Biomedical Engineering

Dr. Song works with organ-on-chip systems and leads investigations on artificial implantable organs through engineering approaches and biomaterials that manipulate cell behavior. Her work has helped applications in neural regeneration, muscle rehabilitation, diabetes treatment, and bone tissue engineering. Her goals are to contribute to the fundamental scientific knowledge at the intersection of biology, engineering, and medicine. She aspires to advance new diagnostics and therapeutics that better serve the patients in need, help the physicians, as well as improve the public health outcome. Dr. Song completed her PhD from University of California Berkeley (UC Berkeley) and University of California San Francisco (UCSF). She received her postdoctoral training on neural repair and neuromuscular recovery techniques through electrical stimulation on stem cell functions at Stanford University. Dr. Song obtained her BS with honors in biomedical engineering from Brown University. Dr. Song is the recipient of multiple academic awards and fellowships from the National Institute of Health Ruth L. Kirschstein Research Service Awards (NIH NRSA F32), the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship (NSF GRFP), Forbes Magazine 30 Under 30, Gates Millennium Foundation, amongst many others.

Elizabeth Hutchinson, PhD joined the University of Arizona department of biomedical engineering in 2019 as an assistant professor in the focus area of biomedical imaging. Her educational background and research interests span both imaging science and neuroscience with the goal of using advanced imaging approaches to develop and understand novel imaging markers of brain changes in neurologic disorders – particularly in traumatic brain injury (TBI). Her research combines human-similar pre-clinical models with cutting edge MRI methodology in order to advance translational neuroimaging tools for the understanding, diagnosis and treatment of brain disorders.

Our research focuses applying engineering methods to problems in biology with the goal of improving human health. In particular we aim to understand the underlying mechanisms of traumatic brain injury in order to better prevent and diagnose. We also research on the cerebral hemodynamics and the effect it can have on neurodegenerative diseases and stroke. We use an array of computational and experimental approaches including finite element modeling, magnetic resonance imaging and impact biomechanics. https://www.engr.arizona.edu/~klaksari/

Dr. Philipp Gutruf is an Assistant Professor in the Biomedical Engineering Department at the University of Arizona and leads the Gutruf Lab. He received his postdoctoral training in the Rogers Research Group at Northwestern University and the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) where he developed a broad set of soft, highly miniaturized wireless battery free tools for the characterization and stimulation of biological systems. Dr. Gutruf received his PhD in 2016 at RMIT University where he worked on oxide based stretchable electronics, sensors and photonics, with emphasis on device fabrication and material concepts for intrinsically stretchable devices. He has authored over 23 journal articles and received 4 patents and his work has been highlighted on 6 journal covers. He has also been the recipient of prestigious scholarships and fellowships such as the International Postgraduate Research Scholarship (IPRS) and the Australian Nano Technology Network Travel Fellowship. The Gutruf Lab`s research focuses on creating devices that intimately integrate with biological systems by unifying innovations in soft materials, photonics and electronics to create systems with broad impact on health diagnostics and neuroscience.

Jeong-Yeol Yoon, PhD, is Associate Professor in Department of Agricultural & Biosystems Engineering, with joint appointment in Department of Biomedical Engineering at the University of Arizona. Dr. Yoon obtained his first PhD degree in Chemical Engineering from Yonsei University, South Korea, and his second PhD in Biomedical Engineering from University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). Dr. Yoon’s research is focused on the design and the development of micro- and nanotechnology-based biosensors, which can be applied to medical diagnostics, veterinary diagnostics, food safety and environmental monitoring. He is equally interested in designing better biomaterial surfaces with micro- and nanotechnology, which can be used for medical implants and tissue engineering applications.Dr. Yoon has published over 50 original peer-reviewed journal articles and authored a textbook “Introduction to Biosensors” published by Springer. He serves as associate editor or editorial board member for several journals, including Journal of Biological Engineering, Biological Engineering Transactions, and Resource Magazine.

Urs Utzinger, PhD, is department head of Biomedical Engineering, Associate Professor of Biomedical Engineering, Obstetrics and Gynecology, Electrical and Computer Engineering, BIO5 Institute, and Optical Sciences.Dr. Utzinger is internationally renowned for his work in optical spectroscopy, fiber optic sensing and microscopy. He has developed clinical instruments for detection of cervical, ovarian and gastrointestinal cancer. He also studies cellular migration during angiogenesis using intravital imaging techniques. He has published over 60 original research papers, 6 of them with more than 100 citations. Many papers were a result of collaborations with physicians and with researchers at multiple institutions. He has authored 3 book chapters and holds 7 issued patents in the field of optical diagnostics. Dr. Utzinger and members of his laboratory frequently present at international bio-photonics meetings. He is a member of the optical society of America and SPIE. In his research Dr. Utzinger has studied the spectral signature of light reemitted from tissue and its components for diagnostic purposes. He has conducted clinical studies on the cervix, with patients undergoing oophorectomy and patients having gastro intestinal procedures. In his laboratory he studies living tissue culture systems with time series and label free imaging. With colleagues he has developed microscopic imaging procedures allowing studying the deformation of the extracellular matrix under tension.As instructor he teaches graduate classes in Biomedical Instrumentation and Biomedical Optics. He introduces engineering undergraduate students into the clinical practice by providing them with experiences in physician’s clinics and university hospital environment.He currently serves as department head in Biomedical Engineering, which is a growing program of more than 160 undergraduate students. He also reviews small business proposals and other research projects for the National Institutes of Health.

