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Recent PhD graduate Payton Martinez receives the CEAS 2024 Outstanding Dissertation Award

Alexander James Servantez — Mon, 16 Dec 2024 16:47:29 +0000

Recent PhD graduate Payton Martinez receives the CEAS 2024 Outstanding Dissertation Award Alexander Jame… Mon, 12/16/2024 - 09:47

Alexander Servantez

Payton Martinez, a recent biomedical engineering (BME) PhD graduate, has been selected to receive the ��Ҵ�ý�ƽ�� College of Engineering and Applied Science 2024 Outstanding Dissertation Award.

This award is given annually to a doctoral research student completing their PhD degree requirements whose written dissertation demonstrates outstanding quality, research excellence and topical importance.

Growing up in the Denver area, Martinez would often take apart electronic devices to study their mechanisms and understand how they worked. He said he loved math, science and working with his hands.

Payton Martinez, recent PhD graduate in biomedical engineering and winner of the CEAS 2024 Outstanding Dissertation Award.

As Martinez became older, he took a sharp interest in medical technology and neuroscience. He began to notice family members going in and out of the hospital for various illnesses, and he wondered about the risks associated with the treatments they were being given.

“I realized that I wanted to use engineering to focus on something valuable,” Martinez said. “Not an item or a product like a television. Something valuable like the lives of humans or even animals.”

Martinez attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and received his undergraduate degree in biomedical engineering. He was then introduced to the Borden Research Lab, led by Professor Mark A. Borden at the University of Colorado Boulder.

Here, he was able to continue his studies in ��Ҵ�ý�ƽ�� BME graduate program and quench the thirst for all his curiosities at once: medicine, technology and neuroscience.

Martinez’ dissertation is titled “Improving the Treatment of DMG Using Focused Ultrasound and Microbubbles Mediated Blood-Brain Barrier Opening.” The research explores how ultrasound and microbubbles can potentially work in tandem to effectively deliver drugs to the brain and treat neurological diseases in the future.

According to Martinez, neurological disorders were the second leading cause of death in 2016. This is not because our drugs and therapeutic treatments are ineffective. Instead, Martinez argues we need to improve drug delivery methods in order to reach these brain-related illnesses.

“Many pharmaceutical companies have developed drugs over the years that work super well when you have the drug and cell right next to each other,” Martinez said. “But our brains have a blood-brain barrier that prevents these effective drugs from getting past and attacking the cell.

“The big issue when it comes to neurological diseases and brain cancer is taking the drugs and figuring out a way to deliver them to humans.”

During his time in the Borden lab, Martinez focused specifically on diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma (DIPG), a brain tumor located in the pons region of the brain that primarily affects children.

This rare form of cancer is unique. While some cancerous tumors have a slightly leaky or porous blood-brain barrier, allowing certain drug treatments to pass, the DIPG blood-brain barrier is fully intact. This makes the cancer almost impossible to treat in any way that is both safe and cost-effective.

“Using the technology we developed in the Borden lab, we were able to pass through the blood-brain barrier and reduce the tumor size in mice,” Martinez said. “Of course, this is on a much smaller scale than treating humans. But overall, we were able to increase the survival of these tumor-bearing mice.”

Martinez looks to expand on this research even further in the future. He is currently a postdoctoral researcher at Stanford University using ultrasound and microbubbles to possibly treat other neurological ailments as well. His goal is to remain in academia and eventually start his own lab where he can continue to push the limits of his research and discoveries.

The achievement of this award will be recognized at the College of Engineering and Applied Science Graduation Ceremony on December 19, 2024.

More than anything, Martinez wants to give thanks.

“I’m extremely grateful to receive this award, and I am thankful for my advisor, Mark Borden, for nominating me,” Martinez said. “Thank you to everyone who helped me along the way. A lot of my journey was learning from experts and mentors and it’s extremely impacted what I know and have done today.”

