Biomedical Computational Technologies
Beckman Laser Institute and Medical Clinic
Biotechnology Resource Facility
Chao Family Comprehensive Cancer Center
Integrated Nanosystems Research Facility (INRF)
Laboratory for Fluorescence Dynamics
Laser Microbeam and Medical Program
Biomedical computation in Biomedical Engineering will consist of three components: (1) image processing and pattern analysis, (2) data and knowledge base management, and (3) high-speed distributed computing of large data sets. These components will interact with one another while providing the enabling technologies for the analysis and utilization of the data produced by biomedical applications. Much of the data generated by biomedical systems appears in the form of signals (symbolic strings and waveforms), images, and, in general, arrays of vectors.
Part of the research effort required by biophotonics and nanoscale systems is in the area of computational models for the physical processes that generate the data. Research at UCI on computational models includes methods based on cubic and generalized spline approximation. Complementing the research on computational models for data generation is the UCI focus on pattern analysis. The objective is to develop application-specific algorithms for capturing and interpreting various complex patterns in the data.
Most biocomputational methods need to access and analyze large amounts of data. The data and information generated by such methods need to be tracked as time evolves. The nature of such scientific data/information demands the use of a powerful and intelligent database management system. Areas of current and future investigation include advanced data modeling, knowledge management, data mining, query optimization, and parallel/distributed processing of transactions.
Participating Faculty:
Pierre Baldi
Lubomir Bic
James Brody
Peter Burke
Zang-Hee Cho
Carl Cotman
Vittorio Cristini
Rui deFigueiredo
Steven George
Ghassan Kassab
Falko Kuester
Richard Lathrop
Thay Lee
Ray (Rui) Luo
Joerg Meyer
Sabee Molloi
Philip Sheu
Patrick Smyth
Much as microfabrication techniques have revolutionized the electronics industry, these same techniques are now poised to revolutionize the biotechnology and biomedical device industries. Photolithography, etching techniques, and deposition methods can create large numbers of microscopic features on silicon or glass substrates with areas of (greater than) 2 cm2.
Among these features are reaction chambers, separation channels, arrays of molecules, microelectronics, pumps, valves, and many other components. These features can be combined to create fully integrated devices that perform sample preparation, separation, detection and/or analysis, as well as drug delivery and in-situ mechanical sensors. The benefits of these integrated, miniaturized systems are their high-throughput screening capabilities, smaller required volumes of samples and reagents, and potential for automation with a consequent increase in reliability and decrease in costs.
The existing research strengths at UCI in genomics, cancer research, and protein technologies will be combined with those in MEMS (Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems), microelectronics, and microelectrophoresis to develop new microdevices for biomedicine. Nanoscale technologies such as "lab-on-a-chip" devices, DNA array chips, chromosome microdissection/micromanipulation, and protein microanalysis techniques will be key technologies in the next century of biomedicine.
Participating Faculty:
Nancy Allbritton
Mark Bachman
Zhongping Chen
Steven Gross
Abraham P. Lee
G.P. Li
Noo Li
Jeon Marc Madou
Andrei M. Shkel
William Tang
Fan-Gang Zeng
Biophotonics involves the development and use of optical technologies to examine and manipulate biological systems on the sub-cellular, cellular, tissue and organ levels. The properties of photons and the systems that generate, deliver, and detect them will be the basis for much of the diagnostic, analytical, and therapeutic systems of the 21st century.
The ability to design, build and miniaturize non- and minimally-invasive systems will require a concerted interdisciplinary effort. The biomedical engineering efforts will be focused on the research and development necessary to: (1) produce the next generation of photonics-based medical devices, and (2) train biomedical engineers capable of spearheading such efforts.
These efforts are divided into three general core areas defined by photophysical mechanisms of light interaction with biological cells and tissues: (1) high-intensity interactions, (2) coherent interactions, and (3) diffuse interactions.
Participating Faculty
Michael Berns
Zhongping Chen
Ron Frostig
J. Stuart Nelson
Bruce Tromberg
Vasan Venugopalan
Brian Wong
The term "tissue engineering" was officially coined at a National Science Foundation workshop in 1988 to mean "the application of principles and methods of engineering and life sciences toward fundamental understanding of structure-function relationships in normal and pathological mammalian tissues and the development of biological substitutes to restore, maintain or improve tissue function." Tissue engineering draws on experts from chemical engineering, materials science, surgery, genetics, and related disciplines from engineering and the life sciences.
Much of the current research in the field involves growing cells in three-dimensional structures instead of in laboratory dishes. For the most part, cells grown in a flat dish tend to behave as individual cells. But grow a cell culture in a three-dimensional structure, and the cells begin to behave as they would in a tissue or organ. Tissue engineers are testing different methods of growing tissue and organ cells in three-dimensional scaffolds that dissolve once the cells reach a certain mass. The hope is that these cell cultures will mature into fully functional tissues and organs.
Participating Faculty:
Peter Bryant
Jay Calvert
Gregory R.D. Evans
James Earthman
Steve George
Ranjan Gupta
Christopher Hughes
Noo Li Jeon
Ghassan Kassab
Shin Lin
Andrew Putnam
Bruce Tromberg