Month: December 2015

Unveiling HEAL

Posted on by Melanie L Burnat
HEAL Team

I was pleased to announce the launch of Hartford Engineering A Limb (HEAL) on Veterans Day at the Connecticut Science Center. The goal of this potentially revolutionary scientific project is to regenerate a new joint in 7 years and a limb in 15 years. Aimed at helping wounded warriors as well as others who have lost limbs or experienced nerve damage, HEAL is run by UConn Health’s Institute for Regenerative Engineering.

Unveiling HEALWe have teamed up with top regenerative engineers who are dedicated to advancing their fields and developing future therapies for patients living with musculoskeletal defects or limb injury or loss. Senior HEAL Team investigators include Drs Lakshmi Nair and Yusuf Khan of UConn Health, Dr. David M. Gardiner of the University of California Irvine, professors at Harvard University, Columbia University, and Sastra University in India. The HEAL project will be further supported by 10 dedicated research fellows and a collaborative team of scientists and clinicians in biomedical engineering, stem cell sciences, molecular biology, orthopaedic surgery, plastic surgery and rehabilitation medicine from across the UConn Health campus.

I thank everyone involved in the press conference for their phenomenal work organizing this event over the past weeks. I appreciate all the speakers who shared their expertise and insights on the HEAL project. I also thank the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation, the Raymond and Beverly Sackler Foundation, and the Connecticut Legislative Black and Puerto Rican Caucus for their continuing support of our research programs.

Renowned Inventor Dean Kamen Visits UConn

Posted on by Melanie L Burnat

On November 7, Dean Kamen, inventor of the Segway PT, visited UConn for the first time. He delivered the Lawrence G. Raisz, M.D. Lectureship, an event hosted by the Connecticut Institute for Clinical and Translational Science (CICATS) and UConn School of Engineering in the Student Union of the Storrs campus. Over 300 people, including students, faculty, researchers, public officials and community-based organizations attended. In his keynote entitled “Innovation: Past, Present and Future”, Dean urged the young people present to keep following their dreams and shared an overview of projects he and his engineers at DEKA Research have been working on. He also discussed FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology), a program for students to get them interested in science, technology, and engineering he and his partners started in 1989 and continue supporting today.

In addition to the Segway, Dean invented the iBOT all-terrain wheelchair as well as several biomedical devices. He has also developed a water purification system he hopes will help improve living standards in developing countries He has received the U.S. Medal of Technology and the ASME Medal, the American Society of Mechanical Engineer’s highest honor. Dean holds more than 440 U.S. and foreign patents.

As the CEO of CICATS, I thank everyone at CICATS for their hard work organizing Dean’s visit over the past months. I also thank the School of Engineering at UConn Storrs for co-hosting this event.