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CBM2 Vision
CBM2 is a multi-institutional Center (The University of Kansas, The University of Kansas Medical Center, Louisiana State University, Wake Forest Medical School, and The University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill), and is supported by the Biotechnology Resource Center mechanism from the National Institutes of Health (National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering; NIBIB).
CBM2 vision is to design, manufacture, and deliver new tools to the biomedical community that utilize liquid biopsies for disease detection and management — Precision Medicine. Our vision is being realized through the delivery of innovative and fully automated mixed-scale systems programmed for different disease states.
Core Technologies
- CBM2 has built a strong infrastructure to support our Core Technologies and your ideas.
- CBM2 has expertise across many different disciplines (i.e., engineering, medicine, basic sciences).
- CBM2 partnering institutions provide collaboration and service opportunities for a wide range of researchers from academic, governmental, and industrial settings.
- Designing,and fabricating plastic-based microfluidic and nanofluidic devices for a broad range of biomedical areas.
- Developing innovative tools for the analysis of liquid biopsy markers to enableprecision medicine.
Plastic Microfluidics and Nanofluidics
- New tools are necessary for the analysis of liquid biopsy markers to allow for better patient outcomes.
- In vitro diagnostics is a growing area in the medical field, especially with the advent of precision medicine.
- New technologies evolving from CBM2 seek to deliver point of care devices for the in vitro diagnostics.
Key advantages of our Core Technologies are:
- Thermoplastic devices: manufacturing in a high-scale production mode at low cost to translate devices into the in vitro diagnostic area.
- Integrated systems that can fully automate the sample processing pipeline, especially when dealing with liquid biopsy samples.
- Robust methods to assemble cover plates to devices with high process yield rates for both microfluidic and nanofluidic devices.
- A wealth of experiences in modifying the chemical properties of plastic devices to accommodate applications in biology, medicine, and other areas.
Employment Opportunities
Research Associate
The Liquid Biopsy/Biomedical Engineering Core at the University of Kansas Medical Center (KUMC) seeks to fill a position of a Research Associate. This person will analyze liquid biopsy markers, which consist of circulating tumor cells, circulating leukemia cells, extracellular vesicles, and cell free DNA, secured from biological fluidic such as blood, plasma etc. The successful candidate will work alongside other scientists to maintain operation of the Core. Candidates must have a Master’s Degree in disciplines such as the physical sciences or engineering. Ph.D. preferred.
Process Engineer
The KU Department of Chemistry seeks to fill the postion of Process Engineer. The successful candidate will focus on the design and fabrication of microstructures and nanostructures in a variety of materials, including silicon and plastics. Knowledge in the areas of photolithography, wet/dry etching, thin film deposition, and cleanroom operation are required.
CBM2 Develops Innovative Test for COVID-19
What's New?
16 KU Engineering Faculty Members Among Most Cited Researchers in the World
Sixteen faculty members at the University of Kansas School of Engineering are among the top 2% of scientists worldwide cited by others in research publications, according to a study from Stanford University. Read More
CBM2 undergraduate student Shalee Mog is graduating from KU this spring with a major in Microbiology and minor in Spanish! Shalee will be attending the University of Kansas Medical Center (KUMC) next year for the Doctor of Occupational Therapy (OTD) program. Read More.
CBM2 Team Publishes Research Results
CBM2 Team published their research results in a peer reviewed journal Small, October 2021 Read More
Foundation Distinguished Professor and director of the Center of BioModular Multi-Scale Systems for Precision Medicine Dr. Steve Soper was one of four KU Faculty to receive a Higuchi-KU Endowment Research Achievement Award. Dr. Soper was honored with the Irvin Youngberg Award in Applied Sciences and has received this award for his dedicated work in chemistry, mechanical engineering, and bioengineering.
New research from CBM2 was published in ACