tag:www.umbc.edu,2009:/blogs/cbe//50 2009-09-18T21:50:52Z News and Events for the Department of Chemical and Biochemical Engineering in the College of Engineering and Information Technology at UMBC. Movable Type 3.34 tag:www.umbc.edu,2009:/blogs/cbe//50.10883 2009-09-18T21:23:21Z 2009-09-18T21:50:52Z

Mark Marten was selected as recipient of the James M. Van Lanen Distinguished Service Award, which recognizes outstanding contributions to the BIOT Division. Mark received the award from Weichang Zhou, BIOT 2009 Chair at the ACS National Meeting in...

Dr. Mariajose Castellanos Mark Marten was selected as recipient of the James M. Van Lanen Distinguished Service Award, which recognizes outstanding contributions to the BIOT Division. Mark received the award from Weichang Zhou, BIOT 2009 Chair at the ACS National Meeting in Washington DC. ]]> tag:www.umbc.edu,2009:/blogs/cbe//50.10378 2009-06-02T23:49:58Z 2009-06-15T15:05:35Z

Recipients of Bachelor's of Science in Chemical Engineering Our B.S. graduates have accepted offers from companies such as MedImmune, Exxon, ECBC in Aberdeen, Lockheed Martin, and graduate schools such as Northwestern University, Cornell University, University of Delaware and UMBC. From...

Dr. Mariajose Castellanos Recipients of Bachelor's of Science in Chemical Engineering Our B.S. graduates have accepted offers from companies such as MedImmune, Exxon, ECBC in Aberdeen, Lockheed Martin, and graduate schools such as Northwestern University, Cornell University, University of Delaware and UMBC. From left to right: Back: J. Ross, Tim, Ryan, Eric, Larry, Bob, Rob, Bobby. Middle: Jessica, J. Leach, Amanda, Ashrith, T. Bayles, Mike, Nizeet, Olu, Aileen, T. Good. Front: Fellipe, Joel, M. Castellanos. Nizeet Aguilar ^ Fellipe F. Balieiro * Eric C. Borman Timothy D. Courtney ** Jessica E. Dewitt Mike German ** ^ Joel M. Gwinn Lawrence P. Hetzel * Thomas C. Hsu (Minor: Mathematics and Statistics) ^ Amanda K. Karp * ^ Ryan Kostick * Rob C. Low Ashrith Mathias ^ Oluwaseun D. Olayiwola (Minor: Biological Sciences) ^ Adebimpe D. Oyede Robert P. Reeves ** Aileen P. Richards* Lauren A. Smalls-Mantey ^ * Cum Laude ** Manga Cum Laude ^ Biotechnology/Bioengineering Track Recipients of a Master of Science degree in Chemical & Biochemical Engineering From left to right: James Pallikal, Mariajosé Castellanos, Joe Piekarski, Nichole Au The following M.S. graduates completed Master level course work and also worked with Faculty Mentors in their laboratories and have accepted offers of employment at ECBC. Nichole Au The INSPIRES Curriculum Advisors: Taryn Bayles & Julie Ross Yadira Castillo Investigations of new chromatographic methods and materials Advisor: Doug Frey The following M.S. graduates completed a thesis describing original research endeavors and have accepted offers of employment at MedImmune or are continuing doctoral degrees in Chemical Engineering at UMBC. Hui Guo (December 2008) Thesis: Dispersion phenomena in micropellicular HPLC columns Advisor: Doug Frey James Pallikal (December 2008) Thesis: Investigation of MUC1 in Alzheimer's applications Advisor: Theresa Good Joseph Piekarski Thesis: Construction of a dual infection mechanism for HIV Advisor: Mariajosé Castellanos Recipients of a Doctor of Philosophy Degree in Chemical & Biochemical Engineering Left: Yonghyun (John) Kim and Mark Marten Right: Julie Ross, Patrick Ymele-Leki, Irina Ramos, Theresa Good The following Ph.D. graduates completed a doctoral thesis describing significant research contributions to their field and and have accepted offers of employment at MedImmune and postdoctoral fellowships at the Korean Samsung Cancer Center and Harvard Children Hospital. Yonghyun (John) Kim (December 2008) Thesis Proteomic identification of novel regulators and effectors of osmoadaptation and autophagy of model filamentous fungi Aspergillus nidulans Advisor: Mark Marten Irina Ramos Thesis: Role of β-Amyloid structure and residue accessibility in cell interactions associated with Alzheimer’s disease Advisor: Theresa Good Patrick Ymele-Leki Thesis: Quantitative analysis of the accumulation, architectural organization, detachment and reseeding of Staphylococcus aureus biofilms under physiological fluid shear conditions Advisor: Julie Ross ]]> tag:www.umbc.edu,2009:/blogs/cbe//50.10201 2009-04-27T14:50:10Z 2009-04-28T14:58:38Z

