09/30/2026
October 1, 2026, (Thursday), 10:30-11:45 pm, Hybrid, Signature Series: Engineering Across Scales: From Cellular Responses to Global Health Technologies with Dr. Delphine Dean. Bioengineering provides a unique opportunity to connect fundamental questions about how cells respond to their environment with the development of technologies that address real-world health challenges. In this talk, I will highlight work from my lab spanning these scales, from understanding cellular responses to physical and environmental stimuli to designing medical devices and diagnostic systems for resource-constrained settings. Although radiation exposure is generally associated with cellular damage, emerging evidence suggests that responses at lower doses can be complex and, in some cases, produce unexpected changes in cell phenotype and growth. We have built and designed novel custom irradiation chambers to be able to tease out the effects of radiation on cells and tissues in culture. I will also discuss some of our work developing medical devices, biosensors, and diagnostic approaches for settings where conventional healthcare infrastructure may be limited. This work includes collaborations in rural communities in the southeastern United States as well as in Tanzania, where we are developing technologies with an emphasis on accessibility, robustness, and implementation in the environments in which they will ultimately be used. During the COVID-19 pandemic, our team helped establish and operate a clinical diagnostic laboratory that ultimately performed more than 1.2 million SARS-CoV-2 tests for university and community populations across South Carolina. The experience highlighted both the power and limitations of existing diagnostic technologies and exposed broader challenges in disease surveillance, access, and implementation. I will conclude by discussing how lessons from this effort are shaping our current research on diagnostic technologies and engineering approaches for emerging public health challenges. Email [email protected] for the zoom link
