September 2010 Volume V, Issue 1

The Pioneer Newsletter is brought to you by the students, faculty, and staff of the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedi-cal Engineering at Georgia Tech and Emory University. The news-letter staff and its collaborators strive to bring you the latest news from all aspects of the BME com-munity. To submit articles, opin-ions, ideas, or events for publica-tion and for more information about the newsletter, please visit:

Inside this issue: Student Spotlight: Jaydeep Srimani, Goldwater Scholar

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Adventure Into The Familiar: Discover Your Biotechnology Quad

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Outstanding Senior: Joseph Mets

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Nanocluster Protein On Titanium Strengthens Implant Attachment

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NSF Awards Stem Cell Bio-Manufacturing Research and Education Programs

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BME Senior Design Spring & Summer Presentations

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Ask An Alum: All About Resumes

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Faculty Spotlight: Thomas Barker, Ph.D.

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And More !

www.thepioneer.gatech.edu

By Dhruv Vishwakarma

Faculty Spotlight: Cheng Zhu, Ph.D., and the CMBL

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By Alex Cooper

A Summer Adventure in China

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C heng Zhu, professor in the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering at Georgia Tech and Emory University, started his research career building theoretical models of cellular processes. His undergraduate work in China led him to graduate work at Columbia University. Zhu came to Georgia Tech after finishing his post-doctoral fellowship at the University of California San Diego. Given his global education, Zhu fittingly holds the position of Director for the joint Ph.D. program between the Coulter Department and Peking University, a graduate program with intentions of collaboration and globalization of education. Heading the CMBL (Cellular and Molecular…

E ye-opening: there is no better adjective to describe my research

abroad experience at Peking University (PKU), one of the leading universities in Beijing, China. I was sent there to test new siRNA-complexing materials made by Coulter Department professor Nirem Murthy's lab as part of the China Undergradute Research Experience (CURE). Eight other students and I spent two and a half months living in China, working on research that we started at the beginning of the spring semester. While I learned much about biochem-istry from my hours spent in my lab in…

Cheng Zhu, Ph.D., Associate Chair for International Programs & Regents Professor. (Photo: GTRC / GIT)

Chinese characters at a tea house in Hangzhou. (Photo: Alex Cooper)

Personal Accounts of the CURE Program

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“That’s So BME!” Voices From The Student Body

W elcome to a new year and a fresh start! As you peruse our pages you may notice that The Pioneer has implemented a few changes since

the spring semester. Your opinions and suggestions collected then have been heard! In fact, look closely and you may find the direct result of your participation in our survey. These changes include: more detailed student spotlights, increased content, an alumni advice column, and a new and more interactive website! As usual, we will continue to consider your feedback, which can be submitted at www.thepioneer.gatech.edu. At this time The Pioneer also warmly welcomes the new undergraduate and graduate students that will be joining our Georgia Tech biotechnology community. Gradually, you will discover the ins and outs of our culture and our quirks. And in no time at all will you be making your own contribution to our collective culture. Please note that we are once accepting staff applications. Visit our website at www.thepioneer.gatech.edu for more details or contact us via e-mail at thepioneer@gatech.edu if you have any questions. Also, be on the lookout for an e-mail with application details if you are on the BME e-mail list!

Yours sincerely,

Chun Yong and Willa Ni Editors in Chief The Pioneer

A Couple of Words From the Editors in Chief

By You!

Faculty Sponsor

Wendy Newstetter

Editors

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Collaborators

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Editors in Chief

Willa Ni

Chun Yong

Staff Writers

Joseph Abrahamson

Jerome Choo

Alex Cooper

Eric Huang

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Karan Patel

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Dhruv Vishwakarma

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Staff Members

“THE FATAL FLAW: A FOOL PROOF WAY OF ENTICING ANY BME STUDENT”

More at: www.thatssobme.gatech.edu

“While other students were designing cars and bridges, I was modeling the spread of a zombie infection.” “I’m over the age of 18 and I get to write on the walls.” “Senior design is like pac man and I’m a little bleeping dot.” “Tech went up from being the #3 to the #2 school for Biomedical Engineering… I don’t feel as bad about not getting all A’s anymore.” “BME: sometimes it’s digging through 80 pages of legislation on labeling medical devices — even though you’re not making a medical device. FML.”

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Upcoming Fellowship Deadlines September 10 - Rhodes, Marshalls, Gates, Churchill, and Mitchell September 17 - Fulbright Apply now! www.fellowships.gatech.edu

Student Spotlight: Jaydeep Srimani By Karan Patel 2010 Barry M. Goldwater Scholar

T he Goldwater Scholarship is one of the most prestigious scholarships awarded to approximately 300 under-graduate students each year. Specifically, this award recognizes student scientists in the fields of mathematics, science or engineering. Named after Senator Barry M. Goldwater, the Goldwater Scholarship pays $7,500 toward the students’ educa-tion. One recipient of this honor is current Wallace H. Coulter Department of Bio-medical Engineering at Georgia Tech and Emory University senior Jaydeep Srimani, an undergraduate working in professor May Wang’s laboratory. His current research in Wang’s lab includes “designing a distributed computing system for faster gene sequence analysis – comparing cancerous cell lines to their healthy counterparts in an attempt to iso-late cancer subtype-specific genes.” He is a PURA recipient, a President’s Scholar, a member of Eta Kappa Nu (the ECE Honor society), as well as the recipient of the Henry Ford Outstanding Junior award. Srimani’s activities outside of research in-clude the Student Government Associa-tion, working as a Teaching Assistant for CS and ECE, tutoring, and playing tennis. After graduating this coming Spring, he plans on pursuing further education in bio-medical engineering. Afterwards, he hopes “to be doing research full time, either at a university or maybe a government lab.” Srimani first discovered the scholarship on his own and decided to go for it after seeing the award’s focus on science and engineering. Receiving great support from his parents, Wang, and Georgia Tech scholarship advisor Karen Adams, Ph.D., Srimani survived the entire process and came out as a Goldwater Scholar at the end of it. He described the application process as quite straightforward. There is an online application portion for “basic in-formation, extracurricular activities, coursework, and awards/honors.” Addi-

tionally, there are smaller essays for “career goals, research experience, cultural background, and important experiences.” With this, applicants must also submit three letters of recommendation as well as a transcript. One important difference from other scholarship programs is that the Goldwater Scholarship does not re-quire an interview. The student is first se-lected by a committee at Georgia Tech, which submits around four applications an-nually to the Goldwater Foundation for fi-nal selection. For any future students interested in applying for this scholarship, Srimani recommends looking at the requirements online to start preparing application mate-rials. He advises students to meet with Ad-

ams early on in the process to make sure the application is as strong as it can be. Two general pieces of advice he has to offer is networking and time management. He recommends that students get to know their professors by asking about their re-search and even finding something in their research to spark their interest which they can pursue. He also advises students to fo-cus on what is important to them and not get involved in too many things. “And if you've got a particular scholarship/program in mind, start the application early. Essays are a lot more difficult once you start re-vising them, and professors always appreci-ate a little extra time to write letters!”

