Researcher Discovers New, Better Method of Treatment for Superficial Bladder Cancer
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| David Zaharoff |
A biomedical researcher at the University of Arkansas and his colleagues at the National Cancer Institute have discovered a superior method for treating superficial bladder cancer, which leads to muscle-invasive and then metastatic bladder cancer, the fifth most common form of cancer in the United States. David Zaharoff, assistant professor in the department of biological and agricultural engineering, combined Interleukin-12 (IL-12), a powerful cytokine, which is a type of protein, with chitosan, a biocompatible and adhesive polysaccharide, to successfully cure mice with bladder tumors.
"Intravesical chitosan/IL-12 is a well-tolerated, effective immunotherapy that deserves further consideration for testing in humans," Zaharoff said. "We are very excited about this therapy as an alternative or complementary strategy for the management of superficial bladder cancer."
Human clinical trials at the National Cancer Institute could begin as early as spring of 2010. The results were published in the August issue of Cancer Research, which may be found here.
In 2009, nearly 71,000 people in the United States will be diagnosed with bladder cancer, and slightly more than 14,000 people will die due to the disease. Global prevalence is estimated at greater than 1 million people and is steadily increasing.
For more than three decades, a drug known as BCG (bacillus of calmette-guerin, a type of bacteria) has been given intravesically - within the urinary bladder - as the immunotherapeutic, standard-of-care treatment for superficial bladder cancer. However, 20 to 30 percent of patients fail initial intravesical BCG therapy, and 30 to 50 percent of patients will develop recurrent tumors within five years. For the past several years, medical researchers have worked with Interleukin-12 as a potential alternative to standard cancer treatments, because it has shown an ability to eliminate tumors. But a recent clinical study using Interleukin-12 on patients with recurrent superficial bladder cancer did not demonstrate anti-tumor efficacy.
Aware of Interleukin-12's potency, Zaharoff wondered why the therapy was unsuccessful. He hypothesized that the agent was not effectively delivered to the bladder tumor and underlying tissue. At the same time, he had been reading about chitosan, a natural, biodegradable polysaccharide derived primarily from the shells of shrimp and crab. Zaharoff knew that chitosan displayed adhesive properties, so he decided to combine it with Interleukin-12 and investigate whether the new formulation would adhere to the mucosal wall of mouse bladders and kill tumors.
He found that chitosan improved delivery and bio-adhesion of Interleukin-12. In their studies, 88 to 100 percent of mice with bladder tumors were cured after four intravesical treatments. In contrast, only 38 to 60 percent of mice treated with Interleukin-12 alone were cured. None of the mice treated with BCG alone were cured.
"Antitumor responses following chitosan/IL-12 treatments were durable and provided complete protection from intravesical tumor re-challenge," Zaharoff said.
Urinary analysis showed that chitosan/Interleukin-12induced multiple cytokines - proteins that allow communication between cells and help regulate immunity - at levels significantly higher than either Interleukin-12alone or BCG. Immunohistochemistry tests following chitosan/Interleukin-12treatments revealed moderate to intense tumor infiltration by T cells, a group of white blood cells critical to the immune system, and macrophages, also a type of white blood cell. Bladder mucosa from cured mice contained residual populations of immune cells that returned to baseline levels after several months.
Zaharoff's future work will focus on uncovering the specific immune responses that cause the tumors to die. His colleagues at the National Cancer Institute are planning human clinical trials. Zaharoff hopes that in five to 10 years chitosan/Interleukin-12 will be the standard-of-care therapy for patients with superficial bladder cancer.
Zaharoff is holder of the Twenty-First Century Professorship in Biomedical Engineering. He is director of the Laboratory of Vaccine and Immunotherapy Delivery.
Arkansas Receives $3.3 Million Grant From National Science Foundation
Arkansas scientists, students and information-technology workers will benefit from a new $3.3 million grant from the National Science Foundation. The award, made possible by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, will enable researchers at the University of Arkansas and other colleges and universities in the state to build and support cyberinfrastructure and to train students and workers in information-technology systems, tools and services.The grant, titled CI-TRAIN, or Cyberinfrastructure for Transformational Scientific Discovery in Arkansas and West Virginia, is part of a broader award to create a research consortium between the two states, which have researchers specializing in high-performance computing, visualization and modeling. At the University of Arkansas specifically, the federal funding will enhance supercomputing resources at the Arkansas High Performance Computing Center, which supports research in computational science, nano- and ferroelectric materials, multiscale visualization and many other research projects that require massive data storage.
