wire and out the front of the wire. The light is then scanned across the blockage and returned via the same path to be analyzed and shown on a monitor screen. This will give the interventionist an early warning when nearing the arterial wall and assist the physician to safely redirect the crossing wire for safe passage through the blockage.

Figure 1. Optical Coherence Reflectometry (OCR): Part I of the Total Occlusion Solution

Second Generation Safe-Cross™ TO Crossing System

		The Safe-Cross System combines the Safe-Steer guidance with a therapeutic radio frequency (RF) energy source
for crossing highly calcified total occlusions. Ablation occurs at the tip of the guide wire only. The OCR technology is used for safe navigation of the guide wire and will restrict ablation from occurring when the tip of the wire is near the arterial wall.

Figure 2. Radio Frequency (RF) - Part II of the Total Occlusion Solution

Fung Auditorium Dedication

Back to beginning.

Frieder Seible, Dean of the Jacobs School of Engineering, and Shu Chien, Chair of the Department of Bioengineering, hosted the dedication of the Y-C. Fung Auditorium on Friday, April 4, 2003. This wonderful event was attended by over two hundred faculty, staff, students, industrial colleagues, Dr. Fung's previous associates, and friends, including many generous donors for the Auditorium. Dean Seible presented plaques of appreciation to Drs. Ernie and Su Huang for their lead donation and to David Eccols of the Sony Corporation for the donation of audiovisual equipment. Dr. Chien presented a plaque to thank past Dean Robert Conn for his leadership related to the Powell-Focht Bioengineering Hall and the Fung Auditorium. After speeches by Drs. Seible, Huang, Eccols, and Conn, Dr. Fung thanked everyone and shared his experience and wisdom with the audience. It was the most enjoyable and successful event.

Announcements

In the annual survey of graduate schools and programs released by US News & World Report, the UCSD Jacobs School of Engineering was ranked 11th in the nation and 7th among public engineering schools. The Bioengineering program is ranked 4th this year. The schools above us are Johns Hopkins, Duke, and MIT, and University of Washington is in fifth place.

Dr. Frieder Seible, who had served as the Interim Dean, was appointed as the new Dean of UCSD Jacobs School of Engineering effective July 1, 2002. Dr. Seible has done a terrific job as the new Dean as well as the Interim Dean, and we can look forward to further advances of the Jacobs School and Bioengineering under his visionary leadership.

The 4th UC System-wide Symposium on Bioengineering will be held on the UCSD campus on June 22-23, 2003. The registration deadline was extended to June 1, 2003. It is expected that more than two hundred faculty and students from all ten UC campuses will attend this system-wide symposium.

The First US National Symposium on Frontiers in Biomechanics will be held on September 30 - October 1, 2003. The event will be sponsored by the United States National Committee on Biomechanics (USNCB). The Frontiers Meeting is designed to explore new and innovative applications of Biomechanics in areas of Biology and Medicine. Drs. Geert W. Schmid-Schönbein (UCSD) and Roger D. Kamm (MIT) will co-chair the meeting. Program topics will include:

• Diseases Associated with Protein Mis-Folding
• Biomechanics of Venous Disease
• BioMEMS in Therapeutic Interventions

Bioengineering Student Spring Annual Gathering was held on May 13, 2003. The Annual Gathering was a time for students (undergraduate and Master of Engineering) to talk about their experiences and benefits as an intern. Past, current, and potential industrial mentors were also invited to explain what educational qualities they look for in interns, as well as possible intern/employment opportunities in their companies. After group presentations, the students talked with the company representatives one on one. Each participating company received a Resume Book with all the student resumes included.

Dr. David Lederman of the ABIOMED Co. in Marblehead, MA near Boston made the excellent suggestion of having a team of four student interns from UCSD Jacobs School of Engineering to work on an artificial heart program with interdisciplinary approach combining mechanical, chemical, electrical and systems engineering. Dr. Rick LeFaivre of the William J. von Liebig Foundation led a committee to review 27 excellent applicants. After careful review and selection, three Bioengineering students, Jay Robin Joseph, Jason Tongbei, Terrence Pong, and Andrew Nguyen of the Department of Computer Science Engineering, were chosen for this inaugural ABIOMED team internship project. Imani Tyus of the Bioengineering Internship Office is working with these students to plan for their internship at Abiomed this summer. Abiomed has been having Co-op Students (1 semester and 1 summer) and a Summer Internship Program (10 weeks in the summer), mainly with students from the East Coast coming as individuals. Since the challenge for industry today is to find good people working as a team, Abiomed decided to have a team of four students. All four will be working on one project in a biomedical environment. It will give the students experience in the real world of biomedicine. The students, the Jacobs School, the Department of Bioengineering, and WIBE are all very excited about the team project concept. This may set a trend for other companies to put together similar programs. This will be an outstanding experience for the four students and set an example for many more team internships in the future.

We would like to remind you that the Second Annual California Tissue Engineering Meeting will be held on September 26 & 27, 2003 at University of California, San Diego. Please refer to the meeting web site (http://www.bme.ucla.edu/CalTE/) for details and online registration and abstract submission.

WIBE Profile: Wayne Giles

Back to beginning.

We are pleased to announce the appointment of Dr. Wayne Giles as a new Professor at UCSD Department of Bioengineering. Dr. Giles completed his B.Sc. (Hons) and M.Sc. degrees at the University of Alberta and received his Ph.D. in Physiology and Biophysics from Yale University in 1974. He then did postdoctoral work at Oxford University and at the University of Washington with the support of a Fellowship from the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada. Dr. Giles joined the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Texas (Galveston) in 1978 and spent five years in that Department of Physiology and Biophysics supported by an American Heart Association Established Investigators Award.

