Special Sessions & Events
More information coming soon
Join us for these activities at the 2018 BMES Annual Meeting!Special Events
Plenary Sessions
Luncheons
Special Sessions
Student and Early Career Program
Industry Programs
Special Sessions
BMES Student Chapter Development Event
Wednesday, Afternoon
Track: None
Special Session
Calling all BMES student chapter leaders! Join us for multiple, short presentations by the chapters leading the nation in various club aspects. These presentations will be followed by two breakout workshops chosen by you based on your personal interests. The first breakout session period will focus on General Leadership and the second on Targeted Officer Roles. Work with your peers to generate new ideas and leadership strategies for your chapters. This event will generate exciting, new ideas for your chapters. As an added bonus, meet up with other student chapter leaders to start out the week and make weeklong and lifelong friends which will certainly improve your overall conference experience. Event hosted by BMES at UC Davis (ucdbmes@gmail.com).
Black Women in Biomedical Engineering: Lessons for Healthy and Successful Career Advancement (session w/ reception)
Wednesday, 3:00 PM - 5:00 PM
Track: None
Special Session
The Future of Bioelectronics: Materials, Processes, and Applications
Thursday, 8:00 AM - 9:30 AM
Track: None
Special Session
Bioelectronics – a field intended to advance healthcare and to provide tools to further understand physiology and pathology – describes the interface of biological systems with traditional (opto)electronics. The inherent mismatch of this interface poses many challenges that threaten the utility, lifetime, and success of materials and devices meant for diagnostic or therapeutic use. Biosystems (cells, tissues, organs) are inherently soft, often dynamic, and communicate via biomolecular recognition and ionic fluxes. Electronic systems are traditionally hard, static, and rely on electronic transport. Bioelectronics materials research works to bridge these mismatches and to improve the bi-directional communication for recording biological signals and stimulating biosystems.
Immunoengineering: Knowledge gains, gaps, and a path forward / Symposium - Frontiers in Immunoengineering
Thursday, 8:00 AM - 9:30 AM
Track: None
Special Session
The symposium will bring forth thought-leaders in immunoEngineering to present state-of-the-art research and opportunities for future directions. Topics to be covered represent the breath to which immunology intersects with different areas of biomedical engineering such as imaging, biomechanics, biomaterials and computational biology. ImmunoEngineering is a very timely subject of great interest to many bioengineers as wells as the funding agency, National Institutes of Health (NIH). The National Institute for Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB) recently established the first ImmunoEngineering program at NIH. At this gathering of biomedical engineers, a panel discussion will be facilitated by the NIH representative, with the panel consisting of the four speakers and two co-chairs. The purpose of this discussion is to foster ideas from panelists and audience. Issues to consider include opportunities for further engagement of the biomedical engineering community in immunoEngineering, identify gaps and opportunities for collaboration amongst the community and with immunologists, and how NIH programs can support such endeavors. The NIBIB is of the view that the biomedical engineering community can utilize their expertise and out-of-box solutions to help immunologists, cancer biologists or HIV experts to address unresolved issues that will benefit from a multidisciplinary team-based approach.
Special Session on Tumor Heterogeneity and Single Cell Analysis
Thursday, 8:00 AM - 9:30 AM
Track: None
Special Session
High School Visitation Day & HS Poster Competition
Thursday, 9:30 AM - 6:30 PM
Track: None
Special Session
One of the goals of the NSBE-BMES partnership is to broaden awareness of the BME collegiate path and STEM discipline to high school students from schools that might not have a STEM curriculum. BMES will work with the pre-collegiate advisory services of NSBE as well as the advisory groups to the Meeting Chairs to identify one or more high schools appropriate for this activity. We intend to support student participation on Thursday, in order to allow high school students to participate in a science fair with poster awards, attend the Celebration of Minorities Luncheon, exhibitor booths on BME collegiate programs, scientific programs and one or more plenary lecturers (including the Diversity Award Lecture). This activity is being led by the BMES Diversity Committee. The program will run all day on Thursday (morning through early evening). Participants will meet in the exhibit hall for a brief, informal orientation and will stay through the Diversity Award Lecture evening plenary. There are no specific speakers designated for this program and other than poster boards and demo tables, no specific room set applies.
NIH Funding Panel Session
Thursday, 1:30 PM - 3:00 PM
Track: None
Special Session
BMES plans to continue the NIH Funding Session to provide an overview of NIH funding opportunities and resources particularly well-suited to the BME research community and plans to expand the session to include program officers and awardees from other NIH institute centers including NCI, NIAMS, and NICHD.