Karan Patel is an undergraduate student in the Coulter Department.

President G. P. “Bud” Peterson handing the Goldwater award to Jaydeep Srimani at the annual reception for the President's Scholars Program for the winners of prestigious scholarships. (Photo: GTRC / GIT)

NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Information Sessions September 7 - 11:00 AM in the Piedmont Room, Student Center September 30 - 11:00 AM in the Crescent Room, Student Center Last year, 38 Georgia Tech students won NSF awards worth about $122,000 each. Seniors and first-year graduate students in STEM areas are encouraged to attend the above sessions to learn more about applying for the NSF due the first week of November. Students have the opportunities to hear and ask questions from someone who has been an NSF reviewer.

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Adventure Into The Familiar: Discover Your Biotechnology Quad By Willa Ni

F amiliar geometric plots of grass framed by four buildings greet another

fall semester in the Georgia Tech Biotechnology Quad. Current inhabitants and newcomers alike will become accustomed to this sweeping view. But wait, look closer because these four distinct entities — U.A. Whitaker, Parker H. Petit Biotechnology (IBB), Molecular Science and Engineering (M Building), and Ford Environmental Science & Technology (ES&T) — may divulge a few secrets to you if you dare to adventure forth. Starting at the sidewalk flanked on the right by Whitaker and on the left by IBB, a glance upward reveals a skywalk leading between the third floors of the two buildings. The scent of chicken patties and the echo of conversations ride a gush of cool air out of the IBB doors. Following your nose into IBB, you will find Coffee Snobs — a café stocked with sandwiches, soups and other goods — which is responsible for the aromas you smelled outside. A scattering of tables, chairs and sofas invite the chattering of students, faculty and staff. A burst of colors in the back of the lobby suddenly draws your attention. At first, this giant mural appears

to be vividly dyed cells arranged with artistic intentions. As your eyes parse the canvas, a forearm emerges… followed by a fist, a torso, a head crowned with hair, and, finally, a classical figure comes forth. A quick intake of breathe is the only indication of your realization as a quick glance at oblivious fellow lobby dwellers reveals that they have already experienced this epiphany. Bypassing rooms of core equipment and laboratory wings, a staircase winds downward for tunnel access to the M Building. The lobby walls in the M Building allow the studious inhabitant to brush up on chemical elements. A glance toward the quad relocates you if you have become disoriented. Now IBB stands to the right, ES&T on the left and Whitaker directly opposite. Your stroll across another skywalk toward ES&T is happily interrupted by Seattle’s Best Coffee and Einstein Bros Bagels. The local population is obviously running off on caffeine. Arriving at ES&T, an increasing rumbling warns you of the daily migration. Soon lab managers and technicians approach with a lumbering gray cart in tow on their way to the VWR stockroom to

collect eagerly awaited packages for their respective lab mates. ES&T also houses, among the typical lecture halls and labs, a workshop, a glass blower and start-up company offices. One last tunnel from ES&T leads past a lone treadmill to the brightly colored walls of the Whitaker basement. Doors solemnly labeled “shower” may twist an amused smile upon your lips as you think of the many occasions students have been accused of living on the Quad.1 A low murmur escapes from the class labs as groups of students hash out the latest academic challenges. Tucked away in the corner beside a flight of stairs is a well-equipped workshop and home of the Guild, a workshop mentoring organization. To the left, students frantically click, cut and create in the computer and senior design laboratories. Emerging from the stairwell, a sunny lobby lined with the infamous whiteboard-walled problem-based learning classrooms extends to the right and a set of glass doors leading across a sidewalk to IBB is immediately ahead. Heading back to Coffee Snobs for a snack after the long journey, you complete your adventure around the perimeter of the Quad...

Thanks to roof access via the M-Building, the above picture was taken. Capturing only a corner of the Quad, this bird's eye view hints at the overall cyclical and interwoven architecture of the Quad. (Photo: Debika Mitra)

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What Does It Take?

BME Outstanding Senior: Joseph Mets By Eric Huang

J oseph Mets is the recipient of BME's Outstanding Senior Award for the graduating class of Spring 2010. Mets was chosen by a panel of four students and four faculty members. After graduation, Mets plans on attend-ing medical school, after which he tentatively plans to pursue a general pedi-atric residency and a pediatric cardiologist fellowship. “Then, I can start saving lives,” quips Mets. As a BME, Mets felt that a “critical part of [the] major” was working in teams with other students. “The more you understand your teammates – how they work, how they think, who they are – the more effectively you'll learn,” said Mets, “I really liked that component of BME.” And as the interview progressed, one notices that Mets carried this atmosphere into many other aspects of his life. Outside of the classroom, Mets actively involved himself in research. Mets worked with Elliot Chaikof, professor and doctor at Emory University, who was both a research scientist and a practicing vascular surgeon. Of particular interest to him there, Mets witnessed the tight interface of medicine and engineering in Chaikof's research programs. At the Chaikof lab, Mets assisted in the ongoing research into polyelectrolyte multi-film coatings for intraportal islet transplan-

tation. The remainder of his undergraduate career would be invested in the islet research where he contributed to improv-ing the polyelectrolyte coating process, ultimately culminating into a research manuscript (awaiting publication). “It wasn't easy to find my place in the research lab where all the people were four, five or six years ahead of you in their education,” admitted Mets. By conscien-tiously learning the existing research and background material, Mets found places where his “strengths could mesh with the work already done.” For example, his mentor John Wilson had optimized the islet coating process but lacked the technical know-how to auto-mate it. Noticing this, Mets approached his mentor and asked to work on automating the process as a side project. Though eventually a long ordeal, Mets was able to automate the process with a computer integrated bioreactor system. His project facilitated the investigation of methods to coat a variety of living cells to prevent immuno- and thrombotic reactions. Additionally, Mets actively engaged in various academic and extracurricular activities. He joined the Biomedical Student Advisory Board, volunteered at the Good Samaritan Health Center, and played intra-mural sports. He even spent a semester

Joseph Mets was awarded the Outstanding Senior Award at the conclusion of Spring 2010 for his excellence in academics, leadership skills, and research. (Photo: Joseph Mets)

Willa Ni is an undergraduate student in the Coulter Department. 1The Pioneer does not endorse living on the Quad or using the shower rooms.