Dr. Trouard is an Associate Professor of Biomedical Engineering and Medical Imaging and a member of the Evelyn F. McKnight Brain Institute. His research involves the development and application of novel magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) techniques to understand human health and effectively treat disease. Dr. Trouard’s multidisciplinary work spans a range from basic studies of cell culture systems, to studies of preclinical animal models of disease, to clinical imaging in humans. Many aspects of this work are directed towards understanding and treatment of neurological disorders including Alzheimer's Disease, Niemann Pick Type C disease, Stroke and Cancer.

Falls and Frailty Biometrics Healthy Brain Research Initiative

Jil C. Tardiff, M.D., Ph.D. is a Professor of Medicine and Cellular and Molecular Medicine at the University of Arizona College of Medicine and is a member of the Clinical and Translational Institute at the BIO5 Institute. She attended the University of California at Berkeley where she completed her B.A. in Genetics in 1984. She subsequently completed her M.D. and a Ph.D. (in Cell Biology) at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York City in 1992. Dr. Tardiff pursued her housestaff training at Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center in New York City. As one of the first participants in the ABIM Clinician-Scientist pathway as a Markey Fellow, she completed an internal medicine residency coupled to a combined clinical-research fellowship in cardiovascular medicine at Columbia. In 2001 she joined the faculty at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine as an Assistant Professor of Medicine and Physiology and Biophysics. She remained on faculty at Einstein, achieving the rank of Associate Professor. In 2012, Dr. Tardiff joined the faculty at the University of Arizona College of Medicine, where she currently holds the Steven M. Gootter Endowed Chair for the Prevention of Sudden Cardiac Death. As a physician-scientist, Dr. Tardiff’s work focuses on the molecular mechanisms that underlie the development of the most common form of genetic cardiomyopathy, those caused by mutations in proteins of the cardiac sarcomere, hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM). These complex disorders affect one in 500 individuals of all ages and represent the most common cause of sudden cardiac death in young people in the field. Her studies detailing the mechanisms of disease pathogenesis at the level of individual cells using transgenic mouse models has been continuously funded by the NIH since 2002 and her findings regarding disruptions in myocellular Ca2+ handling and energetics work has been cited in support of new clinical trials to evaluate novel treatment modalities for this challenging cardiomyopathy. She is a founding member of the International Thin Filament Consortium, a group of physician-scientists from many of the major academic centers in the world that focuses on bench-to-bedside studies using large, genotyped HCM cohorts. More recently, in collaboration with Professor Steven Schwartz in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Arizona, her lab has developed computational approaches to modeling and eventually predicting disease severity based on protein structure. To fully translate these basic research findings to the clinical realm, Dr. Tardiff has established a referral center for HCM (and other genetic cardiomyopathies) at the University of Arizona where patients from all over the southwest can obtain lifelong cutting edge medical care for this complex and often devastating disorder.

Vignesh Subbian is an Assistant Professor of Biomedical Engineering, Systems and Industrial Engineering, member of the BIO5 Institute, and a Distinguished Fellow of the Center for University Education Scholarship (CUES) at the University of Arizona (UA). His professional areas of interest include medical informatics, healthcare systems engineering, and broadening participation in engineering and computing. Dr. Subbian leads the Computational Medicine and INformatics (COM-IN) Collaboratory at the UA, with a focus on transforming human health and healthcare and health through engineering-driven and integrative research as well as training next-generation scientists, engineers, clinicians, and leaders through personalized mentorship and true multidisciplinary immersion. Funded through the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), research efforts in the COM-IN Collaboratory leverage systems engineering and computational methods including machine learning for clinical and healthcare applications. Current patient populations of interest include cardiovascular diseases, traumatic brain injury, and mental health disorders. Dr. Subbian is the principal investigator on an NSF Smart and Connected Health award to develop advanced computational models and tools for critical care medicine, particularly traumatic brain injury prognosis. Dr. Subbian’s educational research is focused on ethical decision-making and formation of identities in engineering. His work in ethics education has been featured in the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) Exemplars in Engineering Ethics Education, an effort aimed to improve students’ understanding of ethical practice and research in engineering. He served as the co-chair of the NSF-funded Southwest STEM in Hispanic-serving Institutions (HSI) Conference (2017), and currently co-leads the STEM in HSI working group at the UA. He also leads the Collaborative for Engineering Education Research and Outreach (CEERO), a cross-college, interdisciplinary network of faculty, staff, and students to promote engineering education at all levels.