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CWRU has joined NASA Glenn Research Center
to establish the new John Glenn Biomedical Engineering Consortium,
which will use an interdisciplinary approach to combine member
organization's unique skills, capabilities and facilities to achieve
common research goals involving human health in space and on earth.
The consortium, a partnership that includes
the Cleveland Clinic Foundation; University Hospitals of Cleveland;
and the National Center for Microgravity Research on Fluids and
Combustion, a partnership between CWRU and the Universities Space
Research Association, will share in $7.5 million that will be
divided over the next three years for 10 research projects that
aim to keep astronauts healthy during space flight, where cosmic
radiation can cause cataracts and low gravity can decrease bone
mass.
The consortium hopes to develop tools to
detect and ease space-related ailments and to develop new medical
technologies for use by physicians and patients by leveraging
NASA's state-of-the-art knowledge and expertise in the areas of
fluid physics and sensor technology together with the other members'
capabilities in biomedical research and health care.
"The consortium has been approved for three
years and will showcase the value of the space program, demonstrate
CWRU's biomedical capability and contribute to Northeast Ohio's
economy," said Patrick Crago, Allen H. and Constance T. Ford Professor
and chair of the department.
The biomedical engineering department at
CWRU promotes human health through education and research that
bridges the gap between medicine and engineering," he added. "Our
research program extends from basic science discovery to the creation,
clinical evolution and commercialization of new technologies,
devices and therapies."
Faculty in the department of biomedical
engineering are leading two of the projects in the consortium.
David Wilson, professor of biomedical engineering, is investigating
a noninvasive biodosimeter for ionizing radiation in space. Collaborators
are Andrew Rollins, assistant professor of biomedical engineering
and medicine, and David Boothman, professor of radiation oncology
at CWRU and University Hospitals of Cleveland. The biodosimeter
is based on bioluminescent molecular imaging to assess the level
of clusterin, a protein that is secreted by cells following exposure
to low levels of low linear energy transfer radiation. Thus it
is a direct biological marker of radiation exposure and could
even be used to assess the radiation released by a dirty bomb.
Miklos Gratzl, associate professor of biomedical
engineering, is developing microminiature sensors that can be
placed under the skin to monitor electrolytes, such as potassium,
and metabolites like glucose, in interstitial fluids. The implanted
sensors, with self-calibration capability, communicate optically
with an external, watch-like device.
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