...These passageways serve as more than just refuge from a rainy day walk between buildings; they convert apparently disparate discip lines into one contiguous biotechnology body. Yes, a collaborative research culture is a large segment of this biotechnology body. This practice is implemented throughout the Quad in Whitaker’s NeuroLab and the entirety of the Institute for Bioengineering and Bioscience. But this collaborative culture encompasses all the creative output of the Quad, which runs the gamut of senior design projects, whiteboard cartoons, groundbreaking papers, del ic ious smoothies, enlightening seminars and even a newsletter. Next time you enter the Quad take a moment to explore the ordinary and pursue your own adventure!

overseas in Italy studying film. To students, Mets offers a few words of wisdom. “BME is all about delayed gratification. BME is frustrating, but it… tends to be rewarding in the long run. It can be difficult to see the bigger picture, but whether you work in basic science or as a clinician, all of that will contribute to help place that sick kid back on the playground again. That's what I find interesting and that's why I chose BME.”

Eric Huang is an undergraduate student in the Coulter Department..

To the left is a typical view of a connecting tunnel. Depicted above is a sign located along one of the connecting tunnels, what one would think is synonymous to a "corridor." This sign begs the questions: What is a corridor? Why must a corridor be labeled? (Photos: Debika Mitra)

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Faculty Spotlight from Page 1 in the immune response to eliminate the virus. After that, leftover T-cells or memory T-cells stay in the body so the next time the same foreign body (or peptide sequence) is encountered, the organism can respond more quickly and more effectively. In the midst of all of this, there are a large number of signals being conveyed between all the members of the immune system. The intricate process of cell signaling involves cell adhesion to different molecules and is the focus of the CMBL. In much the same way a human being uses touch, sight, hearing, taste and smell to sense the environment, “cells use surface molecules to sense the environment.” This sensing mechanism is important in generating an appropriate response to ensure the survival of the fittest behavior. Suppose an organism is injured. This injury causes blood vessels to rupture and signals surrounding cells to initiate a repair response. Inflammation around the injury site sends out signals to “recruit” leukocytes. How does a leukocyte elsewhere in the body find its way to the injury site? Molecules called selectins act as homing beacons for leukocytes in five steps – “capture, rolling, slow rolling, firm adhesion and transmigration.” A leukocyte is initially “captured,” or tethered to a vessel wall by binding to a selectin, slowing down the leukocyte. It then rolls on the vessel wall to maintain contact with selectins. In this manner, it allows another set of molecular interactions by integrins to occur. This slows down the leukocyte even further, until eventually it arrives at the injury site.

Biomechanics Laboratory) also allows him to focus on research and collaborate with researchers around the world. Research at the CMBL focuses on cell adhesion and signaling in the immune and vascular systems. The general scientific body accepts that the adaptive immunity is initiated by T-cell recognition, but deeper facets of the processes have yet to be understood – specifically, interactions at the sub-cellular and molecular levels that enable the T cell to discriminate self from non-self. These interactions, when combined with the plethora of signaling pathways, produce the macroscopic immune response that is observed and understood. The immune system works by building a “repertoire of T-cells” that recognizes foreign bodies but tolerates self bodies. Whenever a foreign body is encountered, T-cells initialize a learning process that concludes with a specific subset of T-cells and receptors that recognize the encountered body as foreign and, therefore, malicious. For example, when a virus is detected, a macrophage will engulf the virus and break it down into small peptide chains. It then “presents the antigen on the cell surface” of a molecule referred to as the major histocompatibility complex (MHC). A T-cell receptor can then recognize a macrophage’s signal that it has encountered a foreign body. This interaction between the T-cell and the macrophage causes the T-cell to undergo clonal expansion and proliferate. This ensures that enough T-cells will participate

As the CMBL probes deeper into the interactions involved in the immune response, the importance of studying cell adhesion becomes more obvious as counter-intuitive results are discovered. Using atomic force microscopy, Zhu’s team has observed an unusual behavior in how force alters how long an adhesion bond lasts. Intuitively, force is destructive and shortens the lifetime of a molecular bond, an ordinary behavior referred to as slip bonds. However, what the CMBL has found is a counterintuitive type of molecular bonds called catch bonds, such that when such a bond is pulled on, the lifetime is increased. Why does the molecule exhibit this unusual behavior? Moreover, what possible function could this serve biologically? These are some of the questions that Zhu’s lab is involved in investigating. Through this research, Zhu’s lab can better our understanding of immune response and the molecules involved. Such understandings can lead to better therapy which cooperates with the body’s natural immune response to fight diseases for a large range of ailments. For more information on Zhu’s research, please visit: www.bme.gatech.edu/groups/zhu

For more information on the PKU program, please visit:

www.bme.gatech.edu/pku.shtml

Dhruv Vishwakarma is an undergraduate student in the Coulter Department.

UNDERGRADUATES: Do Research in China. Apply for the CURE Program!

The CURE Program is a year-long program for undergraduates interested in working on collaborative research projects between faculty in the Biomedical Engineering Departments at Peking University and Georgia Tech/Emory University. Students will perform research for academic credit during Spring 2011 and Fall 2011 at Georgia Tech/Emory University and spend 11 weeks at Peking University for pay. Airfare, housing, and a $2000 stipend will be provided from the National Science Foundation. Application forms are available in the BME Academic Office. Deadline is November 5.

