Research

Research!America’s Mary Woolley Visits UConn Health

Posted on December 29, 2016 by Melanie L Burnat

By Cato T. Laurencin, M.D., Ph.D.

Research!America’s Mary Woolley Visits UConn Health

On December 16th, Mary Woolley, president and CEO of Research!America, the nation’s largest nonprofit public education and advocacy alliance, gave a presentation in Low Learning Center as part of the CICATS Luncheon Seminar Series. It was hosted by CICATS and the Kavli Foundation.

As the CEO of CICATS, I had the pleasure of introducing Ms. Woolley, and she spoke about the importance of advocacy and how scientists should do more to build relationships with their elected officials and policymakers. She referenced the recent passage of the “21st Century Cures” bill as proof that forging relationships can produce positive results. Watch her talk in its entirety.

After the seminar, we toured the Institute for Regenerative Engineering and celebrated the great work and philanthropy of our common friends, Raymond and Beverly Sackler for whom our endowed center is named.

Inaugural Regenerative Engineering Society Meeting

Posted on December 27, 2016 by Melanie L Burnat

Rock Stars of Regenerative Engineering

By Cato T. Laurencin, M.D., Ph.D.

The National Academy of Engineering hosted the inaugural meeting of the Regenerative Engineering Society on December 10 and 11 in Irvine, CA. Sponsored by both the National Science Foundation and the Burroughs Wellcome Fund, the meeting took place at the Beckman Center. The theme of the meeting was “Rock Stars of Regenerative Engineering” and featured four leaders in the field who discussed their work. The “Rock Stars” included: Rui Reis of University of Minho (Portugal); David Gardiner of University of California, Irvine; Ali Khademhousseini of M.I.T.; and Roderic Pettigrew of NIH/NIBIB.

This was indeed an historic event for the Regenerative Engineering Society, an organization that works to push the boundaries of how we think about regeneration through the creation of a community that knows no bounds. On behalf of the organizing committee of the Regenerative Engineering Society, I want to thank and congratulate everyone who participated. I look forward to our next Rock Stars meeting, and to further building our membership.

Rock Stars of Regenerative Engineering

Indian National Academy of Engineering

Posted on November 17, 2016 by Melanie L Burnat

By Cato T. Laurencin, M.D., Ph.D.

I am happy to announce I was elected a Foreign Fellow by the Indian National Academy of Engineering (INAE) for the outstanding accomplishments bridging engineering and medicine. This was the second time I was honored by India. In 2015, the Indian National Academy of Sciences also elected me as a Foreign Fellow. I am so fortunate to be the first American-born scientist elected to both academies. I am honored to be recognized by my colleagues and peers in. I am also honored to represent the University of Connecticut, demonstrating to the world the great level of science that is present at our school. I look forward to further collaborations with the talented engineers and scientists of India to advance knowledge in the service of mankind.

Rock Stars of Regenerative Engineering

Posted on October 31, 2016 by Melanie L Burnat

By Cato T. Laurencin, M.D., Ph.D.

I am pleased to announce that the Regenerative Engineering Society will present the first “Rock Stars of Regenerative Engineering Conference.”

The conference is being hosted by the National Academy of Engineering at the Beckman Center in Irvine, California on December 10 and December 11, 2016.

The Regenerative Engineering Society is a new society focusing on the convergence of areas including advanced materials, stem cell science, physics, developmental biology and clinical translation for solving next generation challenges in tissue regeneration. The society recently has joined with the American Institute of Chemical Engineers and is now one of its communities.

The Rock Stars of Regenerative Engineering will feature seven current exciting leaders of the field who will discuss their work in an interactive fashion. Poster sessions will allow younger investigators to interact, while there are plans to bring high school students to the meal events to allow networking with them.

We are excited about this new and innovative approach to the phrase “scientific meeting.” The conference is sponsored by the National Science Foundation and the Burroughs Wellcome Fund.

The call for poster abstracts is now open. Abstracts can be submitted through https://aiche.confex.com/aiche/rsre16/cfp.cgi.

AIMBE Distinguished Leadership Panel

Posted on April 11, 2016 by Melanie L Burnat

AIMBE leadership panel On April 3rd and 4th, the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE) hosted its annual 2-day meeting in Washington, DC. This event represents one of the premiere conferences where the leaders in medical and biological engineering from academia, industry, and government gather for cutting-edge programming, social events, and a chance to welcome the newest AIMBE fellows. This year, AIMBE highlighted the Distinguished Leadership Panel featuring the country’s leading experts in the field to discuss AIMBE’s next 25 years. I was honored to be on the panel with a number of distinguished leaders in the field, including Dr. Robert Nerem, Dr. Nicholas Peppas, and Dr. Kenneth Lutchen. I spoke about the organization’s need to be leaders in diversity, advocacy, and the promotion of next-generation science. The event was incredibly rewarding.

