Faculty

Program Coordinator

Jeff Ruberti, Program Coordinator and adviser, 617.373.2711

Our faculty listing is arranged alphabetically by college. Select a college from the list below or simply scroll down to review our faculty and their research interest areas.

Bouve College of Health Sciences

Mansoor Amiji (PhS)
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Research Interests: Synthesis of novel polymeric materials for medical and pharmaceutical applications. Surface modification of cationic polymers by the complexation-interpenetration method to develop biocompatible materials. Preparation and characterization of polymeric membranes and microcapsules with controlled permeability properties for medical and pharmaceutical applications. Target-specific drug and vaccine delivery systems for gastro-intestinal tract infections. Localized delivery of cytotoxic and antiangiogenic drugs for solid tumors in novel biodegradable polymeric nanoparticles. Intracellular delivery systems for drugs and genes using target-specific, long-circulating, biodegradable polymeric nanoparticles. Gold and iron-gold core-shell nanoparticles for biosensing, imaging, and delivery applications.

Lynn Babington (NUR)
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Research Interests: Outcomes research (clinical and organizational outcomes); health outcomes for minority and immigrant populations; cultural competency; health outcomes for vulnerable populations, particularly immigrants; obesity prevention; cultural competency.

Marge Benham-Hutchins (NUR)
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Research Interests: Health information technology, complexity science, social network analysis, multi-professional communication, patient handoff – continuum of care, transition from acute care to home, rehabilitation, and/or long term care, patient access to medical record.

Paul Canavan (PT)
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Research Interests: Knee osteoarthritis and physical therapy; lower extremity rehabilitation; resistance training; injury prevention.

Michael Epstein (SLPA)
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Research Interests: Psychoacoustics; loudness; otoacoustic emissions; binaural hearing; auditory physiology.

Mary Florentine (SLPA)
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Research Interests: Basic processing and models of normal hearing and hearing loss; ability of non-native listeners to understand speech in noise; cross-cultural attitudes towards noise and annoyance; hearing-loss prevention through education.

John Gately (PhS)
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Research Interests: Pertains to radionuclide imaging and behavioral studies of drugs acting on the cannabinoid and dopamine receptor systems. Recent work has included the design, synthesis and radiolabeling of candidate radiotracers for imaging cannabinoid ("marijuana") receptors using positron emission tomography (PET) and single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT).

Maureen Holden (PT)
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Research Interests: Sensorimotor contributions to motor control and learning, especially as applied to patients with neurological impairments such as stroke or brain injury, and in the application of technology to assist neurorehabilitation. My goal is to develop new and more effective methods to rehabilitate patients with motor control deficits.

Elizabeth Howard (NUR)
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Research Interests: Cardiovascular risk reduction for older adult women; functional ability of the elderly; outcomes of exercise in the elderly; evaluation of health care education; geriatric education competencies.

Ban-an Khaw (PhS)
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Research Interests: Cardiovascular Disorders; Tumor Targeting; Cell Preservation. The aim of my research is to develop new approaches for diagnosis of various cardiovascular diseases and cancer, and to use them to further the understanding of the pathogenesis of these disorders to formulate novel therapies. We has developed various antibody and carbohydrate based in vivo imaging methods for detection of various heart diseases, cancer and athersclerosis. To improve the antibody based in vivo diagnostic methods, negative charge-modification of antibodies that reduced non-specific ionic interaction between the basic positively charged antibody and the negatively-charged acidic cell surface residues was developed. We are also interested in immunoliposome- targeted drug and gene delivery technologies. "Cellular bandage" concept to repair cell membrane lesions was developed at my Center. Furthermore, pathogenesis of autoimmune myocarditis is being investigated in light of our finding that sarcoplasmic reticular Ca++ ATPase is an autoimmunogen. Molecular biological methods are being used to isolate the autoimmunogenic peptide and once we have identified this autoimmunogenic peptide, it will be used to develop a strategy to abrogate the autoimmunity. We are developing noninvasive methods to diagnostically differentiate apoptotic from necrotic myocardial cell death. Lastly, we are also developing in vitro immunoassays that are at least 10,000 times more sensitive than the standard immunoassays. This should permit detection of pathogenic antigens in sera of patients with very high efficiency and sensitivity.

