News

Physiological Sensing Symposium Draws Notable Campus Interest
The 1st annual Physiological Sensing Symposium held January 11 generated collaborative research interests for the 93 attendees. Participating were 21 faculty, 49 graduate students, 6 undergrads, 15 university staff from various departments, and 2 sponsors. The interdisciplinary learning effort engaged 22 different academic units at Purdue and 3 Discovery Park Centers. Four major universities were involved representing 4 different states. Seventeen student posters were presented. Bioanalytical Systems, Inc. and Applicable Electronics, Inc. provided corporate sponsorship.

Researcher Nancy Ho Honored for her Work on Developing Alternate Fuel Sources
Molecular biologist Nancy Ho sat with first lady Laura Bush as President Bush spoke about the importance of renewable fuels during his State of the Union address. Nancy Ho, founder and group leader of the Molecular Genetics Group in Purdue's Laboratory of Renewable Resources Engineering, was one of about two dozen people chosen by the White House to sit in the first lady's box during the speech. Full Story

Sabrina Jedlicka, AWARDED SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY GRADUATE FELLOWSHIP
Sabrina Jedlicka, a Ph.D. student in Agricultural and Biological Engineering with the lab group of Dr. Jenna Rickus (ABE; BME) has been awarded a prestigious fellowship from the National Academies in the area of science and technology policy. Full Story

CONGRATULATIONS
Congratulations to Professor James F. Leary on his election to the College of Fellows of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE). Recognized by AIMBE as a person who has distinguished himself in the field of medical and biological engineering, Leary is the SVM Professor of Nanomedicine and a professor in the Weldon School of Biomedical Engineering & Basic Medical Sciences. Research interests include high-throughput and BioMEMS cell analysis and separation technologies for genomics and proteomics (cytomics); high-speed imaging/laser ablation/laser opto-injection technologies for stem cell engineering; and, nanomedicine approaches to cancer diagnostics and therapeutics, antiviral therapies, and regenerative medicine. His formal induction will be May 1, 2007 at the National Academies of Science in Washington D.C.

Purdue chosen as one of 8 NIH Nanomedicine Development Centers
Bindley Bioscience Center and the Birck Nanotechnology Center will provide resources and assistance to Purdue University scientists who are working to harness a tiny biological machine called a nanomotor to fight cancer, AIDS, influenza and other illnesses by delivering therapeutic genetic material to disease-causing cells. Purdue's five-year, $7 million mission comes with its selection by the National Institutes of Health as one of eight national centers for nanomedicine research. Full Story

New Imaging & Spectroscopy Instrumentation Available
The integrated Microtime 200 system is now available through the Physiological Sensing Facility at the BBC. The unit expands Imaging and Spectroscopy capabilities to include single molecule resolution with Fluorescence Correlation Spectroscopy (FCS). Applications include monitoring diffusion in various cellular compartments, active transport in tubular structures, intermolecular dynamics and conformation, binding kinetics (DNA, surface receptors), and protein-protein interactions. Contact Joseph Irudayaraj at josephi@purdue.edu.

Biological Atomic Force Microscopy Laboratory Moves to Bindley Building Room 122
The Biological Atomic Force Microscopy (BioAFM) Laboratory is relocating to Bindley Bioscience Center room 122 effective January 8, 2007. Previously housed in the Birck Nanotechnology Center , the Bio AFM Laboratory was established by Bindley Bioscience Center and Birck Nanotechnology Center to provide the Purdue University life science research community access to this premiere nanotechnology tool. The Bio AFM Laboratory provides a university-wide resource for interdisciplinary discovery and education using state-of-the-art Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) technology specifically designed for research in the biological and medical fields. In this facility, the newest instrumentation and techniques for AFM in fluids are combined with the latest optical techniques to provide increased power of magnification/resolution coupled to real-time imaging of living samples, resulting in capabilities that are not shared with any other single imaging modality. Contact: Elizabeth Ayres at ejayres@purdue.edu.

Laser Technology To Improve Speed of Finding Harmful Bacteria
A new light-scattering technology initiated by E. Daniel Hirleman (Mechanical Engineering), working with Arun K. Bhunia (Food Science), and other researchers, including J. Paul Robinson, (Basic Medical Sciences; Biomedical Engineering), has been designed to shorten the time needed to identify various strains of potentially harmful foodborne bacteria. Full Story

Professor Phillip Low Receives Oustanding Commercialization Award
Phillip Low, the Ralph C. Corley Distinguished Professor of Chemistry and co-founder of Endocyte, is this year's recipient of Purdue's Outstanding Commercialization Award. Low recently developed a method of drug targeting for cancer and other diseases. The event, sponsored by Purdue Research Foundation, highlighed the accomplishements of 35 top faculty and staff whose research has or may soon result in commercializable applications. Full Story

The Bindley Bioscience Center at Discovery Park is pleased to announce a $7 million award from the National Cancer Institute.
The “Analytical Proteomics Team” will participate in NCI’s Clinical Proteomic Technologies for Cancer (CPTAC) consortium and establish a proteomics research center designed to impact the prevention, early diagnosis and treatment of cancer with validated protocols and technologies for clinical application of cancer biomarkers. Full Story

Magnetic and Gold-Coated Magnetic Nanoparticles as a DNA Sensor
A journal article co-authored by Joseph Irudayaraj, Associate Professor in Agricultural and Biological Engineering and Bindley Bioscience Center, has been designated during the period of April 1-June 30, 2006 as the #1 most-accessed article by readers of Analytical Chemistry, the professional journal of the American Chemical Society. Full Story