Get Your BME Ph.D. From Three Places At Once

Get a Ph.D. from Georgia Tech, Emory, and Peking University. Students will have an advisor at the home campus and co-advisor at the secondary campus. Most of the classes and research will take place on the home campus. However, students will also spend at least one year taking classes and participating in research in the co-advisor's lab on the secondary campus. Most classes will be taught in English and a single dissertation will satisfy the thesis requirements of all three institutions. Students will be fully supported as long as they maintain satisfactory progress in the program. What are you waiting for? Apply now!

www.bme.gatech.edu/pku.shtml

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China, I learned much more about what it means to be a researcher in a globalized world. I spent most of my research time at PKU in two labs: the lab of associate professor Ying Luo and associate professor Dehai Liang. I would test multiple materials' ability to form a complex with siRNA and run a series of experiments to measure the size and stability of the complexes formed. I worked closely with two graduate students, Jihan Zhou and Liu Jie. Equipped with my two years of Chinese and my Chinese-English dictionary (and of course their nearly-flawless English), we not only worked with great efficiency, but also became good friends. From failed experiments to talking about The Big Bang Theory, an American sitcom about two physicists living together, the lack of a true cultural gap never ceased to amaze me. However, this did not mean there was no cultural exchange. Though most students at PKU were fairly westernized, we were still living in a country on the opposite side of the world. In Beijing, I got to celebrate Buddha's birthday with monks (who subsequently tried to convince me to join a Buddhist retreat), see incredibly contemporary art in Beijing's famed Factory 798 Art District (where I ran into a Georgia Tech alumni), sing karaoke with Chinese students, hike the Great Wall, and witness Tiananmen Square. These exper-iences and many more not only showed me a fantastic foreign culture but also made me realize that I had my own culture. Every time I saw something I considered odd, like fried scorpion on a stick, there

was likely something equally confounding about me to them. In fact, my red beard was a never-ending source of curiosity to children. Having someone ask if they or their child could take a picture with me went from weird to commonplace. The curiosity towards foreigners quickly became something that defined many of my interactions. I spent a few days in Inner Mongolia, but I actually missed my first train there (I would later run to the ticket station to buy a pass for a train leaving at 2 AM). Unfortunately, they didn’t have any seats, so I had to stand on the train for 11 hours. Anyway, while I was waiting outside the station for my train, a Chinese man asked me if I spoke Chinese, and we ended up talking for 3 hours. Other people overheard me speaking Chinese, and next thing I knew, I had about ten people sitting around me. They all had questions about America and wanted to see pictures of it. They wanted to know about my family, my school, my friends - everything! Yet, Beijing was just the surface of China. It was when I traveled around the smaller areas of China, like Inner Mongolia and Hangzhou, that the world, ironically, began to feel much smaller. In Inner Mongolia, I got to see the largest festival of the year, where people from different villages came together and competed in archery, horseback riding, and wrestling. One night, I was staying in a small hostel, having a beer with a Frenchman and an Irishman. We were just enjoying the stars, fire, and the company, and it turned out that they worked in the biomedical field. It also turned out that the Irishman’s

company was putting most of its efforts into the same thing my research was about. It was an incredible coincidence, and it made me truly realize how global things are. A week later in Beijing, I heard a Justin Bieber song play outside a McDonald's. I texted my friend back in the States about it. The whole thing suddenly seemed very surreal. There I was in China outside a McDonalds, listening to American music, and texting my friend from thousands of miles away, using a phone made in China, whose microchips were made in Indonesia, and a screen designed in Korea. It made me realize how interconnected everything is now. It was at that moment that the world truly felt flat and so small. No accomplishment, advancement, product - nothing can be claimed by a single organization or country now. Perhaps the Irishman's company will change the direction of my research tomorrow. Everything humanity does now is a global effort in every sense. I have left China with more than just new knowledge of experimental procedures and cationic materials and new friends from Georgia Tech and Peking University. I left with a new perspective of the world. China is no longer a faraway land that I am disconnected from. It is now a neighbor to me, and I now realize that nothing is disconnected and everything is interdependent. This isn't a view that I only apply to China, but it is something that I can see for the rest of the world.

Adventure in China from Page 1

Alex Cooper is an undergraduate student in the Coulter Department.

In addition to working in research laboratories, students of the CURE Program often spent time traveling, including visiting the Great Wall of China (left). Students of the program having dinner at a local Pizza Hut in China (right). (Photos: Alex Cooper)

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R esearchers have developed an im-proved coating technique that could strengthen the connection between tita-nium joint-replacement implants and a patient's own bone. The stronger connec-tion — created by manipulating signals the body's own cells use to encourage growth — could allow the implants to last longer. Implants coated with “flower bouquet” clusters of an engineered protein that mimics the body's own cell-adhesion mate-rial fibronectin made 50 percent more contact with the surrounding bone than implants coated with protein pairs or indi-vidual strands. The cluster-coated implants were fixed in place more than twice as securely as plugs made from bare titanium — which is how joints are currently at-tached. Researchers believe the biologically-inspired material improves bone growth around the implant and strengthens the attachment and integration of the implant to the bone. This work also shows for the first time that biomaterials presenting bio-logical sequences clustered together at the nanoscale enhance cell adhesion signals. These enhanced signals result in higher levels of bone cell differentiation in human stem cells and promote better integration of biomaterial implants into bone. “By clustering the engineered fi-bronectin pieces together, we were able to create an amplified signal for attracting integrins, receptors that attached to the fibronectin and directed and enhanced bone formation around the implant,” said Andres Garcia, professor in Georgia Tech's Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineer-ing and the Petit Institute for Bioengineer-ing and Bioscience. Details of the new coating were re-ported in the August 18 issue of the jour-nal Science Translational Medicine. The research was supported by the National Institutes of Health, the Arthritis Founda-tion, and the Atlanta Clinical and Transla-tional Science Institute through the Geor-gia Tech/Emory Center for the Engineering of Living Tissues. Total knee and hip replacements typi-cally last about 15 years until the compo-nents wear down or loosen. For many younger patients, this means a second sur-gery to replace the first artificial joint. With approximately 40 percent of the 712,000 total hip and knee replacements in the United States in 2004 performed on younger patients 45-64 years old, improv-

