New Book from Webster on Nanoparticle Safety

Thomas J. Webster Publishes New Book on “Safety of Nanoparticles: From Manufacturing to Medical Applications”

Thomas J. Webster (Associate Professor, Division of Engineering and Department of Orthopedics, Brown University) has just published a new book on the “Safety of Nanoparticles: From Manufacturing to Medical Applications” by Springer. In spite of the potential use of nanomaterials as tissue engineering devices, implants, biosensors, drug delivery devices, etc., there has yet to be a compilation of the risks associated with the in vivo use of nanomaterials. There are numerous and well-known risks because of the size of nanoparticles. For example, nanoparticles can cross cell membranes and enter the cytoplasm undetected. The aim of this book is to provide one of the first detailed overviews of how cells and tissues in the body deal with nanoparticles. This is important not only for implantable devices, but also for the manufacturing of nanophase materials when particles can be inhaled or enter the body through the skin. This new book compiles research at the intersection of nanoparticles and biological processes to determine if nanophase materials are safe to be manufactured, handled, and/or implanted for various medical applications.

Liu Finalist for GEMS Award

Huinan Liu Selected As Finalist for the American Ceramic Society Graduate Excellence in Materials Science (GEMS) Award

Huinan Liu (Ph.D., Biomedical Engineering, 2008) was selected as a finalist for the prestigious Graduate Excellence in Materials Science (GEMS) Award. Huinan completed her Ph.D. under the direction of Prof. Thomas J. Webster (Materials, Biomedical Engineering, and Orthopedics) determining the potential of nanostructured ceramic polymer composites for regenerating bone. Huinan will give her award winning presentation at the MS&T’08 (Materials, Science and Technology Annual Conference) this Oct. 5 – 7, 2008 in Pittsburgh, PA

Brown hosts Computer Architecture Conference

As a joint effort of the Computing Research Association's Committee on the Status of Women (CRA-W) and the Coalition to Diversify Computing (CDC), Brown University hosted the second summer school workshop in Computer Architecture focused on Parallel Programming and Architectures. The workshop was held on August 20-21, 2008 and included a group of undergraduates (juniors or seniors) in computer science or computer engineering degree programs and related fields. The organizers included Iris Bahar, Brown University, Russ Joseph, Northwestern University, Margaret Martonosi, Princeton University, and Kunle Olukotun, Stanford University. A highlight was a question and answer session with former Turing Award winner, Frances Allen. We gratefully acknowledge support from CRA and CDC and the NSF BPC program. In addition, we also thank Sun Microsystems, IBM Research, and the Association for Computing Machinery for their generous contributions to help sponsor this event.

Archived articles as of August 2008

Division News Archives are available here.

Nanotech to regrow cartilage

Excerpt from full article available here: http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=nanotech-cartilage
Thomas Webster, an associate engineering professor at Brown University, and Brown researcher Dongwoo Khang, along with Grace Park, a research scientist (and one of Webster's former PhD students) at Becton, Dickinson and Company, a Franklin Lakes, N.J.–medical technology firm, say they grew cartilage cells by placing chondrocytes (cartilage-forming cells) and carbon nanotubes together on a polycarbonate urethane surface. As expected, cartilage cells grew around the nanotubes, which are so strong that scientists now use them to reinforce plastic. Researchers say they hastened new cell production by sending electrical surges through the nanotubes, which are also excellent conductors of electricity

Engineering course develops toys for rehabilitation

"Crisco was teaching an engineering course that combined industrial science students from Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) and engineering studies students at Brown University. The pair believed this was a perfect forum to bring creative minds together to create some prototypes for new therapeutic toys. Thus, Toys and Technology for Rehabilitation was formed."
News story link here:
http://www.lifespan.org/news/2008/07/01/toys-and-technology-for-rehabilitation/

NYT highlights CFL tech

The technology developed by Bob Hurt and his student Natalie Johnson in Engineering along with Steve Hamburg in Environmental Studies was written up in today's Science Times in the NY Times. In the print version it is on page D3.

