Dr. Pedro Lowenstein Speaking at University of Michigan BIBC Challenge Event

Dear Research Colleagues,

We invite you to join us for the “Bioengineering in Brain Cancer ” Challenge, co-hosted by the BioInnovations in Brain Cancer Program and the Biointerfaces Institute on January 19th – 20th, 2024, at the North Campus Research Complex (NCRC). The goal of this 2-day challenge is to bring together clinicians, scientists, and engineers to explore new ideas and catalyze interdisciplinary collaborative research to address the challenges in brain cancer therapy.

Seed funds will be available for collaborative grant proposals that emerge from the Challenge. The seed fund competition is only open to Challenge participants.

The Challenge will kick off on Friday afternoon and include a series of scientific talks and breakout sessions to identify clinical challenges and technological opportunities relevant to the understanding and treatment of brain cancer.

The BIBC Challenge event is open to UM Faculty & Senior Researchers/Investigators.

Tentative Agenda:

Friday, January 19, 2024

2:00 – 2:20 pm Registration & Networking
2:20 – 2:30 pm Welcome Overview
2:30 – 6:10 pm Scientific Presentations
2:30 – 2:50 pm Dr. Zhen Xu, Professor of Biomedical Engineering, Radiology, and Neurosurgery UM
2:50 – 3:10 pm Dr. Dawen Cai, Associate Professor of Cell & Developmental Biology, Medical School and Biophysics, College of LS&A
3:10 – 3:30 pm Dr. Changyang Linghu, Assistant Professor, Department of Cell and Developmental Biology -Michigan Neuroscience Institute
3:30 – 3:50 pm Dr. Wenjing Wang, William R Roush Assistant Professor, Department of Chemistry, Research Assistant Professor, LSI and Assistant Professor of Chemistry, College of LSA
3:50 – 4:10 pm Dr. Michelle Hastings, Pfizer Upjohn Research Professor of Pharmacology – Director, M-RNA Therapeutics
4:10 – 4:30 pm Coffee Break & Networking
4:30 – 5:30 pm Keynote: Dr. Anders Sejr Hansen, Underwood-Prescott Career Development Professor – Department of Biological Engineering, MIT
5:30 – 5:50 pm Dr. Ivo Dinov, Professor of Computational Medicine and Bioinformatics, Medical School – Associate Director for Education and Training, Michigan Institute for Data Science
5:50 – 6:10 pm Dr. Sofia Diana Merajver, Professor of Epidemiology – Professor at Department of Internal Medicine – Director of Breast and Ovarian Cancer Risk and Evaluation Program
6:30 pm Dinner

Saturday, January 20, 2024
8:00 – 8:30 am Continental Breakfast and Coffee
8:30 – 9:30 pm Scientific Presentations
8:30 – 8:50 am Dr. Anna Schwendeman, H.W. Vahlteich Professor and Professor of Pharmaceutical Sciences – Faculty Associate in the Interdepartmental Program in Medicinal Chemistry
8:50 – 9:10 am Dr. Toshiro Hara, Assistant professor, Department of Neurosurgery, UM Medical School 9:10 – 9:30 am Dr. Pedro Lowenstein, Richard C. Schneider Collegiate Professor of Neurosurgery – Professor of Cell and Developmental Biology
9:30 – 9:40 am Organizational Remarks for Breakout Session 9:40 – 11:10 am Breakout Sessions: Small working groups Decoding Brain Tumor Dynamics: Insights into Behavior and Progression Nanoengineered Materials for Brain Tumor Treatment Modeling Brain Tumor Microenvironments: From Extracellular Matrix to Computational Simulations 11:10 – 11:40 pm Group Discussion 12:00 – 2:00 pm Working Lunch
*agenda subject to change

All the best,
Steering Committee
Maria G. Castro, Steve Schwendeman, Anna Schwendeman, Pedro Lowenstein