Cancer and neoplasms
ASU Biodesign Institute recruits diverse new talent to tackle
Aug
The Biodesign Institute at Arizona State University continues its mission to improve human health and quality of life by welcoming nine dynamic new faculty members.
Extending Biodesign’s breadth of expertise across biology, chemistry, physics, engineering, materials science and medicine, these scholars bring innovative approaches to demanding challenges in health, sustainability and society.
The Biodesign Institute at ASU welcomes nine new faculty members across a broad range of disciplines, including sustainable manufacturing, evolutionary biology and neurodegenerative disease research. Photo courtesy ASU
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At the Biodesign Center for Biocomputing, Security and Society, physicist and astrobiologist Cole Mathis will embark on a journey to probe the borderlands between the living and nonliving. He brings with him a novel theoretical approach — Assembly Theory — which will be employed alongside experimental measurements to develop a life detection system. This system can not only potentially identify living entities on alien worlds but also recognize the birth of new lifeforms in a laboratory setting. As a NASA Astrobiology Fellow and an alum of the University of Glasgow’s Artificial Life team, Mathis is adept at bridging theoretical concepts from physics and complex systems science with experimental and data-driven methods from chemistry and astrobiology.
In the Biodesign Virginia G. Piper Center for Personalized Diagnostics, Masmudur Rahman will focus his efforts on understanding how cellular innate and intrinsic factors influence virus replication. His research is significant, particularly for cancer cells, where he seeks to harness the unique vulnerability of cancer to oncolytic viruses, including the myxoma virus. Rahman will address the challenges of enhancing virus replication, delivering the virus to metastatic sites, and sparking potent antitumor immune responses by developing combination therapy and engineering the oncolytic myxoma virus.
The Biodesign Center for Molecular Design and Biomimetics welcomes Di Liu, who will expand his work on designing and constructing nanoarchitectures utilizing the programmability of nucleic acid molecules, an endeavor he hopes will further our understanding of DNA topology, facilitate the determination of RNA structures, and enhance the efficacy of RNA-based therapeutics. His research could help pioneer new antibiotics to combat antimicrobial resistance. Determining the high-resolution structures of RNA molecules, such as those found in bacteria and viruses, will help us develop new drugs that target RNA or create advanced mRNA medicines, directly influencing how we treat various illnesses, such as cancer and infectious diseases.
Joining the Biodesign Center for Mechanisms of Evolution, Pengyao Jiang is a researcher with a passion for investigating evolutionary mechanisms at the molecular level. Using common organisms, including yeast and fruit flies, she’s crafting advanced ways to explore how tiny changes in genes affect an organism’s features. Her research delves deep into understanding how these changes in genes play out in nature and influence the way species look or behave. By combining lab experiments with computer analysis and mathematical predictions, Jiang is pioneering a holistic approach that promises a richer understanding of the hidden workings of evolution.
The ASU-Banner Neurodegenerative Disease Research Center is also expanding its team. Henry Tseng, a molecular and cellular neuroscientist, aims to unravel how normal aging and age-related risk factors lead to neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease. The mechanisms by which aging contributes to changes in the brain remain poorly understood. Employing a multidisciplinary approach, starting at the protein level and progressing towards more relevant animal models, Tseng’s goal is to understand how aging triggers pathological protein aggregation and consequently nerve cell death, which are both commonly observed in diseased brains. As the cases of Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease have been growing rapidly, he also hopes to develop novel therapeutic strategies to confront these devastating diseases.
Also joining the center’s faculty is Ashley Keiser, a neuroscientist with a rich experience in behavioral and molecular neuroscience. Keiser’s research will delve into the molecular and epigenetic mechanisms that mediate learning and memory throughout life. With a keen interest in understanding how modifiable lifestyle factors affect cognitive function, she is on a mission to decipher the impact of factors like exercise, diet and environment on learning and memory function. Her team has discovered a gene that appears to control memory formation and can help counter memory issues related to aging and Alzheimer’s disease. She will explore how this mechanism facilitates and drives learning and consolidation during the aging process, and in the case of Alzheimer’s, why the functioning of this gene is reduced in both normal aging and neurodegenerative disease.
Top, from left: Masmudur Rahman, Jeff Self, Caitlin Sample; middle, from left: Yoan Simon, Cole Mathis; bottom, from left: Pengyao Jiang, Di Liu, Ashley Kaiser, Henry Tsang
Finally, the Biodesign Center for Sustainable Macromolecular Materials and Manufacturing is adding three new members to its faculty.
Yoan Simon brings a wealth of experience in polymer science. He is renowned for his innovative work on stimuli-responsive materials, particularly in light upconversion, mechanochemistry and polymer assemblies in solution. Trained in France, with significant academic engagements in the U.S. and Switzerland, Simon’s interdisciplinary approach — bridging synthetic organic chemistry, materials science, chemical engineering, and energy research — promises transformative sustainable advancements in macromolecular materials and manufacturing at ASU.
Joining Simon is Caitlin Sample, who brings her expertise in the molecular design of high-performance polymers with reduced environmental impacts. Sample has honed her skills in designing polymeric materials inspired by complex functions of natural systems. She is developing synthetic techniques for a circular economy, including reprocessable plastics and functional resins for advanced additive manufacturing. As 3D printing grows, there’s increasing interest in creating objects from recyclable materials that can be customized in terms of their physical and chemical properties, making the technology more versatile and environmentally friendly.
Finally, the center welcomes Jeffrey Self, whose research focuses on developing sustainable processes for manufacturing polymer parts with advanced microstructures. Polymers play an important role in a wide range of sustainable technologies, including water purification, oil-spill remediation, and lightweight composites. Self has been successful in creating strong, environmentally friendly foams; making special mixtures that respond to light and improve the fabrication of certain plastics; and designing 3D-printed materials that change with specific triggers.
