Thursday Lecture Series: Biomedical Research and Technology: Creation, Development and Applications   

Dr. Paul Cederna, Michigan Medicine, Department of Plastic Surgery

It has been 40 years since Luke Skywalker received a prosthetic hand controlled by his peripheral nerves. Unfortunately, this peripheral nerve interface has not been achieved yet. Our UM research group has developed the regenerative peripheral nerve interface (RPNI), which amplifies the peripheral nerve signals and makes it possible to control an arm or leg naturally. In addition, the RPNI’s can be used as a peripheral nerve interface strategy to provide sensory feedback. In this presentation, Dr. Cederna will discuss the future of this exciting and innovative technology.

Paul S. Cederna, M.D., is the Robert Oneal Professor of Plastic Surgery and Professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at the University of Michigan. Academically, Dr. Cederna has authored over 425 manuscripts, published 31 chapters, and presented his work over 900 times at national and international meetings. He has been a Visiting Professor at National and International Universities over 70 times.  He has won over 80 national and international research awards. Dr. Cederna has been the Chairman of the American Board of Plastic Surgery, Chairman of the Plastic Surgery Research Council, President of the American Society for Peripheral Nerve, and President for the Plastic Surgery Foundation. He is currently President of the American Association of Plastic Surgeons. 

Speaker will be presenting in-person and streamed live through Zoom

Prof. Maria Castro, Michigan Medicine Neuroscience Institute

Recent findings from the Castro-Lowenstein Team at the University of Michigan Medical School and the ongoing results of their clinical trial, which was recently completed at the University of Michigan, highlight the importance of harnessing the patient’s own immune system to elicit effective anti-cancer therapies. Recent exciting data related to immunotherapies and their use in treating incurable cancers will also be shared. Maria and Pedro have devoted more than two decades to pursuing the immune-mediated genetic treatment of cancer – medicine’s “ultimate frontier.” This gene-therapy strategy enables the human body to fight malignant brain cancer (and potentially other solid cancers) by employing genetically engineered viruses (vectors) to kill the tumor cells and elicit an anti-tumor immune response. Maria will also discuss the Phase I clinical trial at the University of Michigan and exciting developments that have revolutionized the treatment for lung cancer and melanoma.

Prof. Castro completed her PhD from the National University of La Plata, Argentina. And her post-doctoral training from the National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD. She is currently Professor of Neurosurgery and Cell and Developmental Biology, University of Michigan Medical School. Her program is developing immunotherapies that block brain tumor growth and recurrence, which led to an exciting Phase 1 trial (NCT01811992) for malignant gliomas, completed in 2023. A second trial for pediatric and young adult patients with recurrent brain tumors (UMCC 2024.064) has been approved by the FDA and will begin in 2025.

Speaker will be presenting in-person and streamed live through Zoom

Prof. Joseph Potkay, Michigan Medicine and Biomedical Engineering, Potkay Biomedical & Microsystems Research Lab

Since receiving his PhD in electrical engineering from the University of Michigan under microsystems pioneer Ken Wise in 2006, Dr. Potkay has dedicated his career to harnessing the latest advancements in electronic circuits, microsystems, and microfluidics to advance medicine, with a strong focus on rehabilitation from lung disease. Dr. Potkay is currently a Research Associate Professor in Surgery at the University of Michigan and a Research Biomedical Engineer at the VA Ann Arbor Healthcare System. He is Head of Biomedical Engineering for the Robert H. Bartlett Extracorporeal Life Support Laboratory at the University of Michigan. His artificial lung research has been continually funded through VA and NIH awards since 2007 and has received international attention and news coverage, including at the highest levels of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.

Dr. Potkay’s presentation will cover groundbreaking advancements developed in or in collaboration with the Robert H. Bartlett Extracorporeal Life Support Laboratory. These advancements include the long-term support of living hearts outside the body, the development of an artificial placenta to support extremely premature infants, biomaterial development toward enabling life support without anticoagulation, and pioneering work in microfluidic artificial lungs and smart artificial lung systems.

Speaker will be presenting in-person and streamed live through Zoom

Dr. Kevin Ward, Michigan Medicine and Biomedical Engineering

Death from critical illness and injury such as those from trauma, sepsis, traumatic brain injury, cardiac arrest and others exceed that of cancer and heart disease. Due to the complexity of these diseases, little progress has been made in developing technologies that could improve outcomes. The Weil Institute is a transdisciplinary research enterprise composed of clinicians, basic scientists, and engineers dedicated to researching solutions combined with entrepreneurship that accelerate the potential for moving new discoveries to the bedside. Examples of successes, failures, and barriers will be presented and discussed.

Dr. Ward is Professor of Emergency Medicine and Biomedical Engineering and the Executive Director of the Max Harry Weil Institute for Critical Care Research and Innovation at the University of Michigan.

Speaker will be presenting in-person and streamed live through Zoom

Prof. J. Brian Fowlkes, Michigan Medicine Radiology and Biomedical Engineering

When we think of tiny bubbles like those in a glass of beer, we might never expect the power such a small object could produce given the right conditions. From the erosion of ship propellers to industrial cleaning to breaking of kidney stones and liquification of tissue, we will explore a few of the many ways bubbles can be used to affect their surroundings and be engineered to provide diagnostic and therapeutic tools in medicine.  

Dr. Fowlkes conducts research on diagnostic and therapeutic ultrasound including quantitative imaging such as volumetric blood flow for OB/GYN and traumatic brain injury and bubble production for drug release and high intensity ultrasound including histotripsy.  He is a Fellow of the American Institute of Ultrasound in Medicine, the American Institute of Medical and Biomedical Engineering, the Acoustical Society of America, the American Association of Physicists in Medicine and the Institute for Electrical and Electronics Engineers.

Speaker will be presenting in-person and streamed live through Zoom