Seminars

Joint ME/IE 8773-8774 Seminar

Bioartificial Liver Design — A Mechanical Engineering Perspective

by

Robin N. Coger, Associate Professor
Department of Mechanical Engineering and Engineering Science
University of North Carolina at Charlotte
Charlotte, NC 28223-0001

Wednesday, November 3, 2004
3:30-5:00 p.m.
Room 1130 ME
Coffee and cookies will be available at 3:15 p.m. before and after the seminar

Abstract:

An estimated 100,000 Americans die annually while waiting for a spare liver, heart, kidney, or other organ. Many of these patients would be better served if safe and viable replacement tissues and organs were available as alternatives to transplantation. Fields such as tissue engineering, where Dr. Coger’s work in this area concentrates specifically on the liver, are currently addressing this need. One particular tissue engineered device is called the Bioartificial Liver (BAL). The purpose of the BAL is to serve as a temporary and extracorporeal (i.e., non-implantable) replacement of the patient’s natural liver. Because of the complexities of the liver’s functions, BAL development has required the collaborative efforts of engineers, biologists, material scientists, and clinicians.
Today’s seminar focuses on the approaches Dr. Coger’s laboratory uses to improve the design of these devices. The seminar will highlight the progress her research group has made in using mechanical engineering fundamentals (heat and mass transport, BioMEMS technology, etc.) to improve the BAL’s functional output, its longevity, and its off-the-shelf availability.

Bio:

Dr. Robin N. Coger received her B.S. degree from Cornell University, and her M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of California - Berkeley, all in Mechanical Engineering. Immediately prior to joining the faculty at UNC Charlotte in 1996, she worked as a Research Fellow at Harvard Medical School and the Department of Surgery at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. Her research group at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, The Engineering of Biological Materials and Devices Laboratory, is concerned with the design of devices, and the characterization and modeling of materials employed in biomedical engineering applications. Hence the group is able to analyze the material behavior of biological materials and use the information to predict and test their performance under clinically relevant conditions. The laboratory’s research chiefly impacts two biomedical areas: Cryopreservation and Liver Tissue Engineering. This seminar will chiefly focus on the latter application.

Informal Faculty Luncheon: Wednesday, November 3, 2004, 12:00 noon. Meet in 1100 ME and walk to lunch with other faculty. Prof. Robin Coger will be able to attend