Patrick Ymele-Leki successfully defended his PhD today. Patrick preformed his research in the Ross Lab. The title of his dissertation was "Quantitative analysis of the accumulation, architectural organization, detachment and reseeding of Staphylococcus aureus biofilms under physiological fluid shear...

Mary Anderson Patrick Ymele-Leki successfully defended his PhD today. Patrick preformed his research in the Ross Lab. The title of his dissertation was "Quantitative analysis of the accumulation, architectural organization, detachment and reseeding of Staphylococcus aureus biofilms under physiological fluid shear conditions."]]> tag:www.umbc.edu,2009:/blogs/cbe//50.10166 2009-04-23T20:29:23Z 2009-04-24T20:39:16Z

Irina Ramos successfully defended her PhD today. Irina preformed her research in the Good Lab. The title of her dissertation was "Role of β-Amyloid Structure and residue accessibility in cell interactions associated with Alzheimer’s disease."...

Mary Anderson Irina Ramos successfully defended her PhD today. Irina preformed her research in the Good Lab. The title of her dissertation was "Role of β-Amyloid Structure and residue accessibility in cell interactions associated with Alzheimer’s disease."]]> tag:www.umbc.edu,2009:/blogs/cbe//50.9998 2009-04-06T18:48:58Z 2009-04-03T18:55:24Z

Dr. David Klinke, West Virginia University DATE/TIME/LOCATION: Monday, April 6 12:00PM, TRC, Rm 206 TITLE: A Bayesian Perspective on Understanding Cell Signaling Pathways using Mathematical Models ABSTRACT: Cellular response to extracellular stimuli is governed by biochemical reactions that allow...

Dr. Mariajose Castellanos Dr. David Klinke, West Virginia University DATE/TIME/LOCATION: Monday, April 6 12:00PM, TRC, Rm 206 TITLE: A Bayesian Perspective on Understanding Cell Signaling Pathways using Mathematical Models ABSTRACT: Cellular response to extracellular stimuli is governed by biochemical reactions that allow the transfer of information from the cell membrane to the nucleus and back. The integrity of this mechanism for information processing is attributed to a series of dynamic protein-protein interactions. Decades of scientific scrutiny have revealed the molecular players in many cellular signaling networks. Yet how these molecular players create a dynamic flow of information – by interacting in space, in time, and in specific systems – remains relatively unknown. Our lab focuses on combining aspects of chemical kinetics, Bayesian inference, and proteomics to quantify the functional consequences of genetic variation. The functional consequences of interest give rise to differences in the flow of information within cellular signaling pathways. Our approach will be illustrated using two examples. To provide a context for these examples, I will provide a semi-biased review the current state-of-the-art in analyzing cell signaling pathways using mathematical models. The first example focuses on understanding differences in signaling pathways among cellular models of breast cancer. The second example focuses on understanding the regulation of Interleukin-12 signaling within naïve CD4+ T cells. ]]> tag:www.umbc.edu,2008:/blogs/cbe//50.7476 2009-03-27T22:31:39Z 2009-03-27T18:36:28Z

Taryn Bayles was selected as recipient of the USM 2009 Regents’ Faculty Award for Excellence in Mentoring. This award is the highest honor that the Board of Regents bestows to recognize exemplary faculty achievement....

