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In an effort to help the Lafayette community gain a better understanding of the fundamental principles of research in biology, chemistry, engineering, and environmental science, nine professors across six academic departments have come together to organize the Interdisciplinary Seminar Series in the Life Sciences.
The first lecture of the series, “Engineering repair: from biomaterials to stem cells,” will be presented by Jennifer H. Elisseeff, assistant professor of biomedical engineering at Johns Hopkins University with an adjunct appointment at Johns Hopkins Hopkins Hospitial, at 3 p.m. Friday, Feb. 16 in room 224 Oechsle Hall.
Elisseeff’s research focuses on tissue engineering, which combines biomaterials and cells to form substitutes to replace tissue lost due to trauma, disease, or congenital abnormalities. Her discussion will deal with the design and testing of biomaterials, both synthetic and naturally-derived, and their application to musculoskeletal tissue repair and engineering in conjunction with adult and embryonic stem cells.
Elisseeff has published over 50 articles and book chapters, and has six patents either issued or pending. Her biomaterials and tissue engineering laboratory focuses on developing new biomaterials and minimally invasive technologies for tissue repair, stem cells, and musculoskeletal tissue engineering. She has received numerous awards and was named by Technology Review magazine as a top innovator under 35 in 2002. She received a Ph.D. in biomedical engineering from the Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology.
According to the seminar coordinator James K. Ferri, assistant professor of chemical engineering, the series, which is sponsored by the Office of the Provost, will engage the campus community with current research topics in the life sciences and provide a venue for professional development in the life sciences for all Lafayette faculty through new research relationships.
“The life sciences are the study and clarification of the mechanisms of life at the most fundamental level,” says Ferri. “They represent a set of complex issues involving interactions between health, the environment, society, and technology. These issues require the use of knowledge and methodology from multiple disciplines, i.e. an interdisciplinary approach, in order to develop a greater understanding of the problems that they present.”
There are three focus areas for the seminar series: biomedicine and bioengineering, biochemistry and biotechnology, and biodiversity and environmental science. The series will run through spring 2008. Upcoming speakers and dates will be announced as they are added to the lineup. Nine faculty are associated with the seminar series. The core organizing committee consists of Jennifer S. Rossmann, assistant professor of mechanical engineering; Patricia A. Darcy, assistant professor of chemical engineering; Steven E. Mylon, assistant professor of chemistry; and Ferri.
As well as lecturing, invited speakers will meet with interested students and faculty. In these meetings, students will have the opportunity to discuss the science being presented and gain alternative perspectives on future careers in the fields. Faculty will also have the opportunity to show the speakers first hand the research they and their students are doing here at Lafayette.
Ferri also hopes that, due to its interdisciplinary nature, the series will foster interdisciplinary research projects among Lafayette students and faculty and lead to the development of new courses. He also believes that the various speakers will help open up avenues for students concerning graduate school and future collaborations and networks for faculty research beyond Lafayette.
“President Dan Weiss has identified the life sciences as one of the target areas for applying this [interdisciplinary] approach at Lafayette,” says Ferri. “This means that discussion of biology will be growing livelier in Easton, Pa., during the next year.”