Soft Material-Enabled Electronics for Medicine, Healthcare, and Human-Machine Interfaces
Thursday, 1:30 PM - 3:00 PM
Track: None
Special Session
In this session, we will have world-renowned speakers who made significant advancements in the development of soft, functional materials and their applications to design wearable and implantable electronics for disease diagnostics, health monitoring, therapeutics, and human-machine interfaces. Introduction and discussion of the emerging technologies and newly developed biomedical systems regarding wearable and implantable biosensors and bioelectronics will make a direct contribution to the biomedical engineering society since this emerging research area is focusing on the development of advanced materials and engineering technologies to advance human health and well-being.
The 6th US-Korea Joint BMES Workshop
Thursday, 2:30 PM - 5:30 PM
Track: None
Special Session
DEBUT Winner Presentations and Award Ceremony
Thursday, 3:45 PM - 5:15 PM
Track: None
Special Session
The winners of the DEBUT (Design by Undergraduate Biomedical Teams) jointly sponsored by the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB) and VentureWell, will present their projects and receive their awards. The session will also include a talk on entrepreneurship.
Photoacoustic Imaging: Systems, Computation, and Agents
Thursday, 3:45 PM - 5:15 PM
Track: None
Special Session
The special session will feature four world-leading experts on the latest breakthroughs in photoacoustic imaging, including Drs. Lihong V. Wang (Caltech, USA), Stanislav Emelianov (Georgia Tech, USA), Daniel Razansky (TUM, Germany), and Chulhong Kim (POSTCH, South Korea). Photoacoustic imaging, also referred to as optoacoustic imaging, is most sensitive to rich optical absorption contrast and has overcome the fundamental depth limit of high-resolution optical imaging. The image resolution, as well as the maximum imaging depth, is highly scalable with the optical and acoustic configurations at depths up to several centimeters in biological tissues. Photoacoustic imaging can provide anatomical (e.g., tumor angiogenesis and artery plaque), functional (e.g., neuronal activity and ischemic hypoxia), and molecular information (e.g., protein-protein interaction and gene expression) of living tissues. Photoacoustic imaging is a valuable tool for personalized medicine, using numerous exogenous contrast agents (e.g., organic dyes, metallic and nonmetallic nanoparticles, and reporter gene products) with biomarkers. The invited speakers will collectively cover four exciting topics: (1) Omniscale photoacoustic imaging from organelles to patients, (2) ultrafast photoacoustic imaging of biological functions and dynamics, (3) contrast agents for theranostic photoacoustic imaging, and (4) clinical and commercial translation of photoacoustic imaging.
BMES 50th Anniversary Student Jeopardy
Thursday, TBD
Track: None
Special Session
Systems Thinking in the Education of Biomedical Engineering Students (I)
Friday, 8:00 AM - 9:30 AM
Track: None
Special Session
Many research programs in biomedical engineering across the world have begun to address the complicated, systemic nature of health and disease, which directly suggests a concomitant need for new types of biomedical engineering strategies toward efficacious therapeutic interventions. This new demand requires computational skills in the analysis and interpretation of complex biomedical systems and mandates that educators in BME develop best practices for effectively training the next generation of biomedical engineers at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. So far, however, the growing need for dedicated training in the computational aspects of biomedical systems analysis is seldom met, which indicates that correspondent changes in curricula should be considered within the discipline of BME.
This session is dedicated to discussions of innovative BME teaching modalities in the area of computational biomedical systems analysis and highlights novel ideas pertaining to classroom education in the rapidly emerging field of dynamical systems analysis in health and disease. The session begins with real-life illustrations from a critical care unit that set the stage by demonstrating the importance of systems-based biomedical engineering. The subsequent presentations describe different approaches toward fostering systems thinking in the next generation of biomedical engineers.
Advanced Biomanufacturing Session I: Advanced Tissue Biofabrication
Friday, 8:00 AM - 9:30 AM
Track: None
Special Session
AAA Symposium
Friday, 8:00 AM - 9:30 AM
Track: None
Special Session
BMES-NSF Special Session on CAREER and UNSOLICITED Awards
Friday, 1:30 PM - 4:30 PM
Track: None
Special Session
BMES plans to partner with NSF to host a special session on proposals in BME and grant writing to provide aspiring BME faculty with increased awareness of NSF funded research, a better understanding of NSF funding opportunities, and strategies for preparing successful CAREER and unsolicited grant applications. The session will be funded by a grant from the NSF.
Engineering Solutions to Health Care Disparities
Friday, 1:15 PM - 2:45 PM
Track: None
Special Session
Advanced Biomanufacturing Session II: Advanced Cell Biomanufacturing
Friday, 1:15 PM - 2:45 PM
Track: None
Special Session
Physical Science-Oncology Networking at BMES (session w/ reception)
Friday, 3:30 PM - 5:00 PM
Track: None
Special Session
A Network of 'Physical Science-Oncology Centers & Projects' is being funded by the National Cancer Institute, and many faculty and students in Biomedical Eng'g Depts are Directors, Investigators, or Fellows in the Network. This Symposium will describe the Center efforts while highlighting ongoing work and will break up into small roundtable discussions to answer science questions and also describe opportunities for interactions.