Mark Marten Taryn Bayles was selected as recipient of the USM 2009 Regents’ Faculty Award for Excellence in Mentoring. This award is the highest honor that the Board of Regents bestows to recognize exemplary faculty achievement. ]]> tag:www.umbc.edu,2009:/blogs/cbe//50.8969 2009-01-21T17:22:05Z 2009-01-23T17:30:28Z

Joe Piekarski successfully defended his MS today. Joe preformed his research in the Castellanos lab. The title of his dissertation was "Construction of a Dual Infection Mechanism for HIV."...

Mary Anderson Joe Piekarski successfully defended his MS today. Joe preformed his research in the Castellanos lab. The title of his dissertation was "Construction of a Dual Infection Mechanism for HIV." ]]> tag:www.umbc.edu,2008:/blogs/cbe//50.8602 2008-11-18T17:40:30Z 2008-11-20T17:52:44Z

Hui Guo successfully defended her MS today. Hui preformed her research in the Frey lab. The title of her dissertation was "Dispersion phenomena in micropellicular HPLC columns."...

Mary Anderson Hui Guo successfully defended her MS today. Hui preformed her research in the Frey lab. The title of her dissertation was "Dispersion phenomena in micropellicular HPLC columns." ]]> tag:www.umbc.edu,2008:/blogs/cbe//50.8189 2008-11-12T21:31:55Z 2008-11-07T21:47:46Z

Prof. George Georgiou, PhD Cockrell Family Regent’s Chair in Engineering #9 Department of Biomedical Engineering Institute for Cellular and Molecular Biology The University of Texas at Austin Every year our department remembers our beloved former colleague, Janice Lumpkin, by sponsoring...

Mark Marten Prof. George Georgiou, PhD Cockrell Family Regent’s Chair in Engineering #9 Department of Biomedical Engineering Institute for Cellular and Molecular Biology The University of Texas at Austin Every year our department remembers our beloved former colleague, Janice Lumpkin, by sponsoring the Lumpkin Memorial Lecture, which as been presented by some of the most prominent names in biochemical engineering. DATE/TIME/LOCATION: UMBC's Look Ahead Conference Wednesday, November 12, 2008 3:30 – 6:30 pm TITLE: Engineering the Next Generation of Protein Therapeutics ABSTRACT: A major long-term interest of our group is the engineering of proteins for pharmaceutical and biotechnology applications. To this end, we have developed a set of high throughput screening techniques relying on bacterial expression and flow cytometry that enable the isolation of novel proteins with desired functions from ensembles (“libraries”) of hundreds of millions of protein variants. These studies have led to the engineering of antibodies exhibiting ultra-high antigen affinity, serum and/or novel effector functions, and of therapeutic enzymes that exhibit exquisite catalytic activity and optimal pharmacological properties. Examples that will be discussed as part of this talk include: (a) The isolation, expression and therapeutic optimization (Fc engineering) of IgG in E.coli (b) “Humanized” non-immunogenic enzymes for amino acid depletion in cancer. (c) Proteases that exhibit exceptional activity and selectivity towards the cleavage of desired peptide targets. ]]> tag:www.umbc.edu,2008:/blogs/cbe//50.8354 2008-10-18T03:31:33Z 2009-05-19T23:03:08Z

Bhargavi Kondragunta, a third year Ph.D. student in Chemical & Biochemical Engineering, was selected to receive the Parenteral Drug Association (PDA) Pre-Doctoral Fellowship. This award is selected through a national competition each year. Bhargavi works with Dr’s Antonio Moreira and...