"Beyond the critically important goal of helping scientists discover, understand and solve complex problems that affect our lives, this award will enhance undergraduate education, provide training for information-technology workers and support statewide initiatives such as the Arkansas Research and Education Optical Network," said Amy Apon, professor of computer science and computer engineering, director of the computing center and principal investigator for the project.
In addition to Apon, other University of Arkansas researchers involved in the project are Fred Limp, University Professor, anthropology; Laurent Bellaiche, physics professor; and Douglas Spearot, assistant professor of mechanical engineering. Srinivasan Ramaswamy, professor and chair of the department of computer science at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock is also a co-principal investigator.
From a research perspective, the overall goal of the project is to create a nationally competitive environment for computation and visualization - techniques for creating images, diagrams and animations of scientific concepts and processes - and to develop both hardware and software to create and capture data that will enable a broad range of research in science and engineering. The partnership will include a substantial shared cluster - linked computers operating as a single computer - hosted by the Arkansas High Performance Computing Center.
Specifically, resources provided by the funding will enable research in:
- multiscale geomatics - gathering, storing, processing and delivery of geographic information - and geosciences,
- nanosience, including multiferronics and simulation of defects in nanocrystalline materials,
- real-time image-guided surgery,
- particle-based physics simulations of materials and processes,
- plant secondary cell wall reconstruction,
- scanning optical microscopy, and
- performance models of large-scale clusters that can be applied to large-scale resources.
Research in these areas will lead to design and improvement of devices such as actuators and sensors and products in visualizations, geosciences and virtual world. It will also improve approaches to real-time, image-guided surgery to enable safe obliteration of solid tumors anywhere in the human body. Finally, innovative studies that explore the three-dimensional structures of plant cell walls will assist in understanding how to cost-effectively recover components of the cell wall for use in bio-based product development.
As mentioned above, another primary goal of the funding is to provide education and workforce training in cyberinfrastructure and information technology. This will be accomplished through a network of faculty and professional staff - called Cyberinfrastructure Campus Champions. At each institution, these people will work to broaden the user base and expand operational support and use of the infrastructure.
"The program will provide training for workers who provide operational support for cyberinfrastructure resources, such as supercomputers and high-end visualization tools," Apon said. "It will also expand integration with existing technology education programs at more than 200 high schools."
Other participating Arkansas institutions include the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff and Arkansas State University. All Arkansas Research and Education Optical Network member institutions will benefit from the project.
Limp holds the Leica Geosystems Chair in Geospatial Imaging and is director of the University of Arkansas Center for Advanced Spatial Technologies. Bellaiche holds the Twenty-First Century Professorship in Nanotechnology and Science Education.
More information about the NSF grant can be found here. For more information about the Arkansas High Performance Computing Center, click here. For more information about the Arkansas Center for Advanced Spatial Technologies, visit its web site.
Materials and Manufacturing Research Laboratories receive NSF Support for Nano Lubricant Study
Materials and Manufacturing Research Laboratories received funding from the National Science Foundation to study the fundamental understanding of behavior of nanoparticles-based lubricants for minimum quantity lubrication at machine tool-workpiece interface in two high energy machining operations.
"In current practice, MQL is not widely used in these applications due to oil starvation or burn off and consequent poor tool life and machined surface integrity," said Ajay Malshe, professor in mechanical engineering.
This high risk and high pay off research will be undertaken by a team of researchers from the University of Arkansas, University of Michigan and their key manufacturing industry collaborators, Caterpillar and Ford. The innovation inspiring competitiveness of United States manufacturing industries is vital to lead the country out of the current economic slump and stimulate growth. In addition, sustainable engineering through energy saving, environment and worker safety are vital goals when demand for increasing productivity.