ing the lifetime of the titanium joints and creating a better connection with the bone becomes extremely important. In this study, Georgia Tech School of Chemistry and Biochemistry professor David Collard and his students coated clinical-grade titanium with a high density of polymer strands — akin to the bristles on a toothbrush. Then, García and Tim Petrie — formerly a graduate student at Georgia Tech and currently a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Washington — modified the polymer to create three or five self-assembled tethered clusters of the engineered fibronectin, which contained the arginine-glycine-aspartic acid (RGD) sequence to which integrins binds. To evaluate the in vivo performance of the coated titanium in bone healing, the researchers drilled two-millimeter circular holes into a rat's tibia bone and pressed tiny clinical-grade titanium cylinders into the holes. The research team tested coat-ings that included individual strands, pairs, three-strand clusters and five-strand clus-ters of the engineered fibronectin protein. “To investigate the function of these surfaces in promoting bone growth, we quantified osseointegration, or the growth of bone around the implant and strength of the attachment of the implant to the bone,” explained García, who is also a Woodruff Faculty Fellow at Georgia Tech. Analysis of the bone-implant interface four weeks later revealed a 50 percent enhancement in the amount of contact between the bone and implants coated with three- or five-strand tethered clusters compared to implants coated with single strands. The experiments also revealed a 75 percent increase in the contact of the three- and five-strand clusters compared to the current clinical standard for replace-ment-joint implants, which is uncoated titanium. The researchers also tested the fixa-tion of the implants by measuring the amount of force required to pull the im-plants out of the bone. Implants coated with three- and five-strand tethered clus-ters of the engineered fibronectin fragment displayed 250 percent higher mechanical fixation over the individual strand and pairs coatings and a 400 percent improvement compared to the unmodified polymer coat-ing. The three- and five-cluster coatings also exhibited a twofold enhancement in pullout strength compared to uncoated titanium.

Nanocluster Protein Coating on Titanium Strengthens Implant Attachment By Abby Vogel Robinson

Professors David Collard (left) and Andrés García (right) show that coating titanium joint-replacement implants with clusters of a biologically inspired material (bottom) could strengthen the connection between the implant and a patient’s own bone. (Photos: GTRC / GIT)

Abby Vogel Robinson is a communications officer in the GT Research News & Publications Office and a collaborator of The Pioneer.

Georgia Tech bioengineering graduate students Ted Lee and David Dumbauld, chemistry graduate students Subodh Jagtap and Jenny Raynor, and research technician Kellie Templeman also contributed to this study.

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T he National Science Foundation (NSF) has awarded $3 million to the Georgia Institute of Technology to fund a unique research program on stem cell bio-manufacturing. The program is specifically focused on developing engineering methods for stem cell production, in order to meet the anticipated demand for stem cells. The award comes through the NSF’s Integrative Graduate Education and Research Traineeship (IGERT) Program, which supports innovation in graduate education in fields that cross academic disciplines and have broad societal impact. While stem cell research is on the verge of broadly impacting many elements of the medical field — regenerative medicine, drug discovery and development, cell-based diagnostics and cancer — the bio-process engineering that will be required to manufacture sufficient quantities of functional stem cells for these diagnostic and therapeutic purposes has not been rigorously explored. “Successful y integrating knowledge of stem cell biology with bioprocess engineering and process development into single indi-viduals is the challenging goal of this program,” said Todd McDe-vitt, an associate professor in the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering at Georgia Tech and Emory University and a Petit Faculty Fellow in the Parker H. Petit Institute for Bio-engineering and Biosciences at Georgia Tech. McDevitt is leading the IGERT with Robert M. Nerem, profes-sor emeritus of the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering at Georgia Tech. Nerem is also director of the Geor-gia Tech/Emory Center (GTEC) for Regenerative Medicine, which will administer this award. Ph.D. students funded by Georgia Tech’s stem cell bio-manufacturing IGERT will receive interdisciplinary educational training in the biology, engineering, enabling technologies, com-mercialization and public policy related to stem cells. Their re-search efforts will focus on developing innovative engineering ap-proaches to bridge the gap between basic discoveries made in stem cell biology and therapeutic stem cell-based technologies. “This program provides a unique opportunity for engineers to generate standardized and quantitative methods for stem cell iso-lation, characterization, propagation and differentiation,” said Nerem. “These techniques must be developed in a scalable man-ner to efficiently produce sufficient numbers of stem cells and derivatives in accessible formats in order to yield a spectrum of novel therapeutic and diagnostic applications of stem cells.” The Georgia Tech program is centered around three main research thrusts, which focus on several critical technologies that must be developed to enable the application and use of stem cell-based products:

• Creating reproducible, controlled and scalable methods to expand and differentiate stem cells with defined pheno-types and epigenetic states.

• Developing reliable, rapid and quantifiable methods to characterize the composition and function of stem cells to be generated.

• Designing low-cost systems capable of producing large populations of defined stem cells and derivatives.

Students in the program will be able to take advantage of the core facilities provided by the new Stem Cell Engineering Center at Georgia Tech, which is directed by McDevitt. Technologies developed by the students supported through this IGERT will be rapidly integrated into academic and industrial stem cell practices and cell-based products.

The award will support 30 new Ph.D. students over the next five years and brings together more than two dozen faculty mem-bers from Georgia Tech, Emory University, the University of Georgia and the Morehouse School of Medicine. In addition, plans are being made for students to participate in international re-search collaborations with the National University of Ireland at Galway, Imperial College London, the University of Cambridge and the University of Toronto. “We anticipate this program will produce the future leaders and innovators in the field of stem cell bio-manufacturing who will contribute significantly at the interface of stem cell engineering, biology and therapy,” added McDevitt.

Enjoyed This Article?

Keep up with more

groundbreaking news at: www.gatech.edu/newsroom

NSF Awards Stem Cell Bio-Manufacturing Research And Education Program At Georgia Tech By Abby Vogel Robinson

Biomedical engineering associate professor Todd McDevitt (left) and mechanical engineering professor emeritus Robert Nerem (right) received a $3 million award from NSF’s Integrative Graduate Education and Research Traineeship (IGERT) program. (Photo: GTRC / GIT)

Abby Vogel Robinson is a communications officer in the GT Research News & Publications Office and a collaborator of The Pioneer.

Page 10

Please join the following lecturers in this semester’s exciting series of the IBB Breakfast Club! Complimentary continental breakfast will be served as always. 8:30-9:30 AM at the IBB Suddath Room 1128.