Simple, 'Last-Generation' Technology to Assist African AIDS Victims
J. Paul Robinson, Deputy Director for Cytomics & Imaging at Bindley Bioscience Center in Purdue's Discovery Park, is leading an effort to manufacture low-cost cell imaging devices that would make it possible to perform affordable, widespread medical testing for millions of AIDS victims in Africa and enable them to receive treatment. A $250,000 gift from Ohio-based manufacturer Parker Hannifin Corp. is helping launch the project. Full Story

Bacteria Rapid Detection Using Optical Scattering Technology: New Low-Cost System to Detect Bacteria
A new low-cost system analyzes scattered laser light to quickly identify bacteria for applications in medicine, food processing and homeland security at one-tenth the cost of conventional technologies. This new device works by shining a laser through a petri dish containing bacterial colonies growing in a nutrient medium. "Unlike conventional methods, we don't have to do any biochemical staining, DNA analysis or other types of manipulation," said Bartek Rajwa, Lead Scientist for Cytomics & Imaging at Bindley Bioscience Center in Discovery Park, Purdue University's hub for interdisciplinary research. The work was initiated by Arun Bhunia, a professor of food microbiology in the Department of Food Science; and E. Daniel Hirleman, a professor and William E. and Florence E. Perry Head of Purdue's School of Mechanical Engineering. Full Story

New Device Provides Potential for Advances in Drug Screening and Early Diagnosis
Chang Lu, Assistant Professor of Agricultural & Biological Engineering; Chemical Engineering; and the Laboratory of Renewable Resources Engineering (LORRE), has developed a tiny fluid-filled channel on a microchip that allows single cells to be treated and analyzed, thus leading to advances in drug and gene screening and early disease diagnosis. The tool breaks down cell membranes to allow drug and gene delivery. It also permits examination of intracellular materials by establishing an electrical current across a microscale channel. The Purdue Research Foundation has filed a provisional patent on Dr. Lu's technology, and the Purdue Office of Technology Commercialization is working on licensing the device. The device, called a microfluidic channel, has a liquid buffer moving cells through the channel. Full Story

Richard Borgens wins Outstanding Contribution to Scientific Commercialization Award
Purdue University researcher Richard Borgens was presented with the 2006 Outstanding Contribution to Scientific Commercialization Award by the Indiana Health Industry Forum (IHIF) at the fifth annual Indiana Health Industry Forum conference, Innovention '06, at the Indiana Convention Center in Indianapolis on June 13th. The award honors individuals who have significantly converted research toward commercial use. Borgens is one of the founders of Andara Life Science Inc., where he developed technology that forms the basis of an overall platform of potential treatments for central nervous system injury and disease. Full Story

Lab-on-a-Chip Biosensor Sensor Technology Used to Study Cell Responses in Microgravity
A team of Purdue University researchers recently completed a series of microgravity experiments on board NASA’s C-9 reduced gravity aircraft. The team was headed by Professor D. Marshall Porterfield, Co-Director of the Physiological Sensing Facility, a collaborative research core facility of the Bindley Bioscience Center at Discovery Park. Other members of the team included Professor Steve Wereley, and students Andrew Decarlo, Aeraj ul Haque, and Mohan Rokkam.

During the experiment, the team was able to directly measure cellular signaling events associated with gravity sensing in a model plant cell system, the Ceratopteris fern spore. “In previous work using individual microsensors, we have been able to map and measure how calcium currents around the cell correlate with the process of gravity directed development of the cell,” explains Porterfield. “We wanted to do more research on this system, but the technology to do dynamic experiments in microgravity was not available. So we built it.”

At the heart of this project is a silicon fabricated MEMS (micro electrical mechanical system) device used to measure cell responses. The silicon-based lab-on-a-chip was developed with integrated sensing microelectrodes, MEMS structures, and microfluidic cell culture chambers. Using this technology, it is possible to integrate the cells within an array of sensors and to monitor their output in real time. The chip has micro-culture chambers for 16 cells, and each of these chambers has four separate electrodes. The technology was developed and the chip fabricated in the interdisciplinary environment of Discovery Park, where the infrastructure of Bindley Bioscience Center is seamlessly integrated with the capabilities of Birck Nanotechnology Center.

Throughout the week of April 17, 2006, the team from Purdue conducted 4 experiments aboard the C-9 microgravity flight aircraft based at Johnson Space Center. During an experiment, the plane flies 40 parabolas during which the gravitational force inside the aircraft cycles from 2g to microgravity. Aeraj ul Haque, a MS student in ME, flew with the experiment two times during the week. “It was the greatest experience of my life” beams ul Haque, when asked about his flights. “The system worked flawlessly, and I could watch the cells responding as the flight progressed.”

The technology that enabled this experiment is not going onto a shelf now that the flight experiments are completed. Immediate plans of this team are to diversify the technology so that it can be applied to other important problems. “The results of this experiment are groundbreaking in the field of gravitational biology, but this pales in comparison to the importance of the technology that enabled it” states Porterfield. “Now we are in the position to diversify this foundation technology to enable new work across the realm of agriculture, biology, environmental, and medicine. The potential for application is almost endless.” Source: D. Marshall Porterfield, Associate Professor, Purdue University, Department of Agricultural & Biological Engineering, Department of Horticulture & Landscape Architecture, Weldon School of Biomedical Engineering; porterf@purdue.edu. Phone: 765.494.1190.