"The proposed innovative research would facilitate replacement of recirculating lubricant systems, which are sources of variation and significant waste streams, with MQL in even the most demanding applications," said Malshe. "This will yield reduced cost, improved quality, and increased energy savings in a broad range of aggressive machining applications."
This research is a unique example of how recent nano materials and manufacturing inventions in Arkansas can significantly benefit traditional machining and manufacturing industries in the US to increase productivity. The research will provide sustainable MQL solution to a range of key infrastructure related manufacturing industries in heavy machinery, automotive, bearings, railways, electric motor casings, etc.
Mack-Blackwell Rural Transportation Center Hosts Distinguished Lecture Speaker Rod Diridon
Mack-Blackwell Rural Transportation Center will hold its Distinguished Lecture on October 20, 2009 at 5:30 pm in the Combs Auditorium of the Bell Engineering Center. Rod Diridon, executive director of the Norman Y. Mineta International Institute for Surface Transportation Policy Studies at San Jose State University, will speak on light rail systems. Mr. Diridon chaired the campaign for the first successful 1/2-cent sales tax for transit in California and subsequently chaired five successful transit master plan elections and tax measures.Mr. Diridon has chaired over 100 international, national, state and local community service programs and projects, most related to transit and the environment. He served, in 1993, as the chairperson of the American Public Transit Association in Washington, D.C., and more recently as the North American Vice President of the International Transit Association in Brussels. He has been an advisor to the Federal Transit Administration and in 1995 chaired the National Research Council's Transit Oversight and Project Selection Committee. Rod currently chairs the NRC's Transportation Research Board's study panel on "Combating Global Warming Through Sustainable Transportation Policy." He is frequently asked to provide testimony to Congressional Committees.
The historic Amtrak/Caltrain Station in San Jose was renamed the San Jose Diridon Station in his honor for his many years of service.
MBTC Supports FIRST LEGO® League 2009 Challenge
FIRST LEGO® League (FLL) introduces kids, ages 9-14, to real-world engineering challenges through building LEGO-based robots and conducting a research project. The 2009 international competition, whose theme is "Smart Move - Transforming Transportation," has 16,000 teams (approximately 160,000 kids) registered worldwide. At the request of the Department of Homeland Security, the Mack-Blackwell Rural Transportation Center (MBTC) developed a website to educate kids on transportation security. This new website is featured on the FLL website as a team resource and can be found on our web site.
MBTC is also a sponsor of this year's Arkansas FIRST LEGO® League Tournament which will be held in Mountain Home, Ark. on December 12, 2009. If you are interested in being a judge for the Arkansas tournament, please contact Tish Pohl, by October 19.
American Indian Science and Engineering Society Seeks Growth
The Fayetteville chapter of the American Indian Science and Engineering Society would like your feedback. Tell us when you can meet and we will do our best to suit the needs of the group. We would like to schedule two meetings each month. Please send your preferred meeting dates and times to T.C. Carter and help to make AISES one of the best student organizations on campus.NSF CAREER Proposal Writing Workshop Scheduled for March
The 2010 NSF CAREER Proposal Writing Workshop will be held on March 25-26, 2010, at Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Ga.This workshop is to provide future CAREER proposal submitters with proposal review experience and interactions with NSF program directors and recent NSF CAREER awardees. Major activities of the workshop include presentations by NSF program directors on the basics of proposal writing, presentations by recent CAREER awardees on their experiences and tips, mock panel reviews of actual recent CAREER proposals, and panel reviews of project summaries of the attendees' own CAREER proposals. Previous similar workshops have attracted typically twice as many applicants as can be accommodated at each workshop. Previous attendees have enjoyed significantly higher proposal success rates, both with their CAREER and other proposals. Thus, it is expected that this workshop will help the attendees write more competitive proposals and subsequently improve the quality of their research.
The application deadline is January 1, 2010. Application procedure and tentative agenda for the workshop can be found here.
Workshop organizers:
Z.J. Pei, Kansas State University
Mary Lynn Realff, Georgia Institute of Technology
Fant's Solar Electric Project Commissioned by the Ozark Electric Cooperative for Net Metering
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| Earnest Fant's new solar electric project at his home was just commissioned by the Ozark Electric Cooperative for net metering. The solar panels accurately follow the sun and the moon throughout the year to maximize energy production. Click here to track the energy production of his solar units. |
Faculty Honors
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Juan Balda |
Juan Balda, professor in electrical engineering, has been named as the interim department head of electrical engineering until August 31, 2010. Balda has served as the associate head of the department for three years and has served as the acting head on a number of occasions.