Endometriosis diagnostics. Tumor detection. Blood-based biomarkers. Bone repair.
These are just a handful of the medical solutions Arizona State University researchers and Mayo Clinic doctors aim to explore through an innovative funding opportunity concentrated on collaboration between physicians and academics.
Sixteen pilot studies will be explored through the Mayo Clinic and Arizona State University Alliance for Health Care Seed Grant Program — the largest amount since the program’s inception in 2016. Image courtesy Shutterstock
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The Mayo Clinic and ASU Alliance for Health Care Seed Grant Program empowers investigators from both institutions to kickstart joint research projects and build a foundation to attract additional funding. The program also provides researchers with the unique advantage of finding solutions for complex biomedical problems that might not have been solved otherwise.
“When you try to take the most complex problem and solve it, at the same time you end up solving a lot of simpler problems more effectively,” says Neal Woodbury, chief science and technology officer at ASU Knowledge Enterprise.
When awarding grants, the program considers projects that encompass the following factors: transforming the health care workforce, optimizing health and the human body, and establishing connected health care delivery and biomedical innovation. Among these key elements, the project should demonstrate meaningful collaboration between investigators at ASU and Mayo Clinic.
“We want this to be, more than anything, a catalyst — a spark that continues to foster our collaborative efforts,” says Rafael Fonseca, chief innovation officer at Mayo Clinic.
The 2023 seed grant projects and its lead investigators are:
Automating data extraction from electronic health records and reasoning to assist treatment decision-making for prostate cancer
Chitta Baral, professor, ASU School of Computing and Augmented Intelligence
Dr. Irbaz Bin Riaz, oncologist, Mayo Clinic
Machine Learning Design to Predict and Manage Postprandial Hyperglycemia in Patients with Type 1 Diabetes
Hassan Ghasemzadeh, associate professor, ASU College of Health Solutions
Dr. Bithika Thompson, endocrinologist, Mayo Clinic
Characterizing health care provider and patient experiences with implementing genomic medicine in a federally qualified health center
Rachel Gur-Arie, assistant professor, ASU Edson College of Nursing and Health Innovation
Richard Sharp, biomedical ethics, Mayo Clinic
The use of itaconate as an immunometabolite for improved bone repair
Julianne Holloway, assistant professor, ASU School for Engineering of Matter, Transport and Energy
Jennifer Westendorf, orthopedic surgery consultant, Mayo Clinic
A Holistic Approach for Improved Diagnosis and Management of BRCA Mutations in Breast Cancer Using Advanced -omics and Imaging Technologies
Ashif Iquebal, assistant professor, ASU School of Computing and Augmented Intelligence
Dr. Bhavika Patel, breast imaging radiologist, Mayo Clinic
Evolutionary Therapy to Enhance Management of Gastrointestinal Malignancies
Carlo Maley, professor, ASU School of Life Sciences
Dr. Ryan Carr, oncologist, Mayo Clinic
Extracorporeal Robotic Tissue Retraction with Endoscopic Resection of Complex Gastrointestinal Neoplasms
Hamidreza Marvi, associate professor, ASU School for Engineering of Matter, Transport and Energy
Dr. Terry Jue, gastroenterologist, Mayo Clinic
A Biomimetic and Organotypic Model of Brain Tumor-CAR-T Cell Interactions
Mehdi Nikkhah, associate professor, ASU School of Biological and Health Systems Engineering
Gloria Kim, immunologist, Mayo Clinic
Quantitative Gait Analysis as a novel diagnostic tool and clinical biomarker for Atypical Parkinsonian Syndromes
Daniel Peterson, associate professor, ASU College of Health Solutions
Dr. Shyamal Mehta, neurologist, Mayo Clinic
Detection and quantification of key biomarkers in CAR T-cell therapy with Quantum-NanoElectroPore (Q-NEP)
Quan Qing, associate professor, ASU Department of Physics
Dr. Januario Castro, oncologist, Mayo Clinic
Conductivity Tensor Imaging to characterize the neuronal mechanisms of brain invasion in High-Grade Glioma (HGG)
Rosalind Sadleir, associate professor, ASU School of Biological and Health Systems Engineering
Dr. Leland Hu, neuroradiologist, Mayo Clinic
3D Printing-enabled Regenerative Medicine for Pelvic Organ Prolapse (POP) Treatment
Xiangfan Chen, assistant professor, ASU School of Manufacturing Systems and Networks
Jessica Lancaster, immunology consultant, Mayo Clinic
Engineering targeted strategies to diagnose and treat endometriosis
Jessica Weaver, assistant professor, ASU School of Biological and Health Systems Engineering
Dr. Megan N. Wasson, gynecologic surgeon, Mayo Clinic
Investigation of mechanisms of muscle atrophy and weakness post-ACL injury and reconstruction
Jeanne Wilson-Rawls, associate professor, ASU School of Life Sciences
Dr. Kostas Econompoulos, orthopedic surgeon, Mayo Clinic
Cardiac Amyloidosis, The Crucial Need for Blood-based Biomarkers for Early Disease Detection
Craig Woods, director of research projects, Infectious Disease, Institute for Future Health
Dr. Julie Rosenthal, cardiologist, Mayo Clinic
Adaptive Self-Supervised Contrastive Learning for Tumor Detection and Treatment Evaluation
Yingzhen Yang, assistant professor, ASU School of Computing and Augmented Intelligence
Dr. Alvin C. Silva, radiologist, Mayo Clinic
Written by Sophia Balasubramanian