Payton Martinez, a recent PhD graduate in biomedical engineering has been selected to receive the ��Ҵ�ý�ƽ�� College of Engineering and Applied Science 2024 Outstanding Dissertation Award. His research explores how ultrasound and microbubbles can potentially work in tandem to effectively deliver drugs to the brain and treat neurological diseases in the future.

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What's next for the Biomedical Engineering Program's first group of graduates

Anonymous — Thu, 13 Jan 2022 16:14:17 +0000

What's next for the Biomedical Engineering Program's first group of graduates Anonymous (not verified) Thu, 01/13/2022 - 09:14

Rachel Leuthauser

The first group of biomedical engineering students to walk the graduation stage are taking the next steps to improve the world of healthcare.

Nicholas Carlucci, Noelle Doyle and Tanisha Kaur each graduated with a master's degree in biomedical engineering in fall 2021. The new alumni are among the first to graduate from the program since it launched two years ago. John Myers (MBioEngr’21) graduated with a master's degree just before them in summer 2021.

The fall 2021 graduates are already starting their careers – entering the workforce to advance medicine and technology. They are designing diagnostic equipment, working on cancer therapeutics and developing stem cell technology to treat diseases. Read more about each of the graduates, their future plans and what they love most about being a biomedical engineering Buff.

The new alumni are already starting their careers to help improve the world of healthcare – from designing diagnostic equipment to developing technology for disease treatment.

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The Conversation: Mechanical forces in a beating heart affect its cells’ DNA, with implications for development and disease

Anonymous — Tue, 21 Dec 2021 20:28:39 +0000

The Conversation: Mechanical forces in a beating heart affect its cells’ DNA, with implications for development and disease Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 12/21/2021 - 13:28

In a new study published in the journal Nature Biomedical Engineering, Professor Corey Neu and his team found that mechanical forces can reorganize the genetic material inside the nucleus of heart cells and affect how they develop and function.

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NIH Director's Blog: Capturing the Extracellular Matrix in 3D Color

Anonymous — Thu, 16 Dec 2021 20:46:12 +0000

NIH Director's Blog: Capturing the Extracellular Matrix in 3D Color Anonymous (not verified) Thu, 12/16/2021 - 13:46

Sarah Lipp, a graduate student in the NIH-supported tissue engineering lab of Professor Sarah Calve, creates image showing the interface of skin and muscle during mammalian development.

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BME faculty among AB Nexus grant program fall 2021 award winners

Anonymous — Thu, 09 Dec 2021 20:18:48 +0000

BME faculty among AB Nexus grant program fall 2021 award winners Anonymous (not verified) Thu, 12/09/2021 - 13:18

Seven new grants have been awarded to advance a wide range of projects, including research happening by Laurel Hind and Maureen Lynch.

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Gopinath named Optica fellow for optics, nanophotonics contributions

Anonymous — Wed, 08 Dec 2021 07:00:00 +0000

Gopinath named Optica fellow for optics, nanophotonics contributions Anonymous (not verified) Wed, 12/08/2021 - 00:00

Biomedical Engineering Professor Juliet Gopinath has been named a fellow of Optica for her pioneering contributions in optics and nanophotonics.

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Nuclear deformation research could advance artificial tissue engineering

Anonymous — Thu, 02 Dec 2021 18:40:02 +0000

Nuclear deformation research could advance artificial tissue engineering Anonymous (not verified) Thu, 12/02/2021 - 11:40

Rachel Leuthauser

Professor Corey Neu and PhD graduate Benjamin Seelbinder.
Header image: Tissues with diverse structural and mechanical characteristics.

Biomedical Engineering Professor Corey Neu and Benjamin Seelbinder (PhDMech’19) wanted to answer two fundamental questions. How do cells adapt to their environment and how does a mechanical environment influence a cell?

What they discovered during their more than six years of research has the potential to tackle major health obstacles and advance artificial tissue engineering.

Their research, published on the cover of Nature Biomedical Engineering on Dec. 2 and titled "Nuclear Deformation Guides Chromatin Reorganization in Cardiac Development and Disease," found that mechanical forces guide the development of a cell through the reorganization of its nucleus and could influence future pathologies.