Athanasiou ABME Student Award Session
Friday, 3:30 PM - 5:00 PM
Track: None
Special Session
BMES Graduate Medical Innovation Program Workshop Part III: Defining Student Archetype(s)
Friday, 3:30 PM - 5:00 PM
Track: None
Special Session
Graduate medical innovation (GMI) programs provide pathways for engineers, life scientists, and MDs to amplify each other’s efforts in developing new innovations in medicine. These programs are emerging from engineering departments, but also from medical schools, business programs, and entrepreneurship centers. All of these different graduate programs have in common the need to identify high-quality students with strong potential for success. At the same time, the process of bringing new medical technologies to market requires contributions from individuals with disparate skill sets, such as engineers, researchers, clinicians, and entrepreneurs. This diverse range of skills demands a careful consideration of the student archetypes who should be included in such programs. This workshop emerged from the second GMI Program Workshop, held at the 2017 BMES Annual Meeting; at that event, a break-out session brainstormed attributes of “ideal” candidate students for GMI programs. Following up on that workshop, the organizers distributed surveys to both administrators and alumni of GMI programs. The 2018 Workshop will include detailed review and discussion of the results of these surveys, with the goal of continuing to define the archetype(s) of prospective students with the potential for success in this style of program.
Young Innovators of Cellular and Molecular Bioengineering, Part I
Friday, TBD
Track: None
Special Session
Young Innovators of Cellular and Molecular Bioengineering, Part II
Friday, TBD
Track: None
Special Session
BMES-NSF Special Session on Graduate Research Fellowships Program (GRFP)
Saturday, 8:00 AM - 9:30 AM
Track: None
Special Session
The goal of the session is to bring together program officers, grantees, reviewers and graduate students to highlight the NSF GRFP and inform undergraduate and graduate students on GFRP guidelines and strategies to develop winning GRFP grant proposals. The session will be funded by a grant from NSF. The session will open with a welcome from BMES President, Lori Setton, who will introduce the NSF Program Director. Preferably a GRFP program director but not necessary, this NSF officer will provide a tutorial on the history, objectives, requirements, and pitfalls of applying for a GRFP. With recent changes in the rules for GRFP eligibility, this session and information shared are ever more valuable. This tutorial is followed by a facilitated panel discussion on grant writing tips and perspectives from recent NSF GRFP awardees, reviewers, and program officers. The session will end with speakers and panelists taking questions from participants about the program.
Application of Two Dimensional Materials in Healthcare
Saturday, 8:00 AM - 9:30 AM
Track: None
Special Session
2D materials offer high sensitivity due to large surface area, thin atomic profile, tunable electronic/optical properties, flexibility, mechanical strength, and optical transparency. The distinct chemical and physical properties of 2D materials make them ideal for detecting various biological targets, such as nucleic acids, proteins, and small molecules. In recent years, 2D materials and their composite structure with other nanoscale materials (such as nanoparticles, enzymes, nanotubes) have attracted great attention in various technologies related to healthcare, including biochemical sensors, drug delivery, design of in vivo probes, substrate for immobilization of biomolecules, etc. This Special Session intends to share some of the exciting research efforts in the filed on application of 2D materials in healthcare, and can create new collaborative opportunities between the attendees with different areas of expertise, including biomedical engineering, materials science/engineering, electrical engineers, and chemical engineering.
Scientific Advancement in the Biomechanics of Prosthetic Heart Valves
Saturday, 8:00 AM - 9:30 AM
Track: None
Special Session
Over the past 60 years, prosthetic heart valves have evolved from mechanical valves to tissue valves implanted surgically, to recent stented tissue valves implanted percutaneously. As one of the major medical devices in clinical cardiovascular disease treatment, prosthetic heart valve has dramatically improved the quality and length of the lives of millions of patients worldwide who otherwise may have no treatment options. Behind its marvelous success, biomedical engineering analysis has played a critical role in improving prosthetic valve design and functionality. In the symposium, we will review and discuss the scientific advancement of prosthetic valve design and the associated engineering analyses done in the past 60 years, ongoing research, and future research directions.
Aligning bioengineering curricula with modern needs of the biomedical industry (under industry sessions)
TBD
Track: None
Special Session
International Session (up to education track chairs)
TBD
Track: Education
Special Session
This special session will highlight progress in the development of joint biomedical engineering programs between U.S. universities and universities in China, Singapore, and South Korea. This event is a key step in forming partnerships between the BMES and biomedical engineering societies abroad. The invited speakers (four total) will share their experience in development/running of international BS/MS/PhD Programs in Biomedical Engineering.