Dr. Mariajose Castellanos Bhargavi Kondragunta, a third year Ph.D. student in Chemical & Biochemical Engineering, was selected to receive the Parenteral Drug Association (PDA) Pre-Doctoral Fellowship. This award is selected through a national competition each year. Bhargavi works with Dr’s Antonio Moreira and Govind Rao. Bhargavi’s project title: Quality by design using high throughput bioreactors with feed-back control (HTCB) to predict multivariable relationships. Bhargavi will use time course analysis with DNA micro arrays to establish comparability of HTCBs to bench scale during fed-batch bioreactor runs. Obtain design space variables, as well as multivariable equations between input process variables and output product attributes using statistical experimental design. Bhargavi earned a B.S. in Chemical Engineering at the Osmania University, Hyderabad, India in 1995 and an M.S. in Chemical Engineering at Drexel University, Philadelphia. Bhargavi has also held several bioprocess engineering and scientist positions in Upstream Process Development and Technology Transfer for the past 9 year in biopharmaceutical companies in the US. The Parenteral Drug Association (PDA) founded in 1946 is the leading global provider of science, technology and regulatory information and education for the pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical community. Its mission is to develop scientifically sound, practical technical information and resources for the pharmaceutical industry through the expertise of its global membership. In addition to facilitating development, testing and qualification of new technologies, sponsoring educational conferences and training courses, PDA publishes the PDA Journal of Pharmaceutical Science and Technology and the PDA Letter, which focuses on current industry and regulatory news. It continues to be a leading and influential contributor of information for the global regulatory and harmonization processes. In recognition of the research efforts and influence of students impacting the pharmaceutical/biopharmaceutical industry, PDA and the PDA Journal of Pharmaceutical Science and Technology have established Pre-Doctoral Fellowship Program and the Annual Graduate Research Symposium. These programs were developed to promote applied research in areas of study relevant to the scientific foundations of pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical product development, drug manufacturing and quality assurance technologies. ]]> tag:www.umbc.edu,2008:/blogs/cbe//50.8196 2008-10-10T16:21:52Z 2008-10-02T16:43:53Z

You are cordially invited to the dissertation defense of Yonghyun (John) Kim. Date: October 10, 2008 Time: 2:00pm Location: BIOL 004 Some refreshments will be provided. TITLE: Proteomic Identification of Novel Regulators and Effectors of Osmoadaptaion and Autophagy of...

Mark Marten You are cordially invited to the dissertation defense of Yonghyun (John) Kim. Date: October 10, 2008 Time: 2:00pm Location: BIOL 004 Some refreshments will be provided.
TITLE: Proteomic Identification of Novel Regulators and Effectors of Osmoadaptaion and Autophagy of Model Filamentous Fungi Aspergillus nidulans ABSTRACT: The genus Aspergillus is an important grouping of filamentous fungi for study, as it contains a number of species which are either extremely helpful (e.g., in the bioprocess industry) or harmful (e.g., human/animal/crop pathogens). Here, we focus on a representative, model species, Aspergillus nidulans, and study a key cellular process called autophagy. Autophagy (more specifically, macroautophagy) is an important cellular mechanism by which cells first degrade and subsequently recycle portions of the cytosol when there is limited nutrient supply. Autophagy proteins (and regulation of their expression) are highly conserved from yeast to man, and thus our study has potentially broad implications for all eukaryotes. Currently, only a few studies exist which have characterized autophagy in fungi. To further this understanding, we employed proteomic analysis, a systems biology tool which provides a panoptic, large-scale profiling of protein expression level changes. Our broad goal here was to utilize proteomic analysis to develop a better fundamental understanding of protein expression associated with autophagy in filamentous fungi. When fully developed, this understanding may allow us to intelligently manipulate fungi at the molecular level to harness increased benefit from fungi used in the bioprocess industry and diminish detriment from pathogenic fungi. We began by establishing one of the first, published A. nidulans proteome maps. We did this while studying osmoadaptation, which has been tied to autophagy and is a relatively well understood stress response. This study also served to validate our proteomic experimental approach. Our analysis identified a number of novel proteins that were, for the first time, linked with osmoadaptation. Next, we studied differences in protein expression patterns when A. nidulans is grown in the presence of two known inducers of autophagy, carbon starvation and rapamycin treatment. Our data suggest that some downstream effectors are shared between the rapamycin-regulated pathways and carbon-starvation regulated pathways (e.g. polar growth, cell wall degradation), that the mechanism by which they are regulated are seemingly different (e.g. 14-3-3 ArtA involved in regulating polar growth during carbon-starvation but not during rapamycin treatment), and that there are other effectors which are distinct between the two inducers (e.g. reduced amino acid biosynthesis only observed in carbon-starvation). Our final study builds on this theme by reporting the time-dependent response of an autophagy-impaired mutant (ΔAtg8) exposed to rapamycin. Our proteomic data suggest that A. nidulans, when challenged with rapamycin, upregulates gluconeogenesis, the pentose phosphate pathway, amino acid biosynthesis, secretory pathway, polarized growth, and ribosome turnover even without a fully functioning autophagy pathway. Taken together, these data imply that rapamycin-mediated effectors are distinct from those of autophagy. ]]> tag:www.umbc.edu,2008:/blogs/cbe//50.8197 2008-10-01T16:26:42Z 2008-10-02T16:44:01Z