In 1983, Dr. Giles joined the University of Calgary as an Associate Professor in Medical Physiology and Medicine, after receiving a Scholarship and Establishment Grant from the Alberta Heritage Foundation for Medical Research (AHFMR). In the subsequent 20 years, Dr. Giles' laboratory has been supported by research grants from the National Institutes of Health, the Medical Research Council of Canada (MRC), the Heart and Stroke Foundations (HSF) of Canada and Alberta, the Wellcome Trust and the pharmaceutical and medical device industries. Dr. Giles has held a Medical Scientist Award from the AHFMR since 1987. In 1989, he received an Endowed Research Chair sponsored by the Alberta Heart Foundation. Since 1998, he has been Chairman of the Department of Physiology & Biophysics at the University of Calgary, Faculty of Medicine.

Dr. Giles served as Associate Editor of the American Journal of Physiology (1987-1994) and has been holding appointments on editorial boards of a number of Physiology Journals, including Journal of Physiology (1987-1994), Circulation Research (1990-present), American Journal of Physiology (1990-present), and British Journal of Pharmacology (1996-2001). In addition, he has responsibilities on review panels for the MRC (Chair: Cell Physiology Committee, 1995-1998) and the HSF of Canada (Chair: Electrophysiology/Cell Physiology Committee, 1998-2001) AHFMR Personnel Committees, and ad hoc committees at the NIH.

Dr. Giles enjoys participating in undergraduate and graduate teaching activities. His laboratory has trained eight M.Sc. and ten Ph.D. students and some 25 Postdoctoral Associates. He continues to do collaborative research with Bioengineers, and in training and mentoring Clinical Fellows and Clinician Scientists.

Dr. Giles serves as Principal Investigator on two Canadian Institutes of Health Research grants, and is a collaborating investigator on an NIH Award in the Department of Medicine and the UCSD School of Medicine.

Dr. Giles brings considerable experience and expertise in research, teaching, and administration to his new appointment at the Departments of Bioengineering and Medicine. This appointment at UCSD will allow him to formalize and expand his long-standing collaborations with Bioengineers and Molecular Cardiologists as his research and training programs are established.

Bioengineering Seminar Schedule

Summer Quarter 2003
These sessions will be held in the Fung Auditorium of Powell-Focht Bioengineering Hall.
For information please call Lore at 858 822-4997

WIBE Faculty Honors

Bioengineering assistant professor Jeff Hasty has received the prestigious Sloan Research Fellowship from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. The awards are intended to encourage scientists in the early stages of their careers who are deemed likely to contribute to the advancement of knowledge. Dr. Hasty joined the Jacobs School's bioengineering department in 2002 and previously served as a research assistant professor in the Biomedical Engineering Department at Boston University. He is also a recipient of the NSF Career Award in 2003.

Bioengineering associate professor Sangeeta Bhatia was the UCSD honoree for the Tribute to Women and Industry (TWIN) award this year. TWIN is a national YWCA program, the purposes of which are:

• To honor women who have made a significant contribution to industry in managerial, executive or professional roles
• To honor those firms that have provided opportunities for women to achieve their potential
• To raise funds to support YWCA programs and services

Student Honors

Mary Ellen Belik (former Thomas), Bioengineering Ph.D., student, has been selected to receive a $500 SIAM Student Travel Award to attend the Society of Industrial and Applied Mathematics (SIAM) Annual Meeting (AN03) in Montreal. She will deliver a talk "Simulation of Electrical Propagation in Heterogeneous Rabbit Ventricular Tissue" at SIAM annual meeting in June.

Iman Famili received the Graduate Fellowship (first prize) from the San Diego chapter of Association for Women in Science (AWIS) on May 3, 2002.

Murtaza Mogri, a senior Biotechnology major has been awarded a Barry Goldwater Scholarship for 2003 and he also has been accepted into the NIH Biomedical Internship Program (BESIP).

Eun Hee Han, also a Biotechnology senior, has received a Mayo Clinic Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship.

Dirk Albrecht was awarded the Grand Prize at the Jacobs SOE Research Review and was honored at the Annual Engineering Review Banquet

Edward Tran, a Bioengineering graduate student, published the following paper:
Mun, K.C., DeLano, F.D., Tran, E.D. Schmid-Schönbein, G.W.: Microvascular cell death in spontaneously hypertensive rats during experimental inflammation. Microcirculation, 9:397-405, 2002.

Erin Rosines, first year Ph.D. student, received an NSF award to start 2003-04.

Albert Hsiao, first year Ph.D. student, received a Whitaker Foundation award to start 2003-04.

Visiting Scientists

Choul-Gyun Lee from Inha University, Korea, is in Systems Biology Research Lab for his sabbatical leave. He is working on in silico reconstruction of photosynthetic bacteria with Dr. Bernhard Palsson.

Dr. John O. Gallagher has joined the cardiac mechanics research group from the University of Glasgow in Scotland, where he did his doctoral research in the Centre for Cell Engineering. At UCSD, Dr. Gallagher is working on the use of microfabrication technologies to engineer co-cultures for investigating the role of fibroblasts in mechanical signaling by ventricular myocytes.

New Bioengineering Ph.D.'s and Their Thesis Titles

Joel Bock - Thesis Title: "Biomolecular Interactions Using Machine Learning"
Current Position: Scientist, Intelligent Automation Corporation, Poway, CA.

Roland Kaunas - Thesis Title: "Vascular Molecular Bioengineering Laboratory."
Current Position: Postdoctoral Fellow, UCSD Department of Bioengineering

Congratulations to all!

University of California, San Diego
Whitaker Institute of Biomedical Engineering
9500 Gilman Drive
La Jolla, CA 92093-0435

(858) 822-4278