The paper "UASPP: Three Years of Helping Middle School Teachers Devise Their Own Hands-on Engineering and Science Activities," by Shannon Davis, Bryan Hill, Carol Gattis, Brad Dearing, Christa Hestekin and Ed Clausen won the best paper award at the American Society for Engineering Education Midwest Regional Meeting, held in Lincoln, Nebraska on September 16-18.
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Jia Di |
Jia Di, associate professor in computer science & computer engineering, has been awarded a NSF research grant on side-channel-proof embedded processors with integrated multi-layer protection. This is a collaborative project between University of Arkansas and North Carolina State University, with Di serving as the principal investigator. The total amount is $200,000 for two years. The team will design a MIPS-compliant embedded processor with both architecture- and circuit-level side-channel attack mitigation mechanisms for security enhancement.
Samir El-Ghazaly, head of electrical engineering, has accepted an IPA assignment at NSF for one year as a program director.
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| Ajay P. Malshe |
Ajay P. Malshe, professor in the department of mechanical engineering and co-founder and chief technology officer of NanoMech, LLC, delivered an invited talk as a part of the Manufacturing Lecture Series at the Sam Wu Manufacturing Center at the University of Michigan. The title of his talk was "Nanomanufacturing Innovations to Revitalize Competiveness of Manufacturing in US: Present and Future Challenges and Opportunities." This seminar primarily discussed nanomaterials and manufacturing inventions from his group, in particular world's first cubic boron nitride coating and nano lubricant additive to oil for energy saving. In a background, for the last few decades the US has seen continuous decline in manufacturing outcome and investment. Manufacturing, one of the legs of the three legged stool of the technology sector, is vital for the competitiveness of the US in the global economy. It is becoming apparent that discoveries and inventions of nanomaterials and manufacturing have key abilities to provide the desired stimulus for enhancing manufacturing infrastructure and competitiveness. Malshe covered fundamental science, engineering, ongoing developments, education and an economic engine enabled by these inventions in the past eight years in Arkansas. Last but not least, the seminar touched upon new areas of nanomanufacturing opportunities and developments from Malshe's research program.
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Joseph Rencis |
Joseph J. Rencis, professor and department head in mechanical engineering, has been named as the 2009-10 Chair-Elect for the American Society of Engineering Education Midwest Section.
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Ashok Saxena |
Ashok Saxena, College of Engineering dean and professor in mechanical engineering, was named an Honorary Fellow at the 12th International Congress on Fracture in Ottawa, Canada.
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Scott Smith |
Staff Honors
Debbie Haynes, Graduate and Undergraduate Student Enrollment Secretary in Mechanical Engineering, received the 2009 UA Part-Time Staff Award. This is the first year this award has been given.
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Connie Howard accepts Outstanding State |
Student Honors
We welcome Charles Bardinon, a student from Université de Technologie de Troyes, France. Bardinon is the first French engineering student to spend a semester at the University of Arkansas as a result of the academic agreement with UTT. This academic agreement is a result of the efforts of Magda El-Shenawee, Carol Gattis and DeDe Long. Previously, El-Shenawee and three of her students spent the summers of '07, '08, '09 at UTT as funded by NSF.
Parash Kalita, graduate student in mechanical engineering, has completed his M.S. thesis in the area of Fundamental Understanding of MQL Machining. He has conducted pioneering research under the guidance of Professor Ajay Malshe at the Materials and Manufacturing Research Laboratories, in collaboration with faculty-student team at the University of Michigan. Results demonstrated by his thesis have laid the sound foundation for an NSF funded nano-lubricant study. Parash is currently pursuing the doctoral program at the department of mechanical engineering.
Sachin Terdalkar, doctoral candidate in mechanical engineering, received a travel award to attend the 10th U.S. National Congress on Computational Mechanics in Columbus, Ohio in July 2009.