Ying-Yee Kong (SLPA)
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Research Interests: Cochlear implants; psychophysics; binaural hearing; auditory neuropathy; speech production and perception.

Rupal Patel (SLPA)
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Research Interests: Neuromotor speech disorders; acoustics of prosody; assistive communication technology; human computer interaction; speech production in noise.

Kevin Reilly (SLPA)
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Research Interests: Neural bases of speech production; sensorimotor control for speech; acoustics; computational modeling.

Vladimir Torchilin (PhS)
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Research Interests: Drug carriers; drug delivery systems; drug targeting; liposomes; micelles; experimental cancer immunology; imaging agents.

The efficacy of drug carriers (including liposomes) can be improved by coating them with certain polymers, thus making them long-circulating. Their properties might be still further improved when they are made targeted by attachment of a target-specific antibody. We are conducting an active research on such long-circulating and targeted pharmaceutical carriers for drugs and diagnostics in a variety of in vitro and in vivo models. II. Many pharmaceutical micelles easily dissociate in vivo. We proposed to use amphiphilic polyethyleneglycol-lipid conjugates for preparing stable polymeric micelles for non-covalent incorporation and delivery of sparingly soluble drugs and diagnostic agents, and are currently investigating very interesting properties of these micelles in vitro and in vivo. III. We have shown that certain non-pathogenic anti-nuclear autoantibodies with nucleosome-restricted specificity are uniquely reactive against the surface of most tumor but not normal cells. Further studies revealed strong anti-tumor potential of these antibodies towards broad spectrum of tumors. Being used intravenously in normal physiological concentrations, monoclonal antibody 2C5 dramatically inhibits aggressive EL4 T cell lymphoma and B16 melanoma in mice. We study currently the mechanism of mAb 2C5 action which seems to be connected with an antibody-mediated cellular cytotoxicity.

Susan Ventura (PT)
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Research Interests: Susan Ventura is a licensed Physical Therapist who has a Masters degree in Education and a PhD in Law, Policy, and Society. She combines these three areas of interest in her research, which is focused on improving the quality of life of people with disabilities and their caregivers through advocacy, education, and scholarship. The goals of her research are to 1) identify actual and perceived barriers in law, policy, and society that limit the potential of people with disabilities to live independent, satisfying, and productive lives within community settings; 2) foster University-community collaborations to develop and implement problem-solving strategies that have the broadest possible impact; and 3) encourage active engagement in the political process by people with disabilities, their professional and family caregivers, students preparing to be human services professionals, and others who share the common goal of improving the quality of life of people with disabilities.

Chemical Engineering

Anand Asthagiri
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The Asthagiri lab elucidates design principles for engineering living cells and tissues. These design principles provide a foundation for tissue engineering and regenerative medicine. The implications extend beyond engineering artificial organ replacements. Synthetic multicellular structures that mimic their natural counterparts provide better platforms for drug discovery and screening. In addition, elucidating how multicellular structures assemble provides deeper insights into how these structures fall apart in diseases, such as cancer. Understanding the disassembly of multicellular structures sheds new insights into cancer development and helps to identify therapeutic strategies to re-shape diseased tissue.

Rebecca Carrier
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The overall theme of my research interests is the interaction between biological systems and materials, with specific applications in drug delivery and regenerative medicine. The two main goals of my research program are: 1. To enhance understanding of compound transport in biological systems, (e.g., drug transport through the body), and how it is influenced by exogenous and endogenous carrier systems (e.g., lipid micelles) and 2. To develop and study biomimetic biomaterials and cellular response to them.

Edgar D. Goluch
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The primary focus of our research is the development of detection strategies that are tailored for the micro and nanoscale, with emphasis on biological systems. We work at size scales ranging from single molecules to single cells. Applications of this research range from personalized medicine to environmental monitoring. We also have expertise in electrochemistry and fabrication of integrated microfluidic systems.