The on-line NYT link here: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/08/science/08obcfl.html?ex=1216180800&en= 0d75d9294da22dfd&ei=5070&emc=eta1
The Brown press release here: http://news.brown.edu/pressreleases/2008/06/mercurycloth08jun

They have developed a material that can capture the mercury in compact fluorescent bulbs which goes into the environment if they are broken. I think this could be a very important technology and the inventors are getting a lot of interest in the IP.

Congratulations to Bob, Natalie, and Steve.

Major NIH Grant awarded

Associate Professor Diane Hoffman-Kim and Professor Tayhas Palmore earned a major NIH grant together.

Project Title: Quantifying Axon Growth in Complex Environments

Nerves fail to regenerate after injury and current medical practice is unable to manipulate effectively the process of nerve regeneration. The proposed research seeks to solve this problem by quantifying how guidance cues, both individually and in combination, promote axon growth in an inhibitory environment such as a nerve injury site.

Sirinrath Sirivisoot Highlighted

Sirinrath Sirivisoot highlighted for talk at the Materials Research Society International Materials Research Conference in Chongqing, China

Engineering graduate student: Sirinrath Sirivisoot (advisor: Thomas J. Webster) was highlighted for her talk “Controlled Release of Antibiotics from Conductive Polymers for Improving Bone Implants” at the Materials Research Society International Materials Research Conference in Chongqing, China, Wednesday, June 11, 2008. Sirinrath gave a talk concerning the development of intelligent in situ orthopedic implant sensors that can sense the type of new tissue that is growing and respond accordingly. For example, if new bone growth is not occurring, this sensor can release bone growth factors to increase bone growth. As another example, if infection is sitting in, the sensor can release antibiotics.

http://www.mrs.org/s_mrs/doc.asp?CID=14934&DID=212426

Brown hosts regional bioengineering conference

The Northeast Bioengineering Conference was organized by Thomas Webster, associate professor of engineering and the orthopedics at Brown. For more information about the event, go to www.nebec.org.

Highlights included: Arto Nurmikko, the L. Herbert Ballou University Professor of Engineering and Physics at Brown, spoke about new implantable brain sensors being developed at the university.

In addition, there were dozens of short presentations on research being conducted at universities across the Northeast, and there were poster displays highlighting other projects, as well as opportunities for students in these fields to get together.

Read the Providence Business News coverage here.

Freewheeling transport nations on the move

Chris Bull and an early version of the prototype

Excerpt of article:
In the summer of 2004, the two RISD professors teamed up with Chris Bull at Brown। Bull, whose paper- and book-laden office is in Brown's Prince Laboratory, said he had been working on transportation projects, in particular human powered and bio-diesel powered. For the past year, the team has been joined by Matt Forkin, a senior at Brown who is concentrating in engineering and visual technology.

While RISD has a workshop, Nichols said working with Bull at Brown's Prince Lab has allowed the group to "test ideas right away" on full-size prototypes. "We're used to sketching our ideas and working with small hand-held models," he said. The current vehicle is the third version the group has produced -- Prototypes 1 and 2 have since been disassembled with some parts incorporated into Number 3. "They're getting more sophisticated," said Bull. "The power train is pretty well developed." The motorcycle bench gives the vehicle the look of a snowmobile on wheels. Being electric, the engine was silent as the four sat in a row grinning and took a spin around the lab with Lye at the controls. They said they have taken it out on the streets around Brown, attracting bemused attention as they zip silently along. The vehicle is battery powered and can reach 40 miles per hour with a range of 40 miles on one charge. Bull said the batteries need to charge overnight if the onboard charger is used, but can be charged in four hours with a higher-capacity charger. The battery is lead-acid rather than lithium ion. "The price is right," said Bull.

Complete article here.