Biomedical Engineering, Purdue University

Rucha Joshi won the Graduate Division's "Most Entertaining Pitch Award," claiming $500 in Purdue's 8th Annual Elevator Pitch Competition organized by the Purdue Certificate in Entrepreneurship and Innovation Program. The competition featured more than 40 participants making two-minute pitches at Discovery Park's Burton D. Morgan Center for Entrepreneurship. Joshi pitched Low-Calorie Pulp Biscuits, which use banana peels as a key ingredient for a low-calorie, low-fat, high-fiber cookie, making recycling of banana peels possible into a healthy product.

SpeechVive Inc. announced the completion of nearly $700,000 in funding to move a speech aid innovation for people with Parkinson's disease to the public. Jim Jones and Kirk Foster, both of the Weldon School of Biomedical Engineering, developed the SpeechVive technology along with Jessica Huber, associate professor of speech, language and hearing sciences.

Researchers are working to enable smartphones and other mobile devices to understand and immediately identify objects in a camera's field of view, overlaying lines of text that describe items in the environment.

A brain graft developed from a biomaterial licensed from Purdue and designed by Cook Medical has been cleared by the Food and Drug Administration to treat troublesome leaks of brain fluid that can occur after tumor or sinus surgery or head trauma.

Purdue University has installed a powerful type of MRI machine - the only one of its kind in Indiana - that will boost research and training capabilities and serve the regional scientific community. "It's a multiuser facility for the whole state," said Corey Neu, an assistant professor in Purdue University's Weldon School of Biomedical Engineering.

Researchers have discovered a link between prostate cancer aggressiveness and the accumulation of a compound produced when cholesterol is metabolized in cells, findings that could bring new diagnostic and treatment methods.

Pu Wang, a graduate student at the Weldon School, led the Vibronix team to a strong second-place finish in the Gold Division at the Burton Morgan Business Plan Competition. Vibronix received $15,000, plus $3,000 worth of in-kind services from Ice Miller and a one-year membership in The Anvil co-working space.

Purdue Research Foundation and Cook Medical officials announced plans to establish a $12 million evergreen investment fund to support Purdue-based life sciences companies. "Converting Purdue innovation into new products, companies and jobs is perhaps the most valuable way for our university to live up to its land-grant heritage and contribute to the progress of our state," said Mitch Daniels, president of Purdue University. "This fund will help a new and larger generation of Purdue innovators move their technologies to the public."

A new International Brain Mechanics and Trauma Lab (IBMTL) has been established as part of an international initiative to study brain cell and tissue mechanics and their relation with brain functions, disease, and trauma. The team comprises Riyi Shi, Professor of Biomedical Engineering at the Weldon School, and colleagues from Oxford University, the Technical University of Madrid, and the University of California.

As part of an ongoing strategy to foster entrepreneurism, Purdue innovators now have access to a Purdue Startup Guide that provides information on how to protect and commercialize an invention.

An MSTP Student-Invited Seminar will be presented on Friday, April 25, at 11:30 a.m. in MJIS 2001. Kendall H. Lee, M.D., Ph.D., Associate Professor of Neurosurgery and Physiology (joint appointment in the Department of Physiology & Biomedical Engineering)and Director of Mayo Clinic Neural Engineering Laboratories will speak on "Simultaneous Neurochemical Sensing, Stimulation, and fMRI Studies Using WINCS Harmoni During Deep Brain Stimulation."

Mayo Clinic, Rochester MN

A seminar entitled "Image Based Modeling of the Left Ventricle" will be presented by Dr. Alexander Veress, Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Washington, Seattle, WA, on Wednesday, April 16th.

Lynn M. Walker. Professor of Chemical Engineering and Material Science and Engineering (Courtesy, Carnegie Mellon University, will present a seminar entitled "Mechanical, Structural and Transport Properties of Nanostructured Block Copolymer Solutions" on Friday, April 18th, at 3:30 p.m. in ARMS 1010.

Dr. Peter Hollenbeck from the Department of Biological Sciences at Purdue will present "Mitochondria: They Invaded Our Cells a Billion Years Ago and Now They're Running the Show" at Science on Tap on April 17th, 6:00 p.m. in the Lafayette Brewing Company, 622 Main Street, Lafayette.

Speakers will present the most recent advances in development and applications of spectroscopic imaging platforms as well as the newest laser and microscope products. Participants will have the opportunity to learn label-free spectroscopic imaging technologies through lab practice.

Ji-Xin Cheng, a professor in Purdue University's Weldon School of Biomedical Engineering and Department of Chemistry, has been elected to the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE) College of Fellows.

Ji-Xin Cheng, a professor in Purdue University's Weldon School of Biomedical Engineering and Department of Chemistry, has received a 2014 SPIE Translational Research Best Paper Award for his paper, "Spectroscopic imaging unveils the essential role of cholesterol accumulation in cancer proliferation."

Eric A. Nauman, professor of mechanical and biomedical engineering, has received the A. A. Potter Award and will be recognized during the twelfth annual College of Engineering Faculty Awards of Excellence on Friday, April 4, 2014.