Carolyn Lee Parsons
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My research is in biochemical engineering, specifically the area of metabolic engineering. Metabolic engineering embodies the principles, framework, and methodologies for understanding and manipulating the metabolic pathways in the cell for targeted and improved chemical transformations. My research group and I are applying metabolic engineering principles and methodologies to improve the production of important compounds from plants or plant cell cultures. Our research relies heavily on understanding the complex network of biosynthetic reactions within the cell and the application of tools in analytical chemistry for unveiling the secrets of the cell. The outcome of this research is an understanding of how to rationally direct the resources of the cell (i.e. precursor and energy fluxes) for significant enhancements in the production of the desired chemical compound.

Shashi Murthy
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The primary focus of our research is the design of microfluidic devices for applications in clinical diagnostics and regenerative medicine. These devices are fabricated using technology originally designed for the semiconductor industry and are capable of handling and manipulating small volumes of fluids (down to tens of microliters) and small numbers of cells. Our expertise is in functionalizing microfluidic channels with a broad range of biomolecules and achieving high-resolution cell separation with these simple and easy-to-use devices.

Civil & Environmental Engineering

Akram Alshawabkheh
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Research Interests: Electrokinetic remediation; contaminant fate and transport; EK-Bioremediation and phytoremediation.

April Gu
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My major research interest involves understanding and applying biological agents (e.g. microorganisms) and their functions to detect, transform or mitigate environmental pollutants in both natural and engineered systems. My research has been specifically focused on the following areas: (1) developing novel molecular biotechnology-enabled methods and technologies for reliable and comprehensive water quality monitoring, including toxicity assessment and identification and, biological and chemical contaminants detection; (2) advancing our mechanistic understanding and ability to better optimize and predict biological treatment and remediation processes by developing new tools/methods that enable fundamental cellular-level investigation of microbial behavior and metabolic functions; (3) promoting more sustainable biotechnology for water treatment and remediation through process optimization, energy capture, nutrient recovery and carbon foot-print reduction.

Ferdie Hellweger
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Areas of expertise include the Center for Urban Environmental Studies; water quality; eEutrophication and biogeochemical modeling; urban hydrology; dcaling problems in rnvironmental modeling; individual/agent-Based modeling.

College of Science

Joe Ayers (Bio)
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Joseph Ayers is a neurobiologist specialized in the neuroethology of motor systems in vertebrates and lower vertebrates and in the design of biomimetic robots based on simple neurobiological models such as the lobster and sea lamprey. These robots feature a physical plant that captures the biomechanical advantages of the body form, a neuronal circuit-based controller, neuromorphic sensors, myomorphic actuators and a behavioral set based on action patterns, reverse engineered from movies of the animal models. In addition, he developed electronic nervous systems to control neurorehabilitative devices.

David Budil (CCB)
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Research Interests: Physical behavior of macromolecules, including both synthetic polymers and biopolymers such as large proteins. Their principal investigative tool is electron spin resonance (ESR) spectroscopy, including very high-frequency ESR. Developmental research continues on a novel ESR spectrometer that requires superconducting magnetic fields and far-infrared light. By analogy with high-frequency NMR, high field ESR dramatically increases the dynamic and chemical information obtainable from spin-labeleled polymers and biopolymers.

Paul Champion (Physics)
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Research Interests: Biomolecules form a class of complex systems that are fundamental to the existence of life. We study the structure and dynamics of such biomolecules using a variety of ultrafast laser-based techniques such as vibrational coherence spectroscopy (VCS) and broadband pump-probe kinetics that occur on femtosecond to millisecond timescales. We also use more traditional techniques such as resonance Raman scattering and we are developing new methodologies, such as femtosecond stimulated Raman scattering. The latter method has excellent time and frequency resolution and it can be used as a spectroscopic probe of individual biomolecules as well as a method for imaging biological tissue and cells.

Don Cheney (Bio)
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Research Interests: Macroalgal biotechnology and marine pollution remediation.

Erin Cram (Bio)
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Research Interests: Cancer biology; in vivo approaches to cell migration.

Max Diem (CCB)
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Research Interests: Physical and biophysical chemistry, bio-imaging, medical diagnostics.