James Pallikal successfully defended his MS today. James preformed his research in the Good lab. The title of his dissertation was "Investigation of MUC1 in Alzheimer's Applications."...

Mary Anderson James Pallikal successfully defended his MS today. James preformed his research in the Good lab. The title of his dissertation was "Investigation of MUC1 in Alzheimer's Applications." ]]> tag:www.umbc.edu,2008:/blogs/cbe//50.7493 2008-07-09T20:08:17Z 2008-07-09T19:42:16Z

Recipients of Bachelor's of Science in Chemical Engineering Our B.S. graduates have accepted offers from companies such as Exxon, NupocNavy Officer, NIH Vaccine Research Center NIAID and graduate schools such as Cambridge University, Stanford University, Tulsa University, Brown University, Berkeley...

Dr. Mariajose Castellanos Recipients of Bachelor's of Science in Chemical Engineering Our B.S. graduates have accepted offers from companies such as Exxon, NupocNavy Officer, NIH Vaccine Research Center NIAID and graduate schools such as Cambridge University, Stanford University, Tulsa University, Brown University, Berkeley University, and University of Maryland Baltimore. From left to right. Standing: George, Areeb, Tolu, Eric, Bill, Mark, Adeniyi, Jacob, Amaka, Guy, Quang, Nirav, Abraham, David. Bottom row: Nichole, Pete, Jessica, Debbie, Amber, Sylvia, Tania. George E. Aninwene II (Minor: Biological Sciences) ^ Nichole B. Au (Minor: History) *^ Tolulope O. Babalola William A. Becker Mark A. Benesch ** Abraham G. Beyene ** Peter D. Block (Minor: Psychology) Amaka Chidume-Okoro (Minor: Modern Language & Linguistics) * Jacob S. Demirji ^ David E. Dunn Simon M. Gray (Valedictorian) ***^ Terrell K. Higgins Quadri O. Johnson Guy S. Kamguia Josphat G. Kiaritha Ariane C. Kouamou Quang M. La Debora W. Lin (Minor: Biological Sciences) **^ Jian Liu (Double Major: Chemistry) Amber Mahmood Tania Monterastelli ** Eric C. Mortin *^ Adeniyi O. Olujoya Nirav Patel Christa L. Puhl (Minor: Biological Sciences) ^ Sylvia J. Rivera Jessica E. Schwartz ^ Areeb A. Shaikh * Cum Laude ** Manga Cum Laude *** Summa Cum Laude ^ Biotechnology/Bioengineering Track Recipients of a Master of Science degree in Chemical & Biochemical Engineering The following M.S. graduates completed a thesis describing original research endeavors and have accepted offers of employment at TAI Engineering and Aberdeen Proving Grounds or are pursuing doctoral degrees in Chemical Engineering at Cornell University and the University of Delaware. From left to right: Jake McGill, Tony Geisz, Brad Gates and Jessica Drew. Jessica L. Drew Thesis: Application of High Throughput Bioreactors in Subclone Selection Advisor: Govind Rao Bradford M. Gates Thesis: Amyloid-Neuron Interactions Explored via Computational Modeling Advisor: Mariajose Castellanos Anton J. Geisz, Jr. Thesis: Multivalent Sialic Acid Polymers: A Novel Chemistry Advisor: Theresa Good Leonard