“We were interested in the development of healthy cells, and the health of a cell requires that the nucleus senses mechanical forces in a particular way,” Neu said.

One of those forces is tension, Neu and Seelbinder explained. Tension stretches the cell in a defined way, resulting in the reorganization of the nucleus. That modification changes the expression of genes, which could indicate certain diseases in patients.

This understanding of the cell developmental process also helped Neu and Seelbinder conclude that scientists could influence a cell themselves. Researchers can change the environment by manipulating the tension moving through a cell, which could be used to create more authentic artificial tissues.

The discovery

Left: Mouse embryo. Middle: Close-up of embryonic heart. Right: Close-up of embryonic cardiomyocyte nucleus.

Seelbinder, who is now a postdoctoral associate at the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics, first discovered that mechanical forces shape nuclei while studying the cardiovascular cells of embryotic mice.

“The nucleus was a very interesting thing to investigate when looking at force integration in cells because it is big, contains all of the gene information and has mechanical connections to all parts of the cell,” Seelbinder said. “We just started exploring and found there is a clear pattern that should be investigated more closely.”

Seelbinder used heart cells because they contract on their own, making them the perfect model to study nuclear deformation. The cells are known to be very sensitive to their mechanical environment.

Seelbinder noticed the contractions caused the nucleus to be stiff, rigid and dense in certain areas, he and Neu explained. In other areas, the nucleus appeared to be loosely organized.

“There is a certain well-defined structure that the nucleus takes on; it is not just a soft gel,” Neu said. “There are also defined forces that are happening because suddenly the heart cells are contracting during development. The mechanics are fascinating – the forces are not just happening, they are being transferred to the cell substructures.”

Neu and Seelbinder concluded the contractions result from mechanical forces and tension moving through cells. Those contractions reorganize each cell’s chromatin, which are some structural elements of the nucleus.

Embryonic cardiomyocytes that contract show a change in nuclear organization, while cardiomyocytes on stiff substrates do not.

Neu said the discovery launched a major collaborative effort centered at the College of Engineering and Applied Science. With help from researchers at the University of Colorado’s Paul M. Rady Department of Mechanical Engineering, the Department of Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology, the University of Pennsylvania and Purdue University, they confirmed that the same patterns occur in humans.

Jump to: Co-authors based at ��Ҵ�ý�ƽ��

Impacts on human health

Understanding how the chromatin in a nucleus is organized is a fundamental subject area. The location of genes within the nucleus is important for their expression and has paramount implications.

Neu and Seelbinder also found animals that experienced nuclear reorganization later in life developed pathology with symptoms that an older human with cardiovascular disease or hypertension might experience.

When looking at adult mice with induced hypertrophy, they observed the gene expression established during development reorganized again in the adult stage. That lead to the loss of cell identity and cell activity. In the case of heart cells, contractions stopped, leading to cardiac arrest.

“It is not just about the development, but the role of the mechanics and the organization of the nucleus is also really important at later stages of life,” Neu said. “When someone develops heart disease, for example.”

Top: Human heart samples from patients with no heart failure (NHF).
Bottom: Human heart samples from patients suffering from non-ischaemic cardiomyopathy (NICM).

The researchers studied patients with heart conditions like cardiomyopathy, a disease that makes it harder for the heart to pump blood. Seelbinder explained that the condition was well-suited for their work because cardiomyopathy changes the heart’s mechanical environment.

Cardiomyopathy thickens the heart muscle, causing fewer contractions and less nuclear deformation. The chromatin reorganizes and cellular identity declines.

“If you use markers like how much blood does the heart pump and correlate it over the reorganization of the nucleus, it was highly predictive,” Seelbinder said. “That means you can take a little bit of the tissue, look at the organization of the nucleus and can tell whether that organ functions well or not.”

Seelbinder and Neu said those findings became one of the most impressive things they discovered. It opened the door not just for diagnostic potentials, but for therapeutic possibilities as well.

