First of all, CONGRATULATIONS to graduating seniors! The Class of 2013 can pick up AEMB cords in ERB 107!

Second, we are pleased to announce our new executive board for the 2013-2014 year!

President: Emily Hudson
Vice President: Nicole Black
Treasurer: Kavon Karrobi
Secretary: Angela Lai

Check out their bios here!

This year has been a great one for the BU chapter of AEMB. We have some great memories from our induction dinner, lecture series, the BMES conference, and the grad student panel. We can’t wait to see what next year holds in store!

Have a great summer, everybody!

We hope everything is going well since we last saw you at the Induction Dinner, BMES Conference, or Lecture Series! As the academic year is approaching the end (and yes, we are graduating!), we are looking for committed junior AEMB members to take over the E-board.

The deadline to tell us if you would like to run for a position is 5pm on Monday, Feb 25th. Voting will take place along with an ice cream social on Feb 26 between 7 and 8pm at ERB 203, just before Trivia Night! Of course, our seniors are welcome too!

If you are unable to make it to the elections, please email us a short speech!

The positions and their responsibilities are:

President

As the president of AEMB you will be the primary leader and contact for the group. You will share all the responsibilities with the other positions, but will be tasked to coordinate the efforts of the entire group and lead the E-board meetings.

Vice-President

The VP acts as the supporting role for the e-board. If the President, Secretary, or Treasurer need help on any given task, the VP will be the one that is first tasked with helping out.  Along with the President, the VP will also help maintain communications with Nationals, as well as organize all membership information.

Secretary

The secretary will be responsible for taking notes during meetings, drafting and sending emails to members, maintaining the website, updating the application forms, and helping to coordinate the the induction dinner.

Treasurer

As treasurer of AEMB you will be responsible for keeping financial records of the group while being the main source of contact with the student activities office (SAO).

Hope to see you at the Ice Cream Social & Elections!

AEMB E-Board

Please contact us at aemb@bu.edu with any questions!

The conference is an awesome way to meet fellow BME students, professors, and industry members. There are a number of lectures, workshops, and other events. We are also planning to volunteer to save more money; this means we will help out with things like registration and collecting tickets. You can learn more about it at:

http://www.bmes.org/aws/BMES/pt/sp/meetings

Here’s a breakdown of the funding:

Estimated trip cost: $1,000/person
SAO Funding: – $250/person
BMES Volunteer Opportunity: -$125/person
Expected ENG/BME Funding: -$200/person
Self contribution: $425/person

If this sounds like something you are interested in, please let us know as soon as possible – it is not a commitment yet until we have the bookings. Our email is aemb@bu.edu.

Additionally, AEMB members who are seeking leadership opportunities at the national level can apply for AEMB National Officer Positions! Becoming an officer at the national level will greatly enhance your leadership skills, people-management skills as well as provide a plethora of networking opportunities. We strongly encourage and support any member who would be interested in running for a national officer position! Please see the AEMB election application form and let us know if you are planning to apply!

President: Jason Pui
Vice President: Veronica Faller
Secretary: Alberto Purwada
Treasurer: Michael Wexler

Faculty Advisor: Professor Joyce Wong

Check out our bios here!

We have big plans for this year, including changing the induction of new members to the fall semester, organizing a lecture series with BU BMES, and attending the BMES conference in October. Keep checking back for more updates!

Enjoy!
Natalia Vieira, Secretary

Researchers at the Wyss Institute have developed nano-machines made out of DNA that can be programmed to deliver its payload to targeted cells. The payload can be specific molecules, proteins, or antibodies which deliver a message to receptor proteins on the surface of the cell.

For example:

“Douglas and Bachelet used this system to deliver instructions, which were encoded in antibody fragments, to two different types of cancer cells — leukemia and lymphoma. In each case, the message to the cell was to activate its ‘suicide switch’ — a standard feature that allows aging or abnormal cells to be eliminated. And since leukemia and lymphoma cells speak different languages, the messages were written in different antibody combinations.”

Watch this short video and go to the original article for more information about this potentially groundbreaking work.

DNA nanorobot from Wyss Institute on Vimeo.

Happy Reading,

Nathan Hixon
AEMB President

Vibrating Insoles from Wyss Institute on Vimeo.

What if a 75 year old could walk like a 25 year old? That question is what starts off this video about research that is going on at the Wyss Institute. James Collins, whom many of you might recognize as one of Boston University’s best professors, is one of the leaders of this research. As people age, they lose their sense of proprioception which helps them balance. In fact, falling is the leading cause of death from injury among people older than 65 years old.  Through the phenomenon of stochastic resonance, the balance of the elderly can be significantly enhanced, and has the potential to affect many people suffering from balance deficiencies.

For more information read this paper explaining the concept further.  (BU login required) Noise Enhanced Balance Control

Nathan Hixon

This is an interesting article recently published in Biomacromolecules about controlling the delivery of cancer drugs (may require a BU login): http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/bm2009125

Happy reading!
Natalia Vieira, Secretary 2011-2012

The synthesis of a photo-triggered biocompatible drug delivery system on the basis of coumarin-functionalized block copolymers is reported. The coumarin-functionalized block copolymers poly(ethylene oxide)-b-poly(n-butyl methacrylate-co-4-methyl-[7-(methacryloyl)oxyethyloxy]coumarin)) (PEO-b-P(BMA- co-CMA)) were synthesized via atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP). The micelle–drug conjugates were made by covalent bonding of anticancer drug 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) to the coumarin under UV irradiation at wavelength >310 nm. These micelle–drug conjugates possessed spherical morphology with diameters of 70 nm from TEM images. In vitro drug release experiments showed the controlled release of anticancer drug 5-FU from the micelle–drug conjugates under UV irradiation (254 nm). These micelle–drug conjugates also showed excellent biocompatibility by the in vitro cytotoxicity experiments. The results suggest that these micelle–drug conjugates could be a promising candidate for the delivery of anticancer agents with low side effects on normal cells and excellent therapeutic efficacy to cancer cells.