Purdue, Jackson Lab combine genetics, engineering

May 20, 2013  


WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – Purdue University and The Jackson Laboratory have created a new bioengineering facility and will hold a joint symposium to discuss the latest research in areas from implantable medical devices to the genetics behind human diseases.

The First Purdue-Jackson Laboratory Symposium will be May 29-31 at Jackson Laboratory in Bar Harbor, Maine.

The two institutions last fall established a new laboratory, the Bioengineering Lab at JAX, and have several collaborations, including research related to prosthetics and glaucoma.

"Jackson Lab has the expertise in genetics and we provide the engineering expertise," said Pedro Irazoqui, director of Purdue's Center for Implantable Devices and an associate professor of biomedical engineering and electrical and computer engineering. "The new bioengineering lab provides all the tools visiting engineers would need to do their work."

The symposium taps into this spirit of collaboration, said Irazoqui, who led efforts to establish the lab, working with Jackson Lab researchers Simon John, Robert Burgess, Wayne Frankel, Greg Cox, Da-Ting Lin and Robert Braun.

"What's unusual is that you have two institutions in two different states with two different areas of expertise - engineers collaborating with geneticists," Irazoqui said. "The objective of the symposium is to improve health care by teaming up engineering faculty with top genetics researchers at Jackson Laboratory."

The symposium will include presentations on "translational research."

"By translational research, we mean technologies that can be moved from the academic world to the industrial world, from a research lab to a clinical setting, or bench-top to bedside," said Irazoqui (pronounced Ear-Ah-Tho-Kee). "One goal of this meeting is to increase our clinical impact by establishing new partnerships, and deepening existing collaborations."

The symposium features talks on subjects including implantable devices that show promise in applications such as prosthetics and treating epilepsy and glaucoma; biomedical imaging technologies; neuro prosthesis and nerve repair; new biomaterials for tissue repair; genetic diseases including muscular dystrophies and premature aging; processes that allow stem cells to "self-renew"; the ability of mammalian cells to repair damaged DNA; physiology of the human ear; and neural circuits in brain disorders.

More information about the Center for Implantable Devices, including a list of faculty involved, is available at https://engineering.purdue.edu/CID. Registration is open to the public and can be completed at https://www.regonline.com/purdue-symp

Writer: Emil Venere, 765-494-4709, venere@purdue.edu 

Source: Pedro Irazoqui, 765-586-3360, pip@purdue.edu 

Related website: 
Weldon School of Biomedical Engineering 

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