Assistant Professors Mia K. Markey, Krishnendu Roy, James Tunnell and Xiaojing (John) Zhang of The University of Texas at Austin’s Biomedical Engineering Department have been awarded the Early Career Translational Research Awards from the Wallace H. Coulter Foundation.
Recipients are given $240,000 over two years to fund research. Tenure-track biomedical engineering faculty who earned their Ph.D. fewer than six years ago are eligible to apply.
The Early Career Award seeks to support biomedical engineering research that can be easily translated to real world applications and to assist research professors to establish their academic careers.
There were 23 grants awarded this year to researchers throughout North America.
Markey earned her Ph.D. in biomedical engineering from Duke University in 2002. She joined the faculty of The University of Texas at Austin that same year.
She will use her grant to research computer-aided detection of breast cancer, the most common cancer among American women. Early detection through mammograms increases the survival rate but some cancers are difficult to detect. Markey seeks to design computer software to help radiologists detect the signs of breast cancer that are most commonly missed in mammograms.
Electrical and computer engineering Professor Alan Bovik of the university and Associate Professor Gary Whitman of The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston are collaborating on this project.
Roy earned his Ph.D. in biomedical engineering from Johns Hopkins University in 2000 and joined the College of Engineering faculty in 2002.
Roy’s award will be used to develop novel polymer-based delivery systems for genetic vaccines against B cell lymphoma, a tumor that attacks cells crucial to immune systems. The vaccines will be delivered through injectable, surface-modified microparticles, manufactured using degradable polymers. It is hoped that the particles carrying the patient-specific vaccine will generate a protective immune response against lymphoma.
Roy’s research is in collaboration with Dr. Larry Kwak, chair of Lymphoma and Myeloma at M.D. Anderson.
Tunnell earned his Ph.D. in bioengineering from Rice University in 2002. He joined the faculty of The University of Texas at Austin in 2005.
Tunnell’s research will improve early detection of the cutaneous melanoma, a cancer which starts in the skin and has an increasing mortality rate which now accounts for 3% of cancer deaths. His lab will develop a spectral diagnosis detection method, using short pulses of both white light and laser light to sense microscopic changes in tissue. This method would provide a low-cost, non-invasive alternative to the current clinical procedure. Because successful treatment depends on early detection, Tunnell hopes that his research will help increase survival rates.
Tunnell’s research is in collaboration with Dr. Tri Nguyen, Director of the Mohs Micrographic and Dermatologic Surgery Unit at MD Anderson Cancer Center.
Zhang earned his Ph.D. in electrical engineering from Stanford University in 2004. He joined faculty of the University of Texas in 2005.
Zhang’s project will harness photons using microstructures and provide the opportunity for biomedical sensing and imaging at sub-cellular scale. Zhang will develop miniaturized single-fiber endoscopes, which allow doctors to see inside the body without invasive surgery, using silicon micro-electro-mechanical systems technologies for early detection of oral epithelial cancer. Zhang will develop highly reflective, bi-directional microfabricated imaging microscanners that will be integrated into a handheld probe. Clinical trials will be carried out at M.D. Anderson. The goal is to provide a new tool which could dramatically improve recognition and monitoring of pre-cancer of the mouth and other organs with high incidences of epithelial cancer, including the cervix, lung, bladder and colon.
Clinical trials will be carried out at MD Anderson in collaboration with Dr. Ann Gillenwater and Dr. Rebecca Richards-Kortum.
The Wallace H. Coulter Foundation was founded December 1999. In addition to granting the Early Career Awards, the foundation forms partnerships with leading biomedical engineering programs to promote and develop the clinical potential of translational research. The Coulter Foundation also supports professional associations.
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