Biomedical Engineering Symposium reveals how rapid advances in technology are transforming medicine
Biomedical engineering in the late 1980s operated like the small steam engine that possibly could. But with subsequent advances in nanotechnology and cost reduction due to scaling, the discipline now looks more like a bullet train ever accelerating.
“The technology that cost tens of thousands a few decades ago now costs a few dollars,” said Ahmad Bahai, Ph.D., Senior Vice President and Chief Technology Officer at Texas Instruments, who presented the keynote lecture during the 2024 North Texas Biomedical Engineering Symposium at UT Southwestern. “The beauty of many of these technologies is that they are scalable.”
The inaugural symposium, held on the UTSW campus and sponsored by UT Southwestern’s Department of Biomedical Engineering (BME) in collaboration with UT Dallas, UT Arlington, the University of North Texas, and Southern Methodist University, took place Nov. 14-15 and drew hundreds of scientists and students from this increasingly important field. The regional symposium is the first to bring together all five engineering programs in North Texas, inspired by the success in 2023 of a UTSW-sponsored symposium.
Dr. Bahai’s presentation, “Bridging Health Science and Semiconductor Technology: Challenges and Opportunities,” included some of the potential pathways to address and improve personalized health care, which now accounts for 20% of the gross domestic product. “That balloon is getting bigger and bigger, but is it getting more efficient?” Dr. Bahai rhetorically asked.
Dr. Bahai presented three railways upon which biomedical potential has the opportunity to become expansive biomedical reality. These paths – semiconductors and nanotechnology, biology and biochemistry advances, and artificial intelligence and machine learning – have the ability and opportunity to reshape personalized medicine.
Other emerging BME applications include ultrasonic blood pressure monitors, microneedles for drug delivery, and even smart fabrics with sleeves that will include technology driving information-gathering data.
Samir Mitragotri, Ph.D., Professor of Bioengineering at Harvard University, presented the Kam Family Lectureship in Biomedical Engineering. His talk, “A Hitchhiker’s and Backpacker’s Approach to Drug Delivery,” outlined some of his lab’s advancements in understanding and overcoming the biology of the body’s natural metabolic processes and transport barriers to more effectively diagnose and treat ailments including diabetes, cancer, arthritis, hemorrhage, and infections.
These barriers, he said, are in the brain, skin, liver, and intestines, all working to protect the body from foreign invaders. Unfortunately, today’s pharmaceuticals and therapies often are identified by the body as “invaders,” thereby limiting delivery and absorption to 1% or less of dosage, he said. Dr. Mitragotri’s team has developed novel technologies to overcome these natural defense barriers, including:
- Cell-adhered “backpacks” that attach to monocytes, circulate in tandem, and target delivery to inflamed skin, lungs, or the brain in response to natural biological cues
- Nanoparticles that can hitch a ride on red blood cells, allowing them to evade immune clearance and target organs such as lungs and the spleen
- Salt-based ionic liquids that have highly tunable natures and wide-ranging physiochemical properties for various applications, including transdermal drug delivery of proteins and siRNAs, oral delivery of proteins including antibodies, treatment of skin and ocular infections, vaccine adjuvants and mucosal delivery agents, among others
All these advances, he said, were driven to reality by following a long-standing bioengineering dogma. “Understand what you can, approximate what you don’t understand, and appreciate how things are connected,” Dr. Mitragotri said. “It often isn’t what you know, it’s how you use what you know that makes the difference.”
In another presentation, Nicole Small, President of Lyda Hill Philanthropies, explained how philanthropic support can be approached in addition to state- or federal-generated grants in her talk, “Supporting Biomedical Engineering in North Texas.” Ms. Small said budding hypotheses are as valued as research ideas that are close to commercial or biomedical success. “We are not afraid of high-risk, high-reward projects,” she said. “Lyda Hill (founder of Lyda Hill Philanthropies) has always approached modern issues with a singular belief: ‘Science is the answer.’”
During the symposium’s second day, top leaders from some of North Texas’ educational campuses – UTSW, UTD, UTA, UNT, and SMU – discussed their common experiences and some of the emerging strategies and plans for trans-institutional collaborations. Although their educational specialties and interests varied from biomedical engineering, bioengineering, or chemical engineering, all agreed that North Texas institutions operating within the nation’s fourth largest population center need to be the matchmakers that connect effective and efficient tech teams with timely, far-reaching challenges.
In support of these emerging coalition opportunities, Samuel Achilefu, Ph.D., Chair of the Department of Biomedical Engineering, and W. P. Andrew Lee, M.D., Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs, Provost, and Dean of UT Southwestern Medical School, announced the formation of the North Texas Network of Biomedical Engineers, a virtual clearinghouse for collaboration, discussion, and sharing of ideas, projects, and opportunities across institutions. The network dovetails into the symposium’s goals of fostering collaboration, stimulating creativity, embracing innovation, engaging stakeholders, and expanding trainees’ networking, Dr. Achilefu said.
“We are lucky at UT Southwestern, as biomedical engineers are not seen as outsiders. Here, we don’t have to negotiate to gain access,” Dr. Achilefu said. “BME typically has to go to clinicians and ask what they need. We are trying to change that paradigm, as the network will allow clinicians to present their challenges and for us to then share those for consideration across multiple institutions.”
The symposium’s second day took place on North Campus, while the first day’s events occurred in the Texas Instruments Biomedical Engineering and Sciences Building on East Campus (see related story on Symposium Healthcare Challenge). More than 200 faculty, students, and trainees attended the event. Directed by Matthew Petroll, Ph.D., Professor of Ophthalmology and Biomedical Engineering, UTSW’s Biomedical Engineering Ph.D. Program offers joint training in collaboration with UT Southwestern Medical School (M.D./Ph.D.) and with UT Dallas and UT Arlington (Ph.D.). Presenters from all three participating UT campuses spoke at the event.
Other presenters and their lectures were:
Salman Sohrabi, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Bioengineering, UT Arlington, “Studying the Underlying Biology of Aging Through Engineering Novel Tools”
Moo-Yeal Lee, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Biomedical Engineering, University of North Texas, “Commercialization of a Pillar/Perfusion Plate Platform for Dynamic Human Organoid Culture and Analysis”
Jacopo Ferruzzi, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Bioengineering, UT Dallas, “Tissue Mechanobiology in Tumor Pathogenesis”
Daniel Siegwart, Ph.D., Professor of Biomedical Engineering and of Biochemistry, and in the Harold C. Simmons Comprehensive Cancer Center, UT Southwestern, “Discovery and Clinical Translation of mRNA SORT Lipid Nanoparticles (LNFs) for the Treatment of Genetic Respiratory Diseases”
MinJun Kim, Ph.D., Professor of Mechanical Engineering, Southern Methodist University, “Transport Phenomena Through a Nanopore for Single Molecule and Single Cell Analysis”
Gabby Everett, Ph.D., Director, BioLabs North Texas, “BioLabs Pegasus Park: A Platform to Launch Your Biotech”
Claire Aldridge, Ph.D., Scientific Advisory Board member, Colossal Biosciences, “The Silver Jubilee of Biotech in North Texas: 25 Years of Advances and Lessons Learned”