September 14, 2010 - Thomas Barker, Ph.D. - Assistant Professor, Department of Biomedical Engineering, Georgia Tech & Emory University - “Designing Cell Instructive Extracellular Matrices” October 12, 2010 - Michael Davis, Ph.D. - Assistant Professor, Department of Biomedical Engineering, Georgia Tech & Emory University - Title TBA November 9, 2010 - Greg Gibson, Ph.D. - Professor, School of Biology, and Director of the Center for Integrative Genomics - “The Center for Integrative Genomics and Predictive Health in Atlanta”

Fall 2010 Bioengineering Seminar Series

The Bioengineering Seminar Series is a joint

seminar series between IBB and the BME

department held Tuesdays and Thursdays

between 11:00-12:00 PM in IBB room 1128.

August 17 - Robert Sah, Ph.D.

University of California, San Diego

“Bioengineering of Articular Cartilage and Synovial Fluid:

Foundations for Biological Joint Replacement”

September 9 - Robert Balaban, Ph.D.

National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute

October 14 - Denis Wirtz, Ph.D.

Johns Hopkins University

October 28 - Paula Hammond, Ph.D.

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

November 11 - Dhananjay K. Kaul, Ph.D.

Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Veshiva University

Attention Undergraduates: Become a 2011 Petit Scholar!

The Petit Undergraduate Research Scholars program is a competi-tive scholarship program, open to all Atlanta area university students, that allows undergraduates to conduct independent re-search in the laboratories of the Parker H. Petit Institute for Bio-engineering and Bioscience (IBB). The program provides a compre-hensive research experience to scholars who will be mentored by graduate students and postdocs in IBB’s state-of-the-art laborato-ries. Research projects will last from January to December of 2011. Program Outline $1,450 stipend for spring semester — work 12+ hours a week $3,000 stipend for summer session — work 40+ hours a week $1,450 stipend for fall semester — work 12+ hours a week Applications are due September 17, 2010. For more details and eligibility criteria, please visit:

www.petitscholars.gatech.edu

Hang Out With a Robot. Make $10!

Tiffany Chen from the Healthcare Robotics Lab is conducting a human-robot interaction study.

Participants are asked to spend around 30 minutes interacting with a humanoid robot.

For more details, please visit http://tinyurl.com/hri-experiment and contact tiffany.chen@gatech.edu

with an appointment time.

2010 IBB Distinguished Lecturer Please join Ronald D. G. McKay, Ph.D., from the

Lieber Institute for Brain Development, Johns Hopkins School of

Medicine, in his lecture entitled “Controlling Stem Cells.”

September 21, 11:00 AM in the IBB Atrium

Are You Pre-Health?

Attend a Mandatory Pre-health Workshop hosted by Georgia Tech’s Pre-Health Advisor, Jennifer Kimble, to learn more about attending health pro-fessional schools, including medical, pharmacy, and dental. Attendance of these sessions are required to schedule an appointment with Jennifer Kimble.

September 8 - 5:00 PM, SSC Clary Theatre

October 6 - 4:30 PM, President’s Suite A

November 1 - 6:00 PM, SSC Clary Theatre

December 13 - 4:00 PM, SSC Clary Theatre

For more information, please contact:

jennifer.kimble@carnegie.gatech.edu

Page 11

Graduate Program in Biomedical Engineering

Research Emphasis:

• Biomedical Imaging • Biomedical Implants and

Devices • Cardiac Electrophysiology • Computational Multiscale

Modeling • Tissue Engineering &

Regenerative Medicine

For more information: http://www.uab.edu/engineering/departments-research/be or https://app.applyyourself.com/?id=uab-grad

Program Highlights: • Strong interdisciplinary research and training

• Master’s and Ph.D. degree pro-grams

• Competitive stipends and tuition assistance

• Strong collaborations with Medicine, Dentistry & Joint Health Sciences

• Exceptional research mentors • Excellent professional placement

ADVERTISE ON THE PIONEER! www.thepioneer.gatech.edu/sponsorship

Page 12

T eams of seniors participating in Senior Design II (BMED 4601) taught by professor Franklin Bost revealed impressive de-vices, the product of their last two semesters. Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering at Georgia Tech and Emory University undergraduate students displayed their crea-tions in a poster session this past spring and in a presentation this past summer. After forming teams of around four students at the beginning of Senior Design I (BMED 4601), each team underwent a selection process. This process paired the teams with advisors from indus-try, academia, and government who had specific projects that the teams tackle. With a budget of $500, these students received two semesters to innovate, invent, and create prototypes of a device. The detail and number of prototypes on display this past spring and summer revealed a wide variety of design iterations. No two teams traveled the same path on their two semester journey.

Below summarizes only a few of the many projects produced. They were not chosen on any comparative grading scale against other projects. RatFib – External Rat Defibrillator (Spring 2010) Rania Khan, Srinya Konduru, Ramya Parthasarathy, Clarisse Pallah After performing a time consuming experiment on a test subject, such as a rat, a researcher usually has no way of ensuring the sur-vival of the subject. The RatFib was designed to fulfill this need. If a rat experiences a cardiac arrhythmia then this miniaturized defi-brillator can be applied to the rat. The team was tasked with miniaturizing a human defibrillator with user friendly interfaces and controls. A working model was successfully built and tested. In the testing situation a cardiac arrhythmia was stimulated in a rat. Upon application of the RatFib the arrhythmia was corrected.

“Smart-Arm” Tele-Operative Interface for Health Care Robotics (Spring 2010) Oliver Albrecht, Christa Caesar, Tiara Napier, Nishant Zachariah Advisors: Dr. Charles Kemp, Zhengqin Fan Dusty is a robot designed by Dr. Charles Kemp’s Health Care Robotics Laboratory. Originally it interfaces with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) patients, who have limited mobility, to help them pick up objects. The team designed a wheelchair attachment that allows the user to control Dusty through a joystick and screen. Several design iterations allowed the team to explore the compatibility of their designs with the material choice and manu-facturability. A working prototype, which successfully manipulated Dusty, was created and demonstrated. Device Design for the Reconstitution and Administration of Lyophilized Drugs (Summer 2010) Kasiem Anderson and Inez Falcon Advisor: Parika Petaipimol Lyophilized drugs are a freeze dried powder form of a drug that must be reconstituted in a liquid before administration. Devices exist to reconstitute lyophilized drugs, but they require nine to twelve steps, which allow more room for error. The team was tasked to design a device that made the reconstitution of drugs as easy as possible for the users. In the end, the mechanism only required a two step operation of a syringe, which first pulled the diluents into a syringe where the drug was and then pushed the reconstituted drug out the end of the syringe. The team also successfully demonstrated a proof of concept for their mechanism for reconstitution.

