rESEArCH HIGHLIGHTS - Charlotte Research Institute - University ...

Center for Biomedical Engineering Systemspreparing for the new healthcare economyDr. Robin Coger, Director of the Center for Biomedical Engineering Systems in her lab.18The Center for Biomedical Engineering Systems (CBES) comprises research in four focus areas designedto improve healthcare and lower medical costs: 1) biomedical support systems (e.g., development oftissue equivalents; tissue and organ storage); 2) biomedical modeling, imaging, and processing (e.g.,protein modeling; simulation of living systems); 3) biomechanics and mobility research (e.g., designingorthopaedic materials and clinical instruments); and 4) biomedical instrumentation (e.g., engineeringnovel diagnostic devices).“Advances in these areas are being made at the intersection of traditional fields,” said Dr. Robin Coger,director of the Center. “Part of the CBES mission includes promoting effective interdisciplinary teamsto help our researchers solve biomedical problems too complex for an individual researcher to tackle onhis or her own.”In Biomedical Modeling, Imaging, and Processing, CBES researchers are making advances in a numberof areas, including modeling processes experienced by living systems. An existing challenge in simulatingliving systems involves finding an accurate and efficient way to account for the electrostatic interactions inaqueous solutions. Electrostatic interactions play an indispensable role in molecular and cellular processes.These interactions include signal transmission within the nervous system; transport of electrical chargesacross the various cells of the body; and stability and function of the building blocks of DNA, RNA andproteins. Related to the latter application, and critically important to cell function, is the collectiveelectrostatic behavior of ions, molecules, and macromolecules when crowded together in the H2O-