News: 2010

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December 17, 2010: Images, Electronic Health Records, and Meaningful Use: A Vision for the Future Workshop – January 10-11, 2011

The NIBIB and the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC)will be holding a workshop, “Images, Electronic Health Records, and Meaningful Use: A Vision for the Future.” The workshop will be held over two full days, January 10–11, 2011, at the Hyatt Regency Hotel (Bethesda Metro Station) in Bethesda, MD.

The goal of this workshop is to understand the value of access to images and their inclusion as part of the meaningful use of electronic medical records. Discussion will also focus on associated future considerations for all stakeholders. Participants will include primary and specialist healthcare providers, vendors, payers, professional organizations, and government officials. The workshop will be an opportunity to highlight current use of imaging for informing medical care decisions, to detail issues in connectivity and interoperability, and to anticipate the benefits for health care of fully multimedia electronic health records that integrate images with alphanumeric and other forms of data.

The format of the workshop will be a mixture of short presentations and panel discussions. All sessions will offer ample opportunity for interaction.

We very much hope you will attend. To register or for more information, visit: http://www.NIBIBMeetings.org/EHR2011. Prompt registration is encouraged since space is limited at this event.

December 15, 2010: NIH Announces Lasker Clinical Research Scholars Program

NIH is pleased to announce the Lasker Clinical Research Scholars program, a joint partnership that involves the NIH intramural and extramural communities, as well as the Lasker Foundation. The program will support a small number of exceptional clinical researchers in the early stages of their careers to promote their development to fully independent positions. The program combines a period of research as a tenure-track investigator in the NIH Intramural Research Program (IRP) with an opportunity for additional years of independent financial support, either within the IRP or at an extramural research institution. Scholars will also participate in activities with the Lasker Foundation.

Please help spread the word to any qualified candidates you know. The Notice announcing the program is available at: http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/NOT-OD-11-030.html, and application details will be released within the next several weeks in a Request for Applications. Additional information can be obtained at: http://www.nih.gov/science/laskerscholar, or contact Charles Dearolf, Assistant Director for Intramural Research, at LaskerScholar@nih.gov.

December 1, 2010: IEEE/NIH Life Science Sytems & Applications Workshop 2011 (LiSSA'11) – April 7-8, 2011

The fifth annual IEEE-NIH Life Science Systems and Application Workshop (LiSSA’11) welcomes original papers on the advancement of life and health science systems and applications. LiSSA workshops provide a forum where scientists, engineers, and physicians can learn about critical advances for biomedical science which were obtained through application of Nanotechnologies and Micro-electronics. To facilitate this cross-disciplinary interaction, global leaders from academia, industry, and government will be invited to address challenges posed in Life Science Systems & Applications with special focus on Nano-Medicine. This meeting is sponsored by IEEE (www.ieee.org), the National Institutes of Health (www.nih.gov), and Telemedicine and Advanced Technology Research Center of DoD (www.tatrc.org), and will be held on the NIH Campus in Bethesda, MD, on April 7-8, 2011.

This call for papers solicits original research and technical papers for oral and poster sessions. Those interested should submit an extended abstract of 1-2 pages or a manuscript of no more than 4 pages in the IEEE format. Accepted papers will be published in the electronic archives of IEEE Xplore digital library and also will be distributed by CD-ROM at the workshop. Selected papers will be invited for special issues in IEEE journals and book volumes. Acceptance will be based on quality, relevance, and originality. Original papers in all areas of life science technologies and applications are solicited, including but not limited to:

Nanodevices, nanorobots, embedded nanosystems
Biomechanics, micropatterning, and biocompatible materials
Biosensors, biophotonics, molecular imaging systems
MEMS, Lab-on-a-Chip, real-time controlled intelligent materials
Engineered bioelectronic interfaces and neural prostheses

In addition to special technical sessions from several IEEE societies, LiSSA’11 will feature invited talks and special panel sessions for technologies and applications in Life Science including Nano-Medicine and Engineered Biological Interfaces:

Dr. Charles Lieber from Harvard University
Dr. Buddy Ratner from University of Washington
Dr. Philip Wong from Stanford University.
Dr. Michael Cima from MIT
Dr. Song Li from UC, Berkeley
Dr. Tania Vu from Oregon Health & Science University
Dr. Jinming Gao from UT, Southwestern
Dr. Mauro Ferrari from Methodist Hospital Research Institute

For a complete list of speakers/sessions and detailed submission instructions, please visit: http://lissa.wustl.edu. To encourage attendance by young students, the Charles Desoer LiSSA Attendance Grant was created to support one university student and up to two high school students who demonstrate interest in life science systems. Applications are available at the workshop website.

July 29, 2010: NIH-Funded Researchers Make Progress Toward Regenerating Tissue to Replace Joints

A team of NIH-funded researchers has successfully regenerated rabbit joints using a cutting edge process to form the joint inside the body, or in vivo. Regenerative in vivo procedures are performed by stimulating previously irreparable organs or tissues to heal themselves. In this study, bioscaffolds, or three-dimensional structures made of biocompatible and biodegradable materials in the shape of the tissue, were infused with a protein to promote growth of the rabbit joint.

