Life Sciences Division
1997-98
Progress Report

Contents

Foreword

Division

• Overview
• Mission
• Structure

Systems Biology

• Biochemistry & Biophysics
• Computational Biosciences
• Mammalian Genetics & Development

Technology Applications

• Assessment Technology
• Environmental Technology
• Toxicology & Risk Analysis

Infrastructure

• Lab Animal Resources
• Operations & Support
• Mouse Genetics Research
• DNA Sequencing Lab
• Gene Expression Chip Lab
• Dosimetry & Biokinetic
• Life Cycle Analysis
• Environmental Assessment

Partnerships

• Biological Sciences Institute
• Genome Science & Tech
• Tenn Mouse Genome Consortium

Initiatives

• Biological Sciences
• Functional Genomics & Proteomics
• Structural Biology
• Biomedical Engineering
• Technology Applications

Appendices

• Demographics
• Budget
• Division Pubs
• Open Literature Pubs
• ORNL & Misc. Reports
• Presentations
• U.S. Patents
• Invention Disclosures
• Honors, Awards, etc.
• Advisory Committee

LSD Home Page

Biomedical Engineering

Biomedical science and technology is a vitally important R&D area for the nation, involving immense human, sociological, and economic consequences. Although this broad subject could encompass a vast array of disciplines and topics, we have focussed our efforts on the more narrow description used by the Medical Sciences Division at DOE-OBER as follows: "Medical devices, instrumentation, technology (including computational), or new methodologies that have a medical application. These could be used in medical diagnostics, monitoring, treatment, or patient rehabilitation."

The Life Sciences Division has core expertise in several emerging biotechnology areas including biomedical mass spectrometry, biosensors, nuclear medecine, medical telesensors, biochips, and bioinformatics. Complementary efforts in other divisions include medical imaging (I&C), biomaterials (Metals and Ceramics), and various bioanalytical techniques (CASD). Medical expertise is added by teaming with clinical researchers in collaboration with the UT Medical Center, Vanderbilt Medical Center and The Meharry Medical Center. All of these focus areas are extremely multidisciplinary and require a team approach including biologists, chemists, physicists, engineers, and medical doctors.

Building on these core, interdisciplinary competencies and our alliances within and outside ORNL, we have developed an intitiative in Biomedical Science and Technology that is expected to expand our current effort of about $4 million to over $10 million in the next five years. This initiative is designed to meet the growing needs of federal sponsors such as DOE, NIH, and DOD. It also is synergistically related to other division priorities such as functional genomics, proteomics, and instrument development.

In the current reporting period the following accomplishments have provided the framework for the initiative:

• Summary of current capabilities and projects; development of strategic plan for the future.
• Contacts/collaborations with neighboring medical centers--UT, Vanderbilt, Meharry, etc.
• Contacts/collaborations with neighboring Biomedical Engineering Departments--UT, Virginia Commonwealth University, Vanderbilt, Duke, etc.
• Participation in and founding member of the Tennessee Biotechnology Association.
• Sponsor, Planning Committee Member, and participation in the Annual Tennessee Conference on Biomedical Engineering (Vanderbilt, 1999 ; Knoxville, 2000).
• Sponsor, Planning Committee Member, and participation in the symposium on "The Impact of Emerging Technologies on Health Care in the 21st Century" (Knoxville, 1998).
• Planning Committee and participation in the "Wireless Medical Conference" (Nashville, 1999).