Artificial tissue engineering

Neu and Seelbinder’s research could help change the landscape for artificial tissue engineering. Their work fills in gaps in understanding of the relationship between mechanical forces and cell development in regenerative medicine.

Neu said if researchers know how the heart develops – what triggers the transition from a collection of cells to a fully functional organ or organism – there is the potential to mimic developmental processes.

Their research is a blueprint of the developmental path, which could also set the stage for new regenerative technologies and the possibility of organ-on-chip models used in drug discovery.

“Pharmaceutical companies may want to screen new kinds of drugs, for example,” Neu said. “If you have a replicated heart tissue with the correct nuclei and function, if you can create a miniaturized model of a person, then it may be possible to screen candidate drugs that might be most effective in humans.”

Neu and Seelbinder’s paper titled “Nuclear deformation guides chromatin reorganization in cardiac development and disease” is published in Nature Biomedical Engineering, available to read here.

Co-authors from ��Ҵ�ý�ƽ�� Department of Mechanical Engineering include former post-doctoral researcher Soham Ghosh – who is now a faculty member at Colorado State University – PhD candidates Stephanie Schneider and Adrienne Scott, and Professor Sarah Calve.

Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology post-doctoral associate Eduard Casas, PhD candidate Alison Swearingen and Professor Justin Brumbaugh co-authored the paper as well.

Biomedical Engineering Professor Corey Neu and Benjamin Seelbinder's (PhDMech’19) work, now published in Nature Biomedical Engineering, looks at how cells adapt to their environment and how a mechanical environment influences a cell. Their research has the potential to tackle major health obstacles.

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Student Spotlight: Caitlin Mascio

Anonymous — Wed, 01 Dec 2021 20:43:05 +0000

Student Spotlight: Caitlin Mascio Anonymous (not verified) Wed, 12/01/2021 - 13:43

Rachel Leuthauser

Caitlin Mascio is a junior studying biomedical engineering. She also serves as the social media coordinator for the Biomedical Engineering Society Student Chapter at the University of Colorado Boulder. Mascio is a Colorado native who grew up in Highlands Ranch.

What brought you to ��Ҵ�ý�ƽ�� and attracted you to the BME program?

I came to CU for the beautiful campus and the great engineering program. I was originally in aerospace, but I missed taking biology classes. I love learning about the human body and BME allows me to do so from an engineering perspective.

What biomedical research are you interested in?

I am on the pre-med path and would like to go to medical school for pediatric surgery or obstetrics and gynecology.

Have you participated in internships? How have they helped you?

I am currently working in Professor Sarah Calve's Musculoskeletal Extracellular Matrix Lab at CU, researching how exercise can change the structure of MCL’s extracellular matrix in mice. The independent study has helped me develop fundamental lab skills and problem-solving skills in a real-world setting.

How has the Biomedical Engineering Society impacted your time at CU?

BMES has brought me much closer to the other leaders in my classes. The group has shown me that even when I feel like giving up, there are people who will support me that are in the same boat. We hold each other up.

Caitlin Mascio is a junior studying biomedical engineering who hopes to go to medical school one day. Her interests are in pediatric surgery or obstetrics and gynecology.

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Lynch named one of the 2022 Research & Innovation Office Faculty Fellows

Anonymous — Mon, 22 Nov 2021 16:50:06 +0000

Lynch named one of the 2022 Research & Innovation Office Faculty Fellows Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 11/22/2021 - 09:50

The Research & Innovation Office has announced the 2022 RIO Faculty Fellows cohort, comprised of 17 of the most promising faculty from across ��Ҵ�ý�ƽ��.

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The value of core facilities from a researcher’s perspective

Anonymous — Thu, 18 Nov 2021 15:16:20 +0000

The value of core facilities from a researcher’s perspective Anonymous (not verified) Thu, 11/18/2021 - 08:16

Associate Professor Wil Srubar shares the importance of having core facilities, like the Materials Instrumentation and Multimodal Imaging Core (MIMIC) Facility, at public institutions.

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