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1st appeared 1 October 1998 Conference on Miniaturization Technologies Coming to UCSF "The leading edge of research lies in the interface between biology and engineering," says Mary Tang of the Stanford Nanofabrication Facility. She and Chris Cullander, an assistant professor in the departments of Biopharmaceutical Sciences and Pharmaceutical Chemistry at UCSF, and Greg Kovacs, a Stanford professor of electrical engineering, are organizing a one-day symposium that hopes to bring these fields closer together. The "BioMEMS" symposium will be held at UCSF on Saturday, October 17. The topic is the use of MEMS (MicroElectronic Mechanical Systems) techniques, originally developed in the semiconductor industry, to confront biological problems. The symposium will provide interested faculty and students with an introduction to this new and exciting field. Non-engineers are particularly welcome. "This is an educational workshop designed to introduce the use of miniaturization technologies in biology and medicine to researchers in the life sciences," said Tang. "There is an incredible wide range of research and development efforts in biochips, ranging from diagnostic products that are just now on the market to tools that help investigators study fundamental biological processes." "The most familiar aspect of bioMEMs currently is high-throughput DNA analysis," said Cullander. "MEMs devices are now being developed for diagnostic purposes, and will probably appear in the hospital soon." Less obvious are the applications of this technology to drug discovery or the manipulation of single components, such as cells, organelles, and biomolecules. The symposium, subtitled "Spanning Frontiers in Engineering and Biology," will be held in the School of Nursing, Rm. 225, 7:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. Speakers include professors from the University of California Berkeley and Stanford University as well as engineers from leading biotech firms. There will be a morning workshop session to introduce microfabrication concepts and an afternoon session of formal presentations describing several biological applications, including DNA analysis, biosensors, neural probes, and microfluidics. "The greatest leverage can be achieved through the application of relatively simple engineering tools to standard biological problems," Tang said. "Through this symposium, we hope to reach a community of researchers in biology and medicine who might not otherwise be exposed to miniaturization technologies." For more information, please contact Mary Tang at mtang@snf.stanford.edu. Links: National Nanofabrication Users Network Biotechnology website Source: Paula Murphy, Daybreak Editor |
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