the global bioengineering network

The global bioengineering network

OFFICE OF THE VICE PRESIDENT FOR RESEARCH

Presented by

Erwin Gianchandani

Executive Director of BMEplanet &Director of Innovation Networking

Tom Skalak

Vice President for Research &Professor of Biomedical

Engineering

University of VirginiaOffice of the Vice President for Research

7 Oct. 2009www.bmeplanet.org

Overview

Overview ● Collaboration suite ● Development status ● Conclusions



BME as a field is multi-faceted

Biomedical engineering

Systems Engineering(systems integration, data fusion, complex systems

modeling)

Chemical Engineering(engineered biosurfaces,

biomolecular engineering, metabolic engineering)

Radiology(MR cardiac imaging, lung imaging, contrast agents,

cell tracking)

Cardiology(cardiac perfusion imaging, nuclear/ultrasound imaging)

Computer science(bioinformatics, grid

computing, simulations)

Mechanical engineering(drug infusion technology,

biomechanics, nanomechanics)

Materials science(protein nanopatterning,

quantum dots, biomaterials)

Electrical engineering(bioimage processing, self-

assembly, electronic interfaces, bioMEMs)

Orthopaedics(tissue, bone, joint

replacement, cell and tissue regeneration



A global sustainable network will…

• Facilitate new person-to-person links

• Accelerate BME education, research, and innovation– International corporate internships– Multi-university design projects– Capstone incubators for translational knowledge– Enhanced corporate access for new markets

• Raise the awareness of the field globally

• Increase productivity and improve human health/dignity– Experiential education of bioengineering talent for the workforce– Enhanced translation of bioengineering knowledge to products and services in

the clinic

Funded by the National Science Foundation

Feb. 2007-Feb. 2010

Funded by the Kauffman Foundation

Nov. 2008-Oct. 2009



270 organizations. 44 countries. 6 continents.Powering Web 2.0 solutions that accelerate bioengineering research, education, innovation.

Building a global network

UniversityCorporation

Government agencyNon-profit society

Investment firm



Web 2.0 collaboration suite

Professional networking

Opportunities

Collaborative project workspaces

Ideas




• Create a personalized profile to establish one’s self within the community, find colleagues (called “contacts”) for new collaborations (i.e., “network”), etc.

• Find opportunities (jobs, internships, funding, etc.) throughout the world; for students, internships would enable immersive, experiential education during their formative training

• Create collaborative project workspaces to accelerate file-sharing, blogging

• Faculty and students publicizing and innovating upon emerging ideas, new discoveries, late-breaking technologies, etc., into the mainstream to enhance translation of knowledge into products and services

A “one-stop-shop” for our community



• User-generated professional profiles of BME faculty, students, corporate representatives, entrepreneurs, investors, etc.

• Can search for colleagues and make new “contacts” through the website

• Effectively an online address book

• Internal messaging system enables access quick and easy communication with colleagues

Professional networking



• Corporate representatives, small business owners, entrepreneurs, etc., can post job or internship openings

• Research faculty can post openings for graduate student or postdoctoral fellows

• Interested parties can apply directly through the website by submitting their resume/CV and cover letter

• Further exchanges (e.g., interviews) are done offline

Opportunities



• Research and design teams can create “home pages” for their collaborative projects

• For projects, workspaces enable file sharing, blogging of research progress, and milestone tracking for projects

• Workspaces also enable bringing a particular BMEplanet user “community” or “group” together to interface with one another

• Workspaces can be public (viewable by anyone), members-only (viewable by BMEplanet users only), and private (viewable by team members only)

• A private workspace may be opened to non-team members at the conclusion of a project after IP is evaluated, assuming all users are in agreement

Collaborative project workspaces



• Enables bioengineers in all walks of life (students, faculty, corporate representatives, entrepreneurs, etc.) to share emerging ideas

• Faculty may post non-confidential summaries of recent discoveries

• Corporate representatives may search for technologies that address critical design challenges

• The community as a large may innovate upon ideas, and more interesting threads may be continued in “collaborative project workspaces” that protect IP integrity

Ideas



• Web 2.0 principles– “Light,” content-rich, easy to navigate– Portable, flexible, scalable

• Role-based design– Unique portals for each class of users, including students, faculty, administrators, tech transfer

officials/licensing agents, and corporate representatives/small business owners and employees/entrepreneurs

– Secure access for each individual

• Relational database– Can associate students and faculty with a given university, etc.– Can link faculty with former students, faculty with tech transfer officers, etc.

• Simple, “slim,” effective search function– Can search throughout the database much as Google searches Web pages (search across all fields

quickly and efficiently), locating BME knowledge by country or specialty– Search tool is visible on all pages in a consistent location

Overarching design criteria



Our home page @ www.bmeplanet.org



Development status




Development status

• Core functionality completed

• A one-month beta testing period among 10 Coulter Foundation Translational Research Partners (TRPs) mid-August to mid-September

• Launched to entire 270-organization network September 24, 2009



Conclusions & future directions




• Getting news through the paper or TV

• Spreading word via mail or phone

• Pamphleteering• Hierarchical leadership• Nationalism• Researching by using

encyclopedias or journal articles

• Opinions of experts

Key features of BMEplanet

• Getting news through the Internet

• Spreading word via social networking

• Blogging• “Side-by-side” leadership• Internationalism• Researching by using

Pubmed, including open access articles

• Opinions of colleagues

BME then… BME now…



Positive effects of a global network



Positive effects of a global network II



Funding support

AcknowledgementsThe global network for bioengineering

www.bmeplanet.org

UniversityCorporation

Government agencyNon-profit society

Investment firm

• Amy Lerner U of Rochester & BME-IDEA• Anil Rathi Idea Crossing• Charla Triplett BME Career Alliance• Chris Paschall Emory University OTT• Christine Kurihara bmesource.org• David Sandak ABC2

• Joy Polefrone FUS Foundation• John Elder Elder Research, Inc.• John Favazzo IIE• Joel Selzer Ozmosis, Inc.• John Delaney Morrison Foerster, LLP• Mike Remington Drinker-Biddle• Phil Weilerstein NCIIA• Robert Maybury IOCD• Vijay Renganathan IIE• Stephen Susalka Wake Forest University OTAM• Lisa Waples Strategic Career Alliance• Youseph Yazdi Johnson & Johnson, Inc.

Colleagues

Development team

http://www.bmeplanet.org/



Extra slides




The challenge of BME

the global bioengineering network

Documents

bioengineering research

new markets

new discoveries

new collaborations

bme education

lung imaging

translation of knowledge

biomolecular engineering