Instructional Technology is pleased to offer the following Ultra workshops in March:

March 2 (12 PM) - Ultra Essentials IV - Tests & Assignments

March 7 (12 PM) Ultra Essentials V - Grading & the Gradebook

March 13 (12 PM) - Ultra Course Orientation for Faculty, TAs & Course Builders

March 17 (12 PM) - Deliver Effective Assessments with Ultra Question Banks

March 29 (12 PM) - Ultra Design Clinic

Research led by Dr. Govind Rao, Director of Center for Advanced Sensor Technology and professor in the department of Chemical, Biochemical and Environmental Engineering is featured in a recent article posted on leaps.org titled “With This New Technology, Hospitals and Pharmacies Could Make Vaccines and Medicines Onsite, 2023” The story was written based on a preprint of a paper with Shayan Borhani, Chemical Engineering PhD candidate as the first author. Aaron Thole, Chemical Engineering PhD student and Dr. Doug Frey, professor in the department of Chemical, Biochemical and Environmental Engineering are also co-authors. (https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.12.19.521044v1).

The article describes a process to develop a compelling pandemic mitigation strategy to promptly suppress viral emergence at the source of an outbreak using proteins such as GRFT which are efficacious in neutralizing a broad range of viruses. This process is shown to produce a product with consistent purity and potency in less than 24 hours using cell-free biomanufacturing. 

The collaborators demonstrated GRFT production using two independent cell-free systems, one plant and one microbial. Griffithsin purity and quality were verified using standard regulatory metrics. Efficacy was demonstrated in vitro against SARS-CoV-2 and HIV-1 and was nearly identical to that of GRFT expressed in vivo. The proposed production process is efficient and can be readily scaled up and deployed anywhere in the world where a viral pathogen might emerge. The current emergence of viral variants has resulted in frequent updating of existing vaccines and loss of efficacy for front-line monoclonal antibody therapies.

Dr. Rao wants to advance technology to the point where any hospital or pharmacy could load up the media containing molecular factories, mix up the necessary amino acids, nucleotides, and enzymes, and harvest the medications in a matter of hours. This will enable on-site and on-demand medication production. Once this approach is thoroughly validated it might revolutionize medicine-making even outside of hospitals and pharmacies and extend beyond urgent situations.

Idea Pitch Day

This event will be held THIS WEDNESDAY, March 1st from 11-12:30pm in ILSB 101. This will be great time to get feedback on your idea or existing business and find other students that might be interested in helping you as well as learning more about the CBIC.

This is the perfect opportunity for students who want to enter the competition to informally pitch their idea to an audience as a way to receive feedback in a casual, relaxed setting.

If you aren't sure you're ready to submit an idea, that's OK! This event is a great time to get feedback on your preliminary idea or existing business, and to find other students interested in helping you.

It will also give you a chance to learn more about the ABCEI's competitions and events. FREE snacks will be provided.

ABCEI Scholarships

Did you know the Alex. Brown Center offers two scholarships for students who demonstrate a strong interest in entrepreneurship?

NSF CAREER proposal workshop

Presented by Dr. Lauren Clay, Associate Professor and Department Chair, Emergency Health Services

This session will cover elements of the CAREER program, strategies for success, and planning your submission. Participants will have the opportunity to brainstorm potential research and educational goals, workshop the ideas in small groups, and create an action plan for developing a competitive proposal.

Please register on the event post.  Lunch will be provided.

Lauren Clay is a disaster scientist and public health researcher. She is an Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of Emergency Health Services at University of Maryland Baltimore County. Her research focuses on individual, household, and community health impacts of climate disasters. She has studied Hurricanes Katrina, Harvey, and Florence, the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill, the 2013 Moore, OK tornadoes, and the Camp Fire among other disasters and public health emergencies. Her expertise is in disaster disruption to the local food environment and food and nutrition insecurity. From 2018-2020 she was an Early Career Research Fellow with the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine Gulf Research Program to study the post-disaster food environment. In 2021, she was awarded National Science Foundation (NSF) CAREER and NSF Convergence Accelerator awards focused on bolstering food system resilience to disasters. She co-chairs the national COVID-19 Food and Nutrition Security Working Group supported by Healthy Eating Research, a program of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and Nutrition and Obesity Prevention Research and Evaluation Network, a program of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. She has a PhD in Disaster Science and Management from University of Delaware and a Master of Public Health from Drexel University.