In-Depth Sessions

Biomaterials

Biological materials and assembly pathways offer advantages over traditional processing methods for materials in medical implants and devices as well as in regenerative medicine. This is possible through the translation of the underlying molecular mechanisms into biologically-inspired solutions. Areas presented in this session are: bio-compatible materials, optical transmission materials, and energy storage.

Daniel Fletcher - Engineering adaptive biological structures
Erkki Ruoslahti - Multifunctional nanosized micelles targeting cancer cells
Luke Theogarajan - Polymeric materials for Neural Prosthetics
Daniel Morse - High-performance composite materials based on the understanding of biomolecular processes

Detection & Diagnostics

Research at the interface between engineering and the molecular sciences at UCSB is creating new paradigms for point of care diagnostics. In this session, rapid, precise, and cost effective diagnostics tools are showcased that are based on research in molecular signal transduction and microfluidics.

Kevin Plaxco - Folding-based electronic biosensors
Brent Gaylord - Applications of high sensitivity fluorescence
Sumita Pennathur - Nanofluidic technology for bioanalytical applications: separations, detection, and analysis
Tom Soh - Microfluidic generation of aptamers for biomolecular detection

Drug Delivery

Drug delivery research at UCSB has deep foundations in material science and the establishment of cross-disciplinary research teams spanning a range of disciplines including chemistry, biology, physics and engineering to address unmet needs. Drug delivery technologies under development at UCSB range from self-assembling nano-carriers to needle-less ultrasound-enhanced transdermal delivery. Technologies include high-throughput screening of excipient combinations to new approaches for antibody development.

Joseph Zasadzinski - Using nanoparticles to rapidly target and release drugs
Francis J. Doyle III - Diabetes, emphasis on clinical trials with type I subjects
Jeff Smith - Heart disease, particularly atherosclerosis
Patrick Daugherty - Cancer research in the UCSB/ UCSD collaboration

Systems Biology

Systems biology is the understanding of biological network behavior through the application of modeling and simulation tightly linked with experimentation. The systems biology efforts at UCSB address questions in basic science as well as problems of medical and societal impact, including cancer, diabetes, Alzheimer’s, ischemia, post-traumatic stress disorder, hemorrhage and environmental stress on the world’s coral reefs.

Linda Petzold - Overview of computational systems biology capabilities and applications at UCSB
Cheryl Briggs - Using models to develop strategies to control pathogen outbreaks
Jean Carlson - Robustness tradeoffs in the mammalian adaptive immune system
Megan Valentine - How forces help organize and regulate biological systems
David Low - Development of a model for an epigenetic switch with predictive value