Stony Brook Student, Amy Rosen, makes a Breakthrough in the Quest for Biological Pacemakers

.STONY BROOK , N.Y. - Amy Rosen, a third year graduate student in the Stony Brook University School of Medicine's Biomedical Engineering and Physiology and Biophysics program, was selected as a finalist in the nationwide 2006 Collegiate Inventors Competition. Despite not receiving the first prize, her selection into the top 11 over 100 contestants from 70 institutions places her among the top graduate researchers in the nation.

The prestigious competition is coordinated by the National Inventors Hall of Fame Foundation. Competition entries were judged on the originality of the new idea, process or technology, as well as its potential value and usefulness to society. Her entry, entitled "Tracking the 3-D Distribution of Delivered Stem Cells In Vivo with Quantum Dot (QD) Nanoparticles," or "Tracking Stem Cells," highly met this criteria. The research provides valuable information about the safety and efficacy of therapeutic stem cells for potential use in developing biological pacemakers.

In 2004, researchers at Stony Brook University and Columbia University received industry support from Guidant (now Boston Scientific) to research on the possibilities of a biological pacemaker in place of the existing electronic devices. Dr. Ira Cohen stated that despite having a functional biological pacemaker by the time Amy joined the laboratory, they still could not find ways in which to specify and reconstruct the positions of the stem cells that they delivered in vivo. "Amy, entirely by herself, developed a passive loading technique that uniformly labeled large populations of stem cells without reducing cell viability. This has never been accomplished before by anyone," said Dr. Cohen.

Innovatively, Rosen used nanotechnology to develop a rapid and reliable method for uniformly labeling stem cells with fluorescent quantum dot semiconductor nanoparticles and tracked them for up to eight weeks in vivo. For the first time ever, she imaged a complete three dimensional reconstruction of the distribution of labeled stem cells in the heart.

Rosen is a recipient of the National Institute of Health's Medical Scientist Training Program fellowship. She expects to complete her doctoral studies in Biomedical Engineering this year and receive her M.D. in 2010. In reflection to her work with Dr. Cohen and the team, she describes it as an "amazing experience" and reflects great enthusiasm for the field in stating, "What could be more exciting than being at the forefront of cutting-edge research that marries nanotechnology, regenerative medicine and stem cell biology?"

Picture - Nominee, Amy Rose with mentor, Ira S. Cohen, M.D., Ph.D., and a complete three dimensional reconstruction of the distribution of quantum dot -labeled stem cells.