The following students have been elected as officers in the American Indian Science and Engineering Society:
Haley Archer - President
Molly Steen - Vice President
Summer Wilkie - Secretary
Zach Eldridge - Treasurer
New Staff
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Shadaya Litt
Industrial Engineering/Operations Management
Program Administrative Support Supervisor
Calendar
| Monday, October 5 | FE Review Session: Heat Transfer |
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Dr. Couvillion will lead this FE review session
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| Wednesday, October 7 | FE Review Session: Concrete |
| Dr. Pleimann will lead this FE review session 5:30-7:30 p.m. Bell Engineering Center, 2270 | |
| National Society of Black Engineers General Meeting | |
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7:00pm.
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| Thursday, October 8 | FE Review Session: Hydraulics |
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Dr. Soerens will lead this FE review session
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| Monday, October 12 | FE Review Session: Computers |
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Dr. Wang will lead this FE review session
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| Tuesday, October 13 | When Google is not enough (or too much)! |
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Description: Google searches can find too many possibilities or not enough that match what is really needed. What then? This session will help you find the article when the link on Google leads to a request for payment. It will also introduce you to other databases that may help you find the most appropriate articles more quickly. Though focused towards engineers, questions about any database of interest to attendees will be addressed.
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| Wednesday, October 14 | FE Review Session: Engineering Econ |
| Dr. White will lead this FE review session 5:30-7:30 p.m. Bell Engineering Center, 2273 | |
| When Google is not enough (or too much)! | |
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Description: Google searches can find too many possibilities or not enough that match what is really needed. What then? This session will help you find the article when the link on Google leads to a request for payment. It will also introduce you to other databases that may help you find the most appropriate articles more quickly. Though focused towards engineers, questions about any database of interest to attendees will be addressed.
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| Thursday, October 15 | FE Review Session: Ethics and Professions |
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Monday, October 19 |
Dr. Soerens will lead this FE review session
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| Tuesday, October 20 | Distinguished Lecture Program: Rod Diridon |
| Hosted by Mack-Blackwell Rural Transportation Center 5:30 p.m. Combs Auditorium in Bell Engineering Center | |
| RefWorks Basics for Engineers | |
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11:00am - 11:45am |
| Saturday, October 24 |
FE Exam
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| Tuesday, October 28 | 2009 Disability Mentoring Day |
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Walmart Stores, Inc. and their LEAD (Leading and Empowering Associates with Disabilities) Group invite University of Arkansas students to participate in the 2009 Disability Mentoring Day.
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| Friday, October 30 | Dean's Advisory Council Meeting |
| Saturday, October 31 | College of Engineering Open House |
| Imhoff Study Center on 4th floor of Bell Engineering Center 10 a.m.-1 p.m. | |
| National Society of Black Engineers | |
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Fall Regional Conference
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| Tuesday, November 10 | Cite Right! |
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Description: When is it OK to use a scientific phrase without quotation marks? How do you make it clear you are expounding on someone else's idea or using their words to support YOUR idea? How do you show an electronic source is actually a scholarly article? Learn how to avoid plagiarism by citing materials correctly. The focus of this session will lean towards scientific styles, topics, graphical data, images, and web resources.
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| Wednesday, November 11 | Cite Right! |
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Description: When is it OK to use a scientific phrase without quotation marks? How do you make it clear you are expounding on someone else's idea or using their words to support YOUR idea? How do you show an electronic source is actually a scholarly article? Learn how to avoid plagiarism by citing materials correctly. The focus of this session will lean towards scientific styles, topics, graphical data, images, and web resources.
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| Tuesday, November 17 | RefWorks Advanced |
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Description: Learn about RefWorks bibliographic manager software. RefWorks allows you to save citations for books, articles, and other publications in your own personal database, and then to export those citations in hundreds of formats including IEEE, ACM, ASCE, and ACS. Learn how to save citations from Engineering Village, Ebsco, and ProQuest as well as how to manage your citations, and how to export citations in reference or works cited lists. The advanced session will Write n Cite, RefGrab-It, managing folders, and working with footnotes and endnotes.
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| December 12 | Arkansas FIRST LEGO® League Tournament |
| Mountain Home, Arkansas For more information, contact Tish Pohl. |