by Tim Stoddard

The new kid on the block at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) stands out among its neighbors on the Bethesda, Maryland, campus, and is blazing a new trail in the tradition-bound world of federal health research. The recently opened National Institute for Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB) is the latest addition to the 27 institutes and centers that make up the NIH, and its mission is unlike any other: to develop new medical technologies that are not specific to any one organ or disease.

"This represents a fundamental change at NIH," says Carlo De Luca, a professor of biomedical engineering at Boston University and director of the NeuroMuscular Research Center. "It is also clear recognition from the most sophisticated research-funding government agency that biomedical engineering has actually come of age."

Professor Carlo De Luca

De Luca was one of 10 engineers and physicians recently appointed to the new institute's National Advisory Council. His presence, says Donna Dean, NIBIB deputy director, reflects his contributions to biomedical engineering and his potential to shape the future of the field. "When we were selecting the advisory council, we were looking for people who are not only accomplished in their own field of science or medicine or engineering," she says, "but who also have a broader vision for how the imaging sciences and engineering can fit into the biomedical arena."

Dean says that De Luca was a desirable candidate for several reasons. He has been the principal investigator on a number of large NIH-sponsored projects, where he's been intimate with the mechanics of coordinating federal grants. He also brings to the advisory council his experience as a founder and CEO of two Boston-based biotechnology companies: Altec, Inc., and sister company Delsys, Inc., which manufacture equipment and computer systems for electromyography, the study of the electrical activity in muscles. "At NIBIB," Dean says, "we're anticipating that a lot of creative work in biomedical engineering is going to be done in the small-business community."

With an anticipated budget of $271 million, the institute will infuse much-needed funding into the burgeoning field of biomedical engineering. "During the past two decades, there has been a growing realization that biomedical engineering has unique and relevant contributions to make to society," De Luca says. "But as the newest member on the engineering block, it has struggled to find its proper place in the health sciences. The inclusion of biomedical engineering in the NIH fold confirms that it has become a discipline of relevance, and it also provides access to the most substantial funding mechanism of the federal government. I'm expecting to see dramatic progress in the field because of NIBIB."

That progress will be noticeable at universities across the country. "We're hoping that just by its very existence, NIBIB will inspire universities with medical and engineering schools to explore more transdisciplinary research in biomedical engineering," says Dean. That will be particularly evident at ENG, which has one of the largest and oldest biomedical engineering programs in the country.

"The formation of NIBIB is a significant event for our University because Biomedical Engineering is such an important component of our College," says David Campbell, Dean of the College. "We're very proud and delighted to have one of our own on NIBIB's advisory panel."

In addition to stimulating new kinds of research collaborations, NIBIB may also attract a wider range of students who hadn't previously considered biomedical engineering. "Undergraduates will see that if they go into biomedical engineering, they'll be joining a larger community that's interested in improving the health and well-being of others," De Luca says.
It's a rare event for any new institute to appear at NIH, but the creation of NIBIB in 2000 was exceptional because its goals do not fit into the system of federally sponsored health research. "NIBIB is philosophically different from all other institutes at NIH," De Luca says. "Most of the others can define their mission rather neatly within an organ system or disease." There are national institutes for cancer, diabetes, and kidney diseases; heart, lung, and blood diseases; and aging. But the new institute is fundamentally different from its predecessors because it is technology-based and it will assist the others.

In December, De Luca joined about 50 scientists and administrators at NIBIB to discuss the most promising areas of biomedical research in fiscal 2003. At the top of the list were new imaging technologies that will soon allow physicians to explore the human body in ever greater detail. "Some of the things being contemplated right now are absolutely fascinating," he says. "They go way beyond MRI [magnetic resonance imaging] scans. We'll soon be looking at small branches of blood vessels in detail in the brain. Even imaging individual cells in vivo." Another hot area will be sensors and probes that monitor processes at the cellular level. "We're not talking about science fiction here," De Luca adds. "There are people working on these devices right now."

While prosthetic devices are nothing new to medicine, he says, the public can expect to see major advances in the manufacturing of artificial limbs and tissues. Researchers can already coax cells in a petri dish to build artificial skin, but NIBIB will be funding other research to engineer artificial ears, livers, and someday even eyes.

De Luca says that the construction of an organ is more of an engineering challenge than a medical one. "Prosthetics and orthotics are my sentimental favorites because this is how biomedical engineering got started. The pacemaker was the first great example of engineering penetrating medicine. In my mind, biomedical engineering has not yet fulfilled its promise to provide these artificial parts that were imagined by us many years ago. Why haven't we been able to build a good artificial hand? Because there's never been financial interest in doing that. It's not a matter of life and death, and it's not easy to do. Now these questions and unfulfilled promises will be coming to the nation's attention."