Paul DiMilla (CCB)
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Dr. Paul DiMilla has a new joint appointment position of Interdisciplinary Academic Specialist (Associate Level) to facilitate educational activities between the Chemical Engineering Department (ChE), College of Engineering and the Chemistry and Chemical Biology Department (CCB), College of Science. Mr. DiMilla is currently an Academic Specialist in the Chemistry and Chemical Biology Department, where he has been since 2005.

Slava Epstein (Bio)
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Research Interests: Microbial ecology, diversity, and biotechnology.

Rhea Eskew (Psych)
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Research Interests: Most of my research is in visual psychophysics, particularly color detection and discrimination. I construct quantitative models and use psychophysical data to test such models. Specific topics of recent interest have included multiple (“higher-order”) color mechanisms, sensorimotor adaptation of color, and S cone increment/decrement asymmetries.

Marcelo Febo (Psych)
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The broad objective of our laboratory is to characterize neuronal and behavioral changes that occur with repeated exposure to drugs of abuse. Currently, we are interested in studying the dopaminergic system in the maternal brain and its role in processing rewarding stimuli. Lactation provides a rewarding experience beneficial to mother-infant bonding. Cocaine addiction can sever this critical mother-infant experience, possibly affecting child psychosocial development.

Craig Ferris (Psych, joint with PhS)
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Research Interests: Academic research focuses on developmental behavioral neuroscience. Interests include the plasticity of the brain and how early emotional and environmental risk factors alter social and cognitive behaviors. Risk factors include drugs of abuse like cocaine and alcohol and social subjugation in the context of dominant/subordinate relationships. Laboratory uses standard molecular and neurobiological techniques to study the brains of rodents. In addition, ultra-high field magnetic resonance imaging is used as a non-invasive tool for developmental studies in monkeys enabling one to follow changes in brain structure, chemistry and function in the same animal over the course of its life. The goal of research is to better understand the brain mechanisms contributing to mental illness and drug addiction in the hope of improving psychosocial and psychopharmacologic intervention strategies.

Robert Hanson (CCB)
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The Hanson group developed the method for radiohalogenation via trialkylstannyl precursors. This method, first used in 1980 is the current standard for introducing most radiohalogens and radiocarbon groups onto aromatic compounds. The research group continues to develop methods for rapid labeling and purification of radiotracers and for preparing novel precursors for such labeling studies. Current areas of interest include growth factor receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitors, conventional and unconventional steroid hormone agonists and antagonists, and functionalized gold and iron oxide nanoparticles.

Barry Karger (CCB)
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Prof. Karger's research focuses on the development and application of microscale separations and MS analysis to problems of biological relevance. Current research involves (1) comprehensive characterization of complex proteins at the low fmole level using LC coupled to a hybrid linear ion trap – FT mass spectrometer; (2) ultra-narrow (5-20 µm i.d.) monolithic and porous layer open tubular columns for low attomole LC/MS proteomic analysis; (3) proteomic tissue analysis for disease biomarker discovery using 10,000 cells or less; and (4) multiplex LC coupled to MALDI-MS using a 2 kHz repetition rate laser.

Alain Karma (Physics)
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Research Interests: My main research interest lies in theoretical understanding of the emergence of nonequilibrium patterns in nonlinear systems with applications to diverse problems in materials science and biology that are both of fundamental and practical relevance. This research makes extensive uses of mathematical models and computational approaches rooted in nonequilibrium statistical physics and nonlinear dynamics.

Mikhail Malioutov (Math)
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Research Interests: Statistics, probability, experimental design, information theory.

Richard Marsh (Bio)
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Richard Marsh' research is in biomechanics with a specific focus on mechanical function of muscle during movement and its limits due to muscle contractile performance. His experimental work is on legged locomotion of guinea fowl and other animals.

Joanne Miller (Psych)
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The research in my lab focuses on spoken language processing. Previous research in the field has shown that the acoustic form of any given word is not constant from utterance to utterance, but changes as a function of such factors as the specific talker who is speaking, the rate of speech, and the context in which the word is produced. Despite such variability, human listeners recognize spoken words with apparent ease. Our research team uses a variety of experimental paradigms to investigate the perceptual processes that underlie this ability, focusing on how listeners map the speech signal onto the sequences of phonetic segments (consonants and vowels) that comprise the lexical items of the language. The results of such investigations constrain theories of normal speech and language processing as well as theories of speech and language processing disorders, and they have implications for the development of human speech technologies.

