Interdisciplinary Research in Biomedical Nanotechnology

Speaker: Prof. Jie Chen (University of Alberta and National Institute of Nanotechnology, Canada)

Time and Date: 13：00-14：00, Dec. 27th, 2010

Place: Room 369, Microelectronics Building, Zhangjiang Campus

Abstract

"With the burst of the Information Technology (IT) bubble at the beginning of this century, people are looking for the next wave of technology in which to invest. While we believe that biomedical applications and systems are this next stage, unfortunately, the engineering and bioscience communities are unprepared for the challenges
….
Fundamental changes in conducting cross-disciplinary research are required if we are to step forward — cutting down ‘silos’ and breaking down walls of traditional scientific boundaries, and embracing ‘team work’ or ‘team science,’ concepts that are so alien to traditional academic communities. If the engineering and biomedical science communities refuse to see the need for change, this golden era of biological discovery may never come.”
In this talk, I will share my personal experience how I have found that interdisciplinary research is very rewarding and fruitful. As an example, I will talk about my current cross-disciplinary research areas:
(1) Applying low-intensity pulsed ultrasound technology to enhance (a) bio-ethonal conversion for renewable energy, and (b) high-value cell (such as stem cells) proliferation for biomedical applications;
(2) Developing multifunctional nanoparticles for (a) gene delivery for transfection and transgenic agricultural products, and (b) cancer diagnosis and noninvasive treatment at the molecular level;
(3) Developing real-time assays and dynamic model to predict toxicity induced by environmental pollutants
For the details, please refer to our BINARY lab (Biology, Information science and Nanotechnology Application Research laboratorY www.ece.ualberta.ca/~jchen). My group now has about 15 researchers, consisting of graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, technicians and research associates. This group is composed of members with various educational backgrounds ranging from chemistry, biology, engineering, and physics, as well as diverse ethnical backgrounds, American, Canadian, Chinese, Russian, and Turkish. Most of them have received their education in North America and Europe.

Biography

Jie Chen received his B.Sc. degree from Fudan University, M.Sc. degree and Ph.D. degree from the University of Maryland, College Park. He is an Associate Professor of the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department and an adjunct professor of Biomedical Engineering Department at the University of Alberta. He is also a research officer at the National Institute for Nanotechnology, Canada. He has co-authored two books, two book chapters, over 50 peer-reviewed journal papers, over 50 conference proceeding papers, and holds seven patents. His research interest is in the area of nanoscale electronics and crossdisciplinary bio-medical nanotechnology (nanoparticles for cancer diagnosis and treatment, stem cell for tissue engineering, and ultrasound technology for biofuel generation). Dr. Chen received the distinguished lecturer award from the IEEE Circuits and Systems Society in 2003. He is an IEEE senior member. He received Canadian Foundation of Innovation Leaders’ Opportunity Award in Feb., 2008. His supervised students received the best student paper award in IEEE/NIH 2007 Life Science Systems & Applications Workshop, Nov 2007 at the National Institute of Health (NIH), Bethesda, Maryland, US. His nanoscale device design for dental tissue formation, stem cell growth and differentiation was listed as 2006 Reader’s Digest Canadian medical breakthroughs. The invention has also been covered by over 20 news media worldwide, including the cover page report of the Canadian national newspaper “Globe and Mail” on June 28, 2006. His probabilistic-based noise-tolerant design has owned the Best Innovation Prize in the 7th MXIC IC Design Contest (the biggest and the most important annual IC design contest in Taiwan), and also 2008 National Chip Implementation Center (CIC) Annual Best Chip Award with the highest score in digital circuit field among around all 1700 annual chips tape-out through CIC. He has been serving associated editors for several IEEE magazine and journals. He has also helped found two successful Bell-lab spin-off companies.