Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Henry Samueli School of Engineering, University of California, Irvine

Spring 2003 Joint MAE/BME Distinguished Lecturer Seminar

Friday, April 11, 2003, 4pm - 6pm, McDonnell-Douglas Engineering Auditorium

Skiing, Tip Toeing, and Sensing Stress on the Endothelial Glycocalyx: A Miracle Structure for the Regulation of Transport and Red and White Cell Interaction with Vascular Endothelium

Prof. Sheldon Weinbaum

Distinguished Professor, Mechanical Engineering, City College of New YorkThis event is hosted jointly by the MAE
and BME Departments.

Abstract:

While the existence of an endothelial surface layer has been been known for four decades, it is only since 1996 that it has been observed in vivo and only since then that its multi-varied functions have been appreciated. This has led to a new understanding at the cellular level of the Starling forces for the movement of water across our micro-vessel walls, and a new view as to how red and white cells move through our microcirculation. We shall show that red cells are extraordinarily efficient skiers and that white cells are like Jesus Christ lizards that can run across water. Most recently, we have proposed a new theory describing how fluid shear stresses are transmitted across this surface layer by bush-like core protein structures that are linked to the intracellular cortical actin cytoskeleton of the cell. This new model could lead to fundamental new insights into the relationahip between hydrodynamic forces and intracellular signaling.

Brief biography:

Education:

B.A.E., 1959, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
M.S. Applied Physics, 1960, Harvard Univ.
Ph.D. Engineering, 1963, Harvard Univ.

Memberships:

Elected member National Academy of Engineering
Elected member National Academy of Sciences
Elected member Institute of Medicine of the National Academies

Fellow:

ASME, AIMBE, APS.

Awards and Honors:

Gordon McKay Prize Fellow, Harvard University (1959-1961)
NSF Fellow, Harvard University (1961-1963)
Senior Fellow Scientific Research Council of Great Britain (1974)
NSF "Special Creativity" Award (1985)
Public Service Award of New York (1988)
Research Award of the European Society of Biomechanics (1994)
H.R.Lissner Award and Melville Medal of the ASME (1994)
Best Paper Award Bioengineering Division ASME (1995)
Melville Medal of the ASME (1996)
Whitaker Distinguished Lecture BMES (1997)
Richard Skalak Memorial Lecture UCSD (1999)
Classic Paper Award Heat Transfer Division ASME (2000)
Suhren Lecture Tulane University (2002)
Guggenheim Fellow in Molecular and Cellular Biology (2002)

Research interests:

Fluid dynamic and transport aspects of arterial disease
Bioheat transfer
Cellular mechanisms for mechanotransduction
Bone fluid flow
Microcirculatory exchange
Transport in kidney proximal tubule
Basic fluid mechanics
Porous media flows

Professor Weinbaum has published more than 185 full length papers plus numerous shorter communications and conference papers. His research has involved important collaborations with other investigators and institutions. His joint studies with the UC San Diego have investigated the cellular origins of the permeability of arterial endothelium to low density lipoproteins, transport models for the arterial intima and the formation of subendothelial liposomes. His studies in bioheat transfer have examined the development of a fundamental bioheat equation to describe microvascular blood-tissue heat transfer (Weinbaum-Jiji equation) and the application of bioheat models to describe heat transfer in muscle tissue, limbs, rat tail and finger. His joint studies with the UC Davis have attempted to elucidate the structural pathways through the interendothelial cleft that determine capillary permeability and osmotic forces. His joint studies with S. C. Cowin have explored the cellular transduction mechanism by which bone cells detect mechanically induced strains and communicate these strains to the bone forming cells. His studies with Weill-Cornell Medical School have led to a new hypothesis for the mechanosensory mechanism that leads to the glomerulotubular balance in the kidney. He has also examined a wide variety of basic fluid mechanics problems that have arisen in biologically motivated applications. More than 30 of these papers have been published in the Journal of Fluid Mechanics.