Sanjeev Mukerjee (CCB)
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Research Interests: The research activity in Sanjeev Mukerjee's group is an interdisciplinary approach encompassing the areas of solid state chemistry, spectroscopy, and electrochemistry of electrode materials for electrochemical energy conversion and storage. The current focus is targeted towards technologies for proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cells and for batteries, these encompass electrocatalysis of oxygen reduction, CO tolerance and methanol oxidation reactions, elevated temperature polymer electrolyte membranes, advanced rechargeable batteries with nickel metal hydrides and lithium insertion electrodes for lithium ion and lithium polymer batteries.

Mary Jo Ondrechen (CCB)
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The group of Prof. Ondrechen works in the areas of theoretical and computational chemistry and chemical biology. Areas of interest include functional genomics - prediction of the functional roles of gene products (proteins), modeling of enzyme-substrate interactions, bioinformatics, protein engineering, and understanding the fundamental basis for enzyme catalysis. With the sequencing of the human genome and the genomes of hundreds of other species, Structural Genomics (SG) efforts are enabling the discovery of thousands of new protein structures. The next question is: What do these structures actually do? Prof. Ondrechen’s group is working on the development of methods to predict protein function from structure. Our THEMATICS method (see Ondrechen et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 98, 12473, 2001) requires only the structure of the query protein and thus works for proteins that bear no resemblance to previously characterized proteins.

Yury Petrov (Psych)
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Research Interests: Dr. Yury Petrov studies low-level visual mechanisms in humans, including stereoscopic vision, shape processing, and contextual effects, such as visual masking and crowding. His present interests include the role of attention in crowding, physiological mechanisms of overlay suppression and surround suppression, and neural basis of perceptual switches for ambiguous visual stimuli. His research is based on psychophysical methods accompanied by high-density EEG recordings with cortical source localization.

Adam Reeves (Psych)
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Research Interests: My research interests focus on human perception and attention, specifically, how attending to something makes it easier, or in some cases, more difficult to see or hear. I am also interested in human color vision, visual masking and other phenomena related to how quickly we can process visual information. Finally, I am interested in the effects of mental imagery on perception; for example, how having a visual or auditory mental image of something can affect the way you see or hear.

Tim Sage (Physics)
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Professor Sage’s research is motivated by a fascination with the physical basis for the function of proteins. He develops and applies novel spectroscopic approaches to understand the structure, dynamics, and function of biological macromolecules. Infrared portein crystallography uses polarized infrared measurements on oriented protein crystals to identify reaction intermediates and refine the structure of protein active sites. A new synchrotron-based technique, nuclear resonance vibrational and reactive dynamics of iron in these complex molecules.

Sri Sridhar (Physics)
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Research Interests: Srinivas Sridhar is Arts and Sciences Distinguished Professor of Physics at Northeastern University, and Visiting Professor of Radiation Oncology, Harvard Medical School. He is the Director and Principal Investigator of Nanomedicine Science and Technology, an IGERT (Integrative Graduate Education and Research Training) program funded by the National Cancer Institute and the National Science Foundation. He is the founding director of the Electronic Materials Research Institute, an interdisciplinary center with research and education thrusts in nanophotonics and nanomedicine. From 2004 to 2008 he served as Vice Provost for Research at Northeastern University, overseeing the University’s research portfolio. An elected Fellow of the American Physical Society, Sridhar’s current areas of research are nanomedicine and nanophotonics. He has published more than 160 articles on his work in nanomedicine, nanophotonics, metamaterials, quantum chaos, superconductivity and collective excitations in materials.

Armen Stepanyants (Physics)
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The research in my group is aimed at understanding the principles of synaptic connectivity in the cerebral cortex. Most of my research projects are linked by a common theme which can be summarized as: inferring synaptic connectivity through the quantitative analysis of neuron morphology. The topics of interest range from the theoretical and computational analyses of real and artificial neural networks and their memory storage capacity, to building cortical connectivity diagrams based on the experimental datasets of neurons reconstructed in 3D, to developing algorithms for automated tracing of neural circuits from light microscopy stacks of images.

