The current issue (Feb. 15) of the journal Langmuir contains an article by Professor Gil Lee and his research staff that describes their work to build and demonstrate a prototype for a new class of miniature devices to study synthetic cell membranes in an effort to speed the discovery of new drugs for a variety of diseases, including cancer.

Professor Tom Webster has just been named Associate Editor of the Journal of Biomedical Nanotechnology.

Two BME graduate students, Joseph Kinsella and Alaina Pizzo, received Honorable Mention Awards at the 2005 Graduate Student Poster Competition held on campus on February 18th. Both posters were entered in the Engineering Sciences division of the competition.

Allison Bixler, Molly Fu, and Teeba Alkudairi, three BME undergraduates, were selected to receive Women in Engineering Merit Awards at the Society of Women Engineers' Awards Luncheon held February 20th.

Professor Tom Webster has been invited to be the instructor for a tutorial entitled "Nanotechnology for Biomaterials and Tissues," to be presented at the 2005 National Science and Technology Institute Conference and Trade Show on May 8, 2005 in Anaheim, CA.

Professor Tom Webster has been invited to give a lecture at the 107th American Ceramic Society meeting, to be held in Baltimore on April 13, 2005.

Professor Sherry Voytik-Harbin has been notified by the Journal of Applied Physiology that her manuscript, entitled "Extracellular matrix (ECM) microstructural composition regulates local cell-ECM biomechanics and fundamental fibroblast behavior: A multidimensional perspective," has been selected for commentary in their May 2005 issue.

Jenna Rickus, an assistant professor in the Weldon School of Biomedical Engineering and the Department of Agricultural and Biological Engineering, has been invited to give a talk at the Tenth Institute of Biological Engineering Meeting, "Biology-Inspired Frontiers."

At the Winter 2004 Engineering Send-Off in December, Jeremiah Bwatwa was awarded Biomedical Engineering's Outstanding Graduate Student Award by Dean Linda P.B. Katehi.

Memphis, Tenn.-based Medtronic Sofamor Danek, a subsidiary of Fridley, Minn.-based Medtronic Inc., has signed a licensing agreement with Purdue granting them exclusive commercial rights to polymer technology developed at Purdue that can treat paralysis in dogs with recent spinal cord injuries.