C. Lombardo Thesis: Engineering Macroporous Hydrogels via the Degradation of Embedded Microspheres Advisor: Jennie Leach Jacob A. McGill Thesis: Development of an Intracellular Infection Model and Integration of Diffusional Virus Effects into a Cellular Automata Simulation Advisor: Mariajose Castellanos Recipients of a Doctor of Philosophy Degree in Chemical & Biochemical Engineering The following Ph.D. graduates completed a doctoral thesis describing significant research contributions to their field and are currently working at companies such as Wyeth, Regeneron, and Novozymes and postdoctoral fellowships at NIST and Drexel University. From left to right Top Row: David Schaefer, Niraj George, Michael Johnson, Chris Cowan Middle Row: Liming Zhao, Julie Ross, Derek Smith, Michael Hanson Bottom Row: Judith Kadarusman, Mark Marten, Theresa Good, Govind Rao Christopher B. Cowan Thesis: Developing Novel Materials that Capture the Alzheimer's Disease Associated Protein Beta Amyloid for Therapeutic and Detection Applications Advisor: Theresa Good Niraj P.E. George Thesis: Influence of Shear Stress on the Adhesion of S. aureus to Immobilized Platelets Advisor: Julia Ross and Konstantinos Konstantopoulos Michael Hanson Thesis: High Throughput Bioreactor Validation and Use in Mammalian Cell Culture Process Change Studies Utilizing Gene Expression Data Advisors: Govind Rao and Antonio Moreira Michael A. Johnson Thesis: Platelet-S. aureus Interactions: A Study of Thrombus Formation in Whole Blood in the Presence of Bacteria Under Physiological Shear Conditions Advisor: Julia Ross Wendy Lea Thesis: Development, Validation and Application of a Biological Antioxidant Capacity Assay Using sodA::gfp as a Living Sensor Advisor: Govind Rao and Leah Tolosa Judith K. Pollack Thesis: Study of the Morphology and Physiology of Filamentous Fungi During Nutrient Starvation Using the Parallel Plate Flow Chamber Advisor: Mark Marten Derek S. Smith Thesis: Plasmonic Enhancement for the Development of High Sensitivity, Low-Cost Fluorescence Sensing With Ultrafast Detection Advisor: Govind Rao and Yordan Kostov Liming Zhao Thesis: Surface Structures and Mechanical Properties of Model Fungus Aspergillus nidulans Advisor: Mark Marten and David Schaefer ]]> tag:www.umbc.edu,2008:/blogs/cbe//50.7530 2008-07-03T17:46:28Z 2008-07-03T18:04:24Z

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...

Mary Anderson 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. ]]> tag:www.umbc.edu,2008:/blogs/cbe//50.8202 2008-07-01T18:25:58Z 2008-10-02T20:50:16Z

Congratulations to Dr. Mark R. Marten, who was promoted to Professor on July 1, 2008. Information on Dr. Marten's research can be found on his laboratory web site....

Mary Anderson Congratulations to Dr. Mark R. Marten, who was promoted to Professor on July 1, 2008. Information on Dr. Marten's research can be found on his laboratory web site. ]]>