The experiment demonstrated the feasibility of an approach to growing dissimilar tissues, such as cartilage and bone, derived entirely from the host's own cells. Results of the study are in the July 29 issue of The Lancet.

Regeneration activity relied on the host's supply of cells to the joint, local tissue response, and functional stimulation to recreate the entire surface of the joint cartilage together with the bone. The approach sidesteps problems encountered in transplantation of cells grown ex vivo, such as immunological rejection, pathogen transmission, and potential formation of tumors.

The research team laser-scanned the surface contours of a rabbit forelimb joint and made a 3-D model that was used to create an anatomically dimensioned bioscaffold. Some rabbits in the study received a bioscaffold infused with a collagen gel loaded with the protein, called transforming growth factor beta 3 (TGFB3), while other rabbits received bioscaffolds without TGFB3.

Bioscaffolds infused with TGFB3 recruited 130 percent more cells and grew a whole layer of cartilage tissue with greater compressive and shear properties than those who received the bioscaffold without the TGFB3. Rabbits with TGFB3-infused bioscaffolds resumed weight-bearing activity and locomotion three to four weeks after joint replacement. At five to eight weeks after surgery, these rabbits moved nearly as well as the control rabbits. By contrast, rabbits whose bioscaffolds did not contain TGFB3 continued to limp.

The research team included Chang H. Lee, Avital Mendelson, Eduardo K. Moioli, and Jeremy J. Mao of Columbia University Medical Center Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine Laboratory, New York City; James L. Cook, University of Missouri School of Veterinary Medicine, Columbia; and Hai Yao, Clemson University and Medical University of South Carolina Department of Bioengineering, Charleston.

"Cartilage is one of the most resistant tissues for regeneration. This is the first time an entire cartilage joint was regenerated. By successfully regenerating cartilage in this way, we hope that this approach would work with other tissues without cell transplantation," Dr. Mao said.

Future work could replace arthritic joints in pre-clinical animal models and ultimately in arthritis patients who need total joint replacement.

Osteoarthritis is the world's leading cause of chronic disabilities. The disease involves structural breakdown of cartilage and bone, and affects approximately 80 million people in the United States.

"The aging population with arthritis is expected to double by 2030, when the last of the baby boomers become seniors," adds Dr. Mao. Current joint replacements have only a 10-15 year lifespan which may not be long enough for the increasing numbers of arthritis patients who are 65 years old or younger.

"The potential for in vivo tissue regeneration is enormous," says Dr. Christine Kelley, director of the NIBIB Division of Discovery Science and Technology. "Dr. Mao's work with repairing damaged bone and cartilage by recruiting host cells within a living animal could help pave the way for advanced treatment of arthritis and other diseases in humans."

This work was supported by grants from the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB) (National Institutes of Health grant R01EB002332) and New York State Stem Cell Science.

June 25, 2010: NIBIB and the Indian Department of Biotechnology Collaborate to Develop Low Cost Medical Devices: Supplemental Funding Available for NIBIB-Supported Researchers to Work with Scientists and Engineers from India

The National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB), part of the National Institutes of Health, announced the availability of supplemental funding for eligible NIBIB-supported research grants to facilitate collaborative work among researchers in the United States and India.

The grants will be used to develop low-cost diagnostic and therapeutic medical technologies that can be used in underserved communities worldwide. Applicants are encouraged to submit proposals for any collaborative technology development or device that would be appropriate in a low-resource setting, such as low-cost imaging devices or point-of-care screening tests.

The supplemental funding, announced today at the U.S.-India Science and Technology Joint Commission Meeting in Washington, D.C., is an initiative between NIBIB and the Department of Biotechnology (DBT) of the Ministry of Science and Technology in India. In October 2007, NIBIB and DBT entered into a bilateral agreement to develop low-cost health care technologies aimed at the medically underserved. In 2008, NIBIB and DBT held a joint workshop on Low-Cost Diagnostic and Therapeutic Medical Technologies. Approximately 60 scientists, engineers, and clinicians from the United States and India identified leading areas of opportunity for improvements in health care for individuals with chronic conditions in low resource settings. As a result of this workshop, NIBIB and DBT are initiating jointly funded initiatives that capitalize on the expertise and resources of the two nations.

The collaborations supported by the supplemental funding will enable investigators to develop medical technologies that can significantly impact underserved populations within the United States and India. Dr. Roderic Pettigrew, director of NIBIB, commented, "These supplements represent an important step in bringing technologically advanced quality health care to people in low-resource communities, both in the United States and in India."

Applications for supplemental funding are now being accepted. Funding amounts will vary and are limited to 25 percent of the direct costs of an existing NIBIB grant. The funding opportunity closes on September 10, 2011. More information and examples of potential low-cost technologies can be found at: http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/NOT-EB-10-002.html.

To facilitate development of collaborations between U.S. and Indian investigators, the NIBIB and DBT have established an online networking group at LinkedIn.com: http://www.linkedin.com/groups?home=&gid=2949818&trk=anet_ug_hm. Scientists, engineers, and clinicians with interest in appropriate medical technologies for low-resource settings are encouraged to participate in the Indo-U.S. Coalition for Low-Cost Medical Technologies LinkedIn group.

Last Updated On 10/12/2011