You are all invited to attend Jessica Drew's MS thesis defense.

Date: Tuesday, July 8th
Time: 10 am
Location: ITE 227

Some refreshments will be provided, however no food is allowed in the
actual room.

Title: Application of High Throughput Bioreactors in
Subclone Selection

Abstract: The demand for monoclonal antibodies in pharmaceutical drug production
requires the highest technology be invested in obtaining a stable, high
producing cell line. Currently the most common method of selection is by
limiting dilution cloning, done in well plates. The highest producing
cell is chosen after samples from the stationary plates have been
analyzed for antibody production. The selection is based on stationary
culture, even though after scale-up cells will grow in a stirred
environment. This research investigates a way to test multiple clones in
a stirred environment by using high throughput bioreactors (HTBRs) in the
early stages of clone selection. It has been found that simply selecting
subclones based on results from stationary culture could result in the
chance of missing even higher producing clones. Instead, choosing a
clone after analyzing its performance in a stirred environment is an
improved method to select a cell line for further scale-up.

Andreia Ribeiro, a second-year Ph.D. student in Chemical & Biochemical Engineering, was selected to receive a two-year Wyeth Fellowship at UMBC. Andreia is currently investigating the response of neurons to two- and three-dimensional culture environments. Ultimately, this work may lead towards improved therapeutics for spinal cord injury and devices to deliver stem cells for treating neurodegenerative disease. Andreia earned a B.S. in Chemical Engineering at the University of Porto (Portugal) and spent five months in Dr. Jennie Leach's lab as a research exchange student during her senior year. Andreia returned to UMBC and Dr. Leach's laboratory in 2006.

Andreia's work is the basis for two manuscripts (in preparation or under review) and she has presented her research at several national meetings including a Gordon Research Conference and the annual meetings of the Society for Neuroscience, the Biomedical Engineering Society (BMES) and the American Institute for Chemical Engineers (AIChE). Andreia mentors two undergraduate researchers and is the current Social Chair of the Chemical Engineering Graduate Student group, BioChegs. Following completion of her Ph.D., Andreia's aspiration is to lead a Research & Development team at a multinational pharmaceutical or biotechnology company.

Andreia is the third UMBC Wyeth fellow and will receive a full stipend as well as mentoring support from an industry scientist at Wyeth Research. A formal signing of a memorandum of understanding between Wyeth Research and UMBC took place on July 25, 2006 at the Wyeth Research Facility in Collegeville, PA. The partnership includes graduate fellowships for talented students conducting research in fields of joint interest to UMBC faculty and Wyeth scientists. The Wyeth-UMBC partnership includes a three-year commitment to Gold-Level sponsorship for UMBC’s annual life science symposium—A Look Ahead: Futures in Biomedical Research. Wyeth, headquartered in Madison, N.J., is a global leader in pharmaceuticals, consumer health care products and animal health care products.

The UMBC College of Engineering and Information Technology (COEIT) invites those interested to a Pre-Commencement Breakfast and Awards Reception

Thursday May 22, 2008
8:30 to 10:30am
Engineering Building Atrium and LH5

The CBE departmental reception for our M.S. and Ph.D. graduating students, which
will be held at noon in ITE 456. The reception consists of a catered lunch, a champagne toast, and an assortment of additional entertaining activities. This event is to celebrate the accomplishments of our graduates. For pictures click here.

Ivan R. Kennedy, PhD DSc(Agric)
Director, SUNFix Centre for Nitrogen Fixation
Associate Dean (Research)
Faculty of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources,
University of Sydney, NSW Australia

DATE/TIME/LOCATION:
Monday, May 12 12:00PM, ITE Building, Rm 227

TITLE:
Biothermodynamics for sustainability: Revisiting entropy in the form of biological action directed by DNA

ABSTRACT:
The doctrine of increasing disorder usually said to be predicted by the 2nd Law has given entropy a needlessly bad press. A more positive view of entropy relates it to the physical property of action; entropy then acts as a capacity factor indicating the distribution of energy needed to sustain the current action at a level greater than Planck’s quantum of action characteristic of zero Kelvin. We can consider life as a set of purposive action processes, dependent for its maintenance on access to specific forms of stored action potential or free energy. In this overview (which will consider entropy in all three of its thermal, statistical and action aspects) the thesis that the DNA code-script provides highly selected information needed by living organisms to ensure their survival, by directing available energy towards specific actions, will be discussed.

Anton J. Geisz, Jr. successfully defended his MS today. Anton preformed his research in the Good lab. The title of his dissertation was "Multivalent Sialtic Acid Polymers: A Novel Chemistry."

Jacob A. MGill successfully defended his MS today. Jacob preformed his research in the Castellanos lab. The title of his dissertation was "Development of an Intracellular Infection Model and Integration of Diffusional Virus Effects into a Cellular Automata Simulation."

Christopher B. Cowan successfully defended his PhD today. Christopher preformed his research in the Good lab. The title of his dissertation was "Developing Novel Materials that Capture the Alzheimer's Diseaase Associated Protein Beta Amyloid for Therapeutic & Detection Applications."

Bradford Gates successfully defended his MS today. Brad performed his research in the Castellanos lab. The title of his dissertation was "Beta Amyloid-Neuron Interactions Explored via Computational Modeling.

Mr. Simon Gray, a graduating senior in the department of Chemical & Biochemical Engineering, has been chosen as UMBC’s 2008 Valedictorian.

Simon not only has an outstanding record of academic accomplishment, including a 4.0 GPA, but graduated from High School a year early and has finished all the requirements (and then some) for the Chemical Engineering B.S. degree in just three years. In addition to his course work, Simon completed an internship at Lyondell Chemical Company, and has excelled in undergraduate research. During the summer 2007, Mr. Gray was supported by the National Science Foundation to perform bioremediation research through a program organized by the Ocean University of China. His project analyzed the microbial diversity of crude oil contaminated soil of the Yellow River Delta in Shandong Province, China. In addition, he has performed on campus undergraduate research in the laboratory of Dr. Jennie Leach focused on miniaturizing oxygen sensor technology through the use of biocompatible polymers.

Simon’s aspirations are to be a physician/scientist with his own company. He has been accepted to study at Cambridge next year in a unique program which will combine both advanced studies in Chemical Engineering and Business/Management; after which he will pursue his MD/PhD. In addition, Simon is the recipient of the extremely competitive and tremendously prestigious Gates Cambridge Scholarship.

Simon conducting High School outreach project as part of ENCH 427 Heat and Mass Transfer, with colleagues from Senior Design class (ENCH 446), and standing on Great Wall of China during Summer Internship.