Professor Edward Botchwey Inaugurates the HEAL Project Seminar Series

Posted on March 9, 2016 by Melanie L Burnat

On February 18, we were honored to have Edward Botchwey, associate professor of biomedical engineering at Georgia Tech, as the first speaker in the HEAL Seminar Series. Dr. Botchwey delivered a talk entitled “Engineering Immunologically Smart Biomaterials for Regenerative Medicine.”

Ed was one of my graduate students at Drexel who later moved with me to the University of Virginia. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania in 2002. After completing a United Negro College Fund/Merck sponsored postdoctoral fellowship at the Wistar Institute, he became an associate professor in the both biomedical engineering and orthopaedic surgery at the University of Virginia. In 2009, Ed was selected by the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy to receive the 2009 Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE). It is the highest honor bestowed by the United States government on science and engineering professionals in the early stages of their independent research careers.

The Botchwey Laboratory at Georgia Tech takes a multidisciplinary approach for the improvement of tissue engineering therapies through study of microvascular remodeling, inflammation resolution, and host stem cells.

We look forward to bringing other innovative research leaders to speak as part of this seminar series here at UConn Health.

CICATS Celebrates Excellence in Research

Posted on February 16, 2016 by Melanie L Burnat

CICATS Celebrates Excellence in Research

CICATS Celebrates Excellence in Research Last month, the Connecticut Institute for Clinical and Translational Science (CICATS) held its first annual “Celebration of Excellence in Research” for its 17 Core Interest Groups (CIGs).

CIGs were developed to promote collaborative, transdisciplinary research. The CIG concept clearly accommodates the goal of disease-agnostic research, allowing the spontaneous formation of new research enterprises. Investigators from all partnering institutions are encouraged to be a part of CIGs. Current CIG research activities focus on a range of basic, clinical, and translational initiatives on: aging, biomedical engineering, multidisciplinary obesity research, cancer prevention, mental health, cardiovascular diseases, drug discovery, correctional health research, e-health and m-health technologies, injury prevention, stroke and cerebrovascular diseases, occupational safety and health, personalized immunotherapy, musculoskeletal research, sickle cell disease, women’s cancer, and health disparities.

The event celebrated and showcased the work and success of each CIGs, providing an opportunity for faculty and community-based organizations to network for collaborative research projects. It also included brief overviews of research project by CIG researchers and poster displays.

This was a very happy occasion to celebrate our researchers and the remarkable growth they have achieved thus far and will continue to achieve. These programs would not have been possible and successful without the support of our faculty, partners, affiliates, administrators and most importantly, the Connecticut Legislative Black and Puerto Rican Caucus.

The HEAL Project Discussion on “The Stan Simpson Show”

Posted on February 16, 2016 by Melanie L Burnat

Dr. Cato Laurencin and Stan Simpson Last month, Stan Simpson, host of “The Stan Simpson Show” on Fox CT, invited me to be a guest on his show for the second time. During the interview, I explained our current research initiative named “Hartford Engineering A Limb” (HEAL) at the Institute for Regenerative Engineering. The project’s goal is to regenerate a human knee in seven years and a whole limb in fifteen. The field of regenerative engineering is still in its infancy, and through the HEAL project, we are hoping to utilize this new approach to bring life-changing breakthroughs to patients. The interview can be seen on the web, please visit the following link:

http://fox61.com/2016/01/16/the-stan-simpson-show-more-on-uconns-heal-project/

Advisory Committee to the Director, NIH

Posted on January 22, 2016 by Melanie L Burnat

Last month, I was attending the 111th meeting of the Advisory Committee to the Director (ACD) at the NIH campus in Bethesda, Maryland. This was my last ACD meeting since I was elected as a member of ACD in 2013. In an effort to ensure that NIH senior management is getting the most rigorous and experienced guidance, the NIH director Francis S. Collins, M.D., Ph.D., created the ACD made up of academic and health care industry leaders. As a committee member, my duty was to make recommendations concerning program development, resource allocation, NIH administrative regulation and policy, and other specific or general aspects of NIH policy. The committee members also review and make recommendations on applications for grants and cooperative agreements for research and training for projects that show promise of making valuable contributions to human knowledge. It was truly an honor to serve as a member of the ACD. It has been a great pleasure working with Dr. Collins and all members of ACD.

Cato T. Laurencin, M.D., Ph.D., with NIH Director Francis S. Collins, M.D., Ph.D.

Unveiling HEAL

Posted on December 12, 2015July 30, 2024 by Melanie L Burnat

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.

We 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.