A thank you goes to the un-credited advisors of the above and unmentioned projects. Not only are these projects impossible without your contributions, but you have also given your precious time and knowledge to further the education of Coulter Department undergraduate students.

BME Senior Design Spring And Summer 2010 Presentations By Willa Ni

Students of the Coulter Department present their senior designs via a poster session in the Whitaker Lobby at the end of Spring 2010 (top). A senior design group stands with Professor Franklin Bost (right). (Photos: Adrianne Proeller)

Willa Ni is an undergraduate student in the Coulter Department..

Page 13

Recent Coulter Department Publications

Advanced Materials High-density Stretchable Electronics: Toward an Integrated Multilayer Composite.

Guo L, Deweerth SP Analytical Chemistry Multiplexed detection and characterization of rare tumor cells in Hodgkin's lymphoma with multicolor quantum dots.

Liu J, Lau SK, Varma VA, Kairdolf BA, Nie S Angewandte Chemie International Edition A significant improvement of the efficacy of radical oxidant probes by the kinetic isotope effect.

Kundu K, Knight SF, Lee S, Taylor WR, Murthy N Annual Review of Biomedical Engineering Sickle cell biomechanics.

Barabino GA, Platt MO, Kaul DK Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis, and Vascular Biology An In Vivo Murine Model of Low-Magnitude Oscillatory Wall Shear Stress to Address the Molecular Mechanisms of Mechanotransduction--Brief Report.

Willett NJ, Long RC Jr, Maiellaro-Rafferty K, Sutliff RL, Schafer R, Oshinski JN, Giddens DP, Guldberg RE, Taylor WR

Bioconjugate Chemistry Surface ligand effects on metal-affinity coordination to quantum dots: implications for nanoprobe self-assembly.

Dennis AM, Sotto DC, Mei BC, Medintz IL, Mattoussi H, Bao G Synthesis and Evaluation of Human Serum Albumin-Modified Exendin-4 Conjugate via Heterobifunctional Polyethylene Glycol Linkage with Protracted Hypoglycemic Efficacy. Kim I, Kim TH, Ma K, Lee ES, Kim D, Oh KT, Lee DH, Lee KC, Youn YS Biomaterials Use of molecular beacons to image effects of titanium surface microstructure on beta1 integrin expression in live osteoblast-like cells.

Lennon FE, Hermann CD, Olivares-Navarrete R, Rhee WJ, Schwartz Z, Bao G, Boyan BD

Brain Research Utility of axial and radial diffusivity from diffusion tensor MRI as markers of neurodegeneration in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.

Metwalli NS, Benatar M, Nair G, Usher S, Hu X, Carew JD Cancer Investigation Impact of clinical and non-clinical factors on the choice of HER2 test for breast cancer.

Ashok M, Griffin P, Halpern M Carbohydrate Research Synthesis of an Fmoc-threonine bearing core-2 glycan: a building block for PSGL-1 via Fmoc-assisted solid-phase peptide synthesis.

Krishnamurthy VR, Dougherty A, Kamat M, Song X, Cummings RD, Chaikof EL

Human Brain Mapping Increased “default mode” activity in adolescents prenatally exposed to cocaine.

Li Z, Santhanam P, Coles CD, Lynch ME, Hamann S, Peltier S, Hu X Journal of Biomechanical Engineering Mechanics of the mitral valve strut chordae insertion region.

Padala M, Sacks MS, Liou SW, Balachandran K, He Z, Yoganathan AP Journal of Biomedical Materials Research Part A Microsphere size effects on embryoid body incorporation and embryonic stem cell differentiation.

Carpenedo RL, Seaman SA, McDevitt TC Journal of Neuroscience Methods Autogenic EMG-Controlled Functional Electrical Stimulation, for Ankle Dorsiflexion Control.

Yeom H, Chang YH Magnetic Resonance in Medicine Simultaneous acquisition of gradient echo/spin echo BOLD and perfusion with a separate labeling coil.

Glielmi CB, Xu Q, Craddock RC, Hu X NeuroMolecular Medicine An Introduction to Sphingolipid Metabolism and Analysis by New Technologies.

Chen Y, Liu Y, Sullards MC, Merrill AH Jr Neuroimaging Clinics of North America Applications of Nanotechnology to Imaging and Therapy of Brain Tumors.

Mohs AM, Provenzale JM Organic Letters Hoechst-IR: an imaging agent that detects necrotic tissue in vivo by binding extracellular DNA.

Dasari M, Lee S, Sy J, Kim D, Lee S, Brown M, Davis M, Murthy N Tissue Engineering Part A Biomimetic Microenvironment Modulates Neural Stem Cell Survival, Migration, and Differentiation.

Stabenfeldt SE, Munglani G, Garcia AJ, Laplaca M Guiding epithelial cell phenotypes with engineered integrin specific recombinant fibronectin fragments.

Barker TH, Brown AC, Rowe J The Pharmacogenomics Journal k-Nearest neighbor models for microarray gene expression analy-sis and clinical outcome prediction.

Parry RM, Jones W, Stokes TH, Phan JH, Moffitt RA, Fang H, Shi L, Oberthuer A, Fischer M, Tong W, Wang MD

Trends in Endocrinology and Metabolism Lymphatic lipid transport: sewer or subway?

Dixon JB

Submit your recent publications to: thepioneer@gatech.edu

The Pioneer congratulates the following faculty, post-docs, and students for the following recent research publications.

Page 14

Ask An Alum: All About Resumes

M y biggest pet peeve is when a person fresh out of college doesn’t put their GPA. I’d rather see a low one than none at all since when there’s not one it signifies to me that the student not only has a low GPA, but is trying to be sly about it and hopes you don’t notice. It shows that you may be in for a pattern of dishonesty if they come on full time. The last thing you need in a person who is just entering the field is someone who tries to cover up their shortcomings, as opposed to addressing them and learning from it. I think the most important part of the resume is anything showing hands on experience. I’m far more interested in research experience than a detailed listing of what classes were taken. If the applicant has no research experience then the “hobbies” section of the resume can carry a surprising amount of weight with me. If you have a hobby that is hands on and requires troubleshooting and trial and error (for example working on cars or electronics) it will far outweigh a few tenths of a point in GPA. I’ve worked with about 10 co-ops or new engineers in my short time in industry and without fail the “car guys” have been far better engineers than those with near perfect GPAs and no experience outside of the classroom in research or technically challenging hobbies. Research and hobbies as I’ve mentioned ingrain a level of “engineering intui-tion” into an individual that no amount of class time can.