Phyllis Strauss (Bio)
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Research Interests: Biochemistry, molecular and cell biology.

Mark Williams (Physics)
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Mark Williams’ main research interest is the biophysics of DNA-protein interactions. DNA is normally found as a double helix consisting of a sequence of base pairs, representing the genetic code. In order for this code to be read to create proteins (transcription and translation) or to make copies of the DNA (replication), the two strands of the double helix must be separated to expose the bases. The processes of replication and transcription are regulated by proteins that bind to DNA and alter the stability of the double helix. In his research Prof. Williams uses optical tweezers instruments to apply very small forces to single DNA molecules. Measurement of these forces allows him to determine the stability of the DNA double helix and the extent to which various DNA binding proteins alter the structure and stability of DNA. This approach provides unique insights into the function of these proteins in the cell.

College of Computer & Information Science

Gene Cooperman
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Gene Cooperman works in high performance computing. Two places where this impacts bio-medicine are parallel Geant4 (for radiation simulations) and simulating terabytes of images (for image processing). Geant4 is a software package from CERN for simulating particle-matter interaction. In addition to its application to high energy physics, it is often used in medicine to simulate radiation in the human body (both for imaging and for estimating radiation dosage). Gene Cooperman is also working on disk-based parallel computing. The Roomy library (under development) supports algorithms for latency tolerance allowing users to write sequential programs using Roomy library calls that are transparently converted into efficient parallel data structures on disk. One application of this is processing of many medical images.

Electrical & Computer Engineering

Stefano Basagni
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The aim of bridging the gap between computer engineering and biology is pursued with the goal of developing conceptual and software tools for enabling computational and system biology. In Basagni's research this is obtained by studying fundamental algorithms and networked interactions among single, atomic elements like in a biological network. The investigation of protocols for information dissemination serves fundamental communication needs as well as well as the study of biological networks. Dynamics exhibited by mobile elements in multi- hop networks also resembles evolution of biological pathways. Interactions and similarities between protocol design and testing (especially via large scale simulations) and biological multi-element systems is investigated and defined.

Dana Brooks
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Biomedical signal processing, medical imaging, statistical signal processing, inverse problems, multiresolution signal processing, electrocardiography, diffuse optical tomography, magnetic resonance imaging, regularization, optimization.

Octavia Camps
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Research interests include robust computer vision, image processing, and machine learning.

Charles DiMarzio
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Mehmet Dokmeci
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Jennifer Dy
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Deniz Erdogmus
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Expertise in information theoretic and nonparametric machine learning and adaptive signal processing, specifically focusing on cognitive signal processing including brain interfaces and assistive technologies.

David Kaeli
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Prof. Kaeli's work focuses on breaking down computational barriers in a range of biomedical applications including imaging reconstruction, segmentation and classification/discrimination. He focuses using many-core computating system to provide new real-time performance.

Miriam Leeser
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Miriam Leeser's research is in applying hardware accelerators to image and signal processing problems to enable the solution of complex computational problems in real time. In biological imaging, she has worked on accelerating image reconstruction via backprojection on Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs) and phase unwrapping to enable users of the Keck Microscope to view their Optical Quadrature images in real time. Phase unwrapping was accelerated using both FPGAs and Graphics Processing Units (GPUs). A current project aims to accelerate lung tumor tracking using GPUs to enable real time tracking of patients, thus making radiotherapy more effective.

Edwin Marengo
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Research areas: Physics-based signal processing & imaging, inverse problems in remote sensing and antenna theory.

Nick McGruer
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Research areas: MEMS, MOEMS, microfabrication, microsystems, microrelay, microspectrometer, optical switching, optical MEMS.

Waleed Meleis
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Waleed Meleis's research is on applications of combinatorial optimization, parallel computing, machine learning and multi-agent systems to solve bioengineering and other problems. He works with researchers at the Breast Imaging Division of the Department of Radiology at the Massachusetts General Hospital on improving algorithms for Tomosynthesis mammography, 3D image registration, and algorithms for guided biopsy. For example, his group developed a parallelized version of a maximum likelihood reconstruction algorithm that significantly reduced the execution time of the serial algorithm.

Hossein Mosallaei
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Research interests: Multiscale computations and optimizations for complex wave-matter interactions, applied mathematics, novel time and frequency domains numerical schemes, physics and modeling of metamaterials and metaatoms, waves optics in photonics and plasmonics, nanoscale and quantum-molecular phenomena, nanostructured materials and graphene engineering, active and nonlinear systems, periodic and aperiodic structures.

Mark Niedre
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Research areas: Biomedical optics, diffuse fluorescence tomography, time-domain imaging and photodynamic therapy.

Carey Rappaport
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Research interests: Antenna design, wave propagation in complex media, computational modeling, biomedical microwave device design and analysis, subsurface sensing design and integration.

Purnima Ratilal
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Research areas: Remote sensing, acoustics, wave propagation and scattering in random media and multipath environments, temporal and spatial signal processing, image processing, statistical inference theory, underwater acoustics, acoustical oceanography, ultrasonics, biomedical ultrasound sensing, nonlinear scattering theory.

Bahram Shafai
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Bahram Shafai’s research interests include robust multivariable control systems, digital signal processing, and communications. Currently, he is conducting research in observer-based fault detection, robust stability of time-delay systems and biochemical networks, multi-agent distributed control for robot formation, swarm, and MEMS as applied to bioengineering, motion control for brain-computer interface platform, tracking band 3 molecules within blood cells for disease classifications and prevention using control schemes.

Dagmar Sternad (joint with Bio)
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Dagmar Sternad is director of the Action lab specializing on the control and coordination of goal-directed human behavior. Her lab’s research focuses on human interactive movements in perceptually specified tasks, using a virtual environment. The research pursues a three-pronged research strategy consisting of: (1) an empirical component with behavioral experiments on human subjects, (2) theoretical work which develops mathematical models for movement generation, and (3) brain imaging studies that investigate the cerebral activity accompanying movement. While the focus is on basic research, the work also extends these experimental paradigms to neurological disorders such as Parkinson's disease and split-brain patients, and the elderly.

Milica Stojanovic
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Research areas: Communications, signal processing, and wireless networks.

Nian X. Sun
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Research interests include novel magnetic, ferroelectric and multiferroic materials for RFIC, MMIC and power electronics; different RF/microwave devices, integrated tunable multiferroic inductors and transformers and electromagnetic subsystems, magnetic sensors, spintronics, materials and devices for energy harvesting applications, solar cell materials and devices, biomedical magnetic sensing, etc.

Mario Sznaier
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Research interests: Robust dynamic vision, robust nonlinear control, robust control, identification and model (In)validation of linear parameter varying systems, robust control of constrained systems, systems theoretic approach to physics.

Gilead Tadmor
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Gilead Tadmor is an applied mathematician with a background in dynamics, modeling and control. His active interests include problems in basic systems theory and low order modeling and control of complex dynamical systems, including fluid dynamics and the role of dynamics in biomedical imaging and knowledge recovery. Examples pertinent to this program include (i) recovering the dynamic evolution of the activation wave form on the heart from a distributed array of ECG sensors, (ii) dynamic, 3D cardiac imaging, based on detailed static images and coarse real-time images, to be used in real-time image-guided procedures, such as cardiac ablation, (iii) coupled evoked response mass neuronal and hemodynamic models of the brain, and (iv) analysis of gene networks and clinical data to unveil interdependencies and causality.

Juraj Topolancik
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Research interests: Optical transport and localization in miniaturized photonic devices.

Mechanical & Industrial Engineering

Ahmed Busnaina
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His research focuses on directed assembly used in the manufacturing of nanoscale structures for applications in energy, electronics, biomedical and materials.

Ahmet Umit Coskun

Research interests: Hemodynamic interactions between cells and blood streams and corresponding relationships with the diseases. Developing/improving an in-vivo measurement technique to determine hemodynamic effects with a combination of actual measurements and numerical simulations with computational fluid dynamics (CFD) techniques, as well as to determine progression of coronary artery disease (CAD) over time. Performing experiments both in human and animal models to characterize and predict vulnerable coronary artery plaques leading to heart attacks in CAD, as well as measuring effect of drugs on CAD. Currently running technical aspects of a multicenter clinical trial in 500 patients located in Japan (Prediction Trial) to evaluate real natural progression of CAD and to determine hemodynamic predictors of bad clinical outcomes like critical coronary occlusions and heart attacks.