Mark Baglia Class of 2006

Advanced Manufacturing Engineer C.R. Bard

A bsolutely do not include the gazillion clubs/memberships/grades, etc. from high school. You are about to have an engi-neering degree from one of the best schools in the country which will speak for itself! Any resume over one page has wasted words (plus no one will read all of it). If you are published, I can find the article myself. Also, don't insult the reader's intelligence by making it super small font and extending the margins to smush more (useless) words in... We know what you are doing! The most important section (and should be the first) is a suc-cinct, one sentence of what it is you wish to accomplish in a ca-reer. This statement should be strong enough that you don't have to change it for each individual job for which you are applying. Additionally, it should give a little insight into your character.

Jessica Lott Class of 2004

Student Eastern Virginia Medical School

O ne of my resume “pet peeves” is when candidates list irrele-vant self-appointed titles such as “CEO of my summer land-scaping company”. Keep the work experience relevant to the specific job you are applying for. In fact, you should have a unique resume tailored to each specific job you are seeking.

Ryan Davis Class of 2005

Manager, Field Clinical Engineering EnteroMedics Inc.

I think that the most important thing to have in a resume is not only the list of experiences that you have had, but also quantifi-able improvements or goals that you made during that job. A pet peeve that I have is when a resume is very vague and makes state-ments such as “have excellent communication skills” without backing up those skills with how you have utilized them.

Lynn Replogle Class of 2007

Global Service & Support Engineer Abbott Molecular

A side from general spelling and grammar mistakes, my largest pet peeves are overall organization and brevity of the re-sume. Especially when at career fairs, the resume should be very concise. You want an employer to quickly move through your resume and have a near complete understanding of your skills and experiences. Use the Tab features in your word processor to align bullet points and paragraphs. Using the spacebar can make the resume look sloppy. The most important section is your name and contact infor-mation. Make sure these are correct. You do not want to miss an opportunity due to something that is under your control. As far as content, I look for a broad spectrum of skills not just in one sec-tion. Since these are GT and biotechnology career fairs, everyone will have similar backgrounds. How can you differentiate yourself from your peers? What other organizations have you been a member? Companies have scaled down. In this job market you want to show versatility. Employers today want to hire people that can contribute in multiple areas rather than multiple people to do singular tasks.

John Henderson Class of 2007

Clinical Operations Engineer CardioMEMS, Inc.

O ne of my resume pet peeves is listing skills that include basic computing functions or other non-differentiating informa-tion. In this day and age, a college graduate, or any worker hoping to gain a job in a knowledge-based field, should have a working knowledge of MS Word, Excel, PowerPoint, typing ability, etc. For that fact, any successful candidate should have “collaboration skills”, a “strong work ethic”, or “innovative thinking”. I'm more interested in seeing those skills translated to an actual role or position, such as: Designer, Electrode Mesh for Cardiac Ablation

• “Collaborated with team of 4 senior students at Georgia Tech and 3 surgeons at Emory University to ...”

• “Generated novel/innovative solution and relevant IP filings to ...”

Anu Parvatiyar Class of 2008 R&D Engineer

C.R. Bard

“Do You Have Any Resume Pet Peeves? What Do You Think Is The Most Important Section Of A Resume And Why?”

Interested in Answering Future Questions? Email: thepioneer@gatech.edu

Advice Directly From The Keyboards Of BME Alumni

Page 15

The 2010 fall Career Fair is the largest Career Fair on Georgia Tech's campus. Last year, over 400 companies and 5,000 students attended the fair. Companies attending the fair are hiring co-ops, interns, and full-time positions, as well as students from all majors and degree types.

Georgia Tech

Career Fair

Campus Recreation Center (CRC)

Monday and Tuesday September 13 and 14 9:30 AM to 3:30 PM

Business formal attire required to enter.

6th Annual Career Services Resume Blitz

September 7-10 10:00 AM - 3:00 PM

Here’s your chance to get constructive feedback on your resume from employers in advance of the Career Fair and fall recruiting season. Just bring a hard copy of your resume to the employer representatives on September 7, 8 or 10 for a critique. Critiques on September 9 will be conducted virtually, so you will need to sign up in advance and upload your resume via CareerBuzz to participate. Resume critiques will be conducted in Academic Departments (September 7 and 8), virtually via Skype (September 9) and in the Bill Moore Student Success Center basement (September 10).

More Upcoming Student Programs Events

Graduate Student Resumes for Industry Success Center Theater September 16, 4:15 PM - 5:45 PM Successful Interviewing Strategies Success Center Theater September 22, 5:00 PM - 6:00 PM

Creating a Professional Resume Success Center Theater September 27, 5:00 PM - 6:00 PM Job Search Strategies Success Center Theater September 29, 5:00 PM - 6:00 PM

Keep Updated With Career Services

www.career.gatech.edu

Page 16

Need Help With Your Resume?

Check out some tips from BME

alums on Page 14!

Don’t Miss These Upcoming Events!

Career Fair Etiquette and the Elevator Pitch Learn all you need to know about leaving an impression on recruiters! September 7, 11 AM - 12 PM in IBB 1128

Undergraduate Career Panel Find out what BME Alums are doing in the job industry.

September 9, 11 AM - 12 PM, location TBA

The 6th Annual Georgia Tech Biotechnology Career Fair is less than a month away! Last year, over 200 undergraduates, graduates, and postdocs attended this fair, eagerly seeking to make an impression on 22 companies. This year, it will be even more. Companies specifically seek out this unique event as a way to tap into GT’s talented and targeted biotech community, so don’t miss out! To learn more or upload your resume to the student database, please visit the fair website at www.careerfair.bme.gatech.edu. In the meantime, be on the lookout for announcements regarding pre-fair events and opportunities to earn a free gift by volunteering for the big day!

WAIT… WHERE DO I GO?

Suit up, have your resumes ready, and bring your Buzz Cards to:

The MS&E Building Thursday, September 16

1:00-5:00 PM

For more updates on the career fair, visit:

www.careerfair.bme.gatech.edu