Andrew Gouldstone
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Research interests: Mechanics of the respiratory system, coatings for harsh environments, mechanics of heterogeneous materials.

Nader Jalili
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Nader Jalili is the Director of Piezoactive Systems Laboratory at Northeastern with research interests in dynamics and control of microelectromechanical and nanoelectromechanical sensors and actuators, development of piezoelectric-based actuators and sensors and sensing and actuation at the nanoscale with application to biosensing and robotic-assisted surgical manipulations. His extensive research works have been featured in two major books on "piezoelectric-based vibration control" and "nanomechanical cantilever-based systems", both published by Springer.

Greg Kowalski
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Greg Kowalski is active in thermodynamic and heat transfer research in nanoscale calorimetry using photonic sensors as well as thermal modeling of laser beam propagation in medical materials for improving imaging techniques and energy systems research.

Yingzi Lin
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Research interests: Intelligent human-machine interaction; human friendly mechatronic, human machine system integration and evaluation; adaptive human machine interface design; noninvasive intelligent sensors and smart sensing systems; human state multimodality sensing and information fusion; human assistance system; intelligent transportation systems and transportation safety; human factors in healthcare, patient safety, wearable sensors, telemedicine.

Dinos Mavroidis
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Dinos Mavroidis is Director of the Biomedical Mechatronics Laboratory (BML) of the Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering. This laboratory studies the design, manufacturing, control and testing of novel mechatronic devices for medical applications. The laboratory also performs high-level computational research to study novel bionano-robotic systems. Example projects include: a) AKROD: Active Knee Rehabilitation Orthotic Device; b) RGR Trainer: Robotic Gait Rehabilitation Trainer applying force feedback at the patient's pelvic area; c) MRI-Guided Nanorobotic Systems.

Ron Mourant
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Research interests: Engineering software design.

Sinan Muftu
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The primary focus of the Applied (Bio)Mechanics and Tribology Lab, in bioengineering, has been to introduce rigorous mechanics based analysis of the biomechanical factors that affect the long term success of dental implant treatments. Our analysis of bone remodeling around a such systems was the first to show the significance of large scale surface textures (i.e. external threads) on the bone formation and bone resorption around the implants. More recently, we started work on mathematical modeling of cell aggregation in collaboration with Professor KT Wan. The aim of this work is to uncover the influence of the cell-wall elasticity on the adhesion and aggregation of various cell systems including bacterial colonies and metastatic growths in tissue.

Uichiro Narusawa
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Hamid Nayeb-Hashemi
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Jeffrey Ruberti
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Professor Ruberti's laboratory, the extracellular matrix engineering research laboratory (EMERL), examines how cells produce organized load-bearing tissue. We have developed theories regarding the intelligence of Nature's load-bearing molecule of choice (collagen) and how it can be controlled on the benchtop. We are currently working to produce an artificial cornea from natural materials. Our research has been funded by the NSF, NIH and DOD. See our most recent paper on collagen stability in Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A (Bhole et al, Sept 2009).

Rifat Sipahi
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Rifat Sipahi is the director of Complex Dynamic Systems and Control Laboratory (CDSCL) which primarily focuses on applying system level approach to understanding the behavior of dynamical systems with time delays and to creating new approaches for controlling such systems. Some applications of CDSCL are in networked control systems, human motor control, supply chain management, and vehicular traffic flow.

Moneesh Upmanyu
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Ashkan Vaziri
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Our group is focused on studying the mechanical behavior and performance of materials and structures, at various scales from nanowires and living cells to ships and buildings. Our special interest and expertise is development of new concepts and designs for enhancing the performance of structures and materials. We use a combination of methods that range from simple observations and simple scaling laws to detailed computational models and sophisticated experimental equipments to carry out our work.

KaiTak Wan
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Research interests: Cellular biomechanics; tissue engineering; opthalmology; micro-elecrromechanical systems (MEMS); micro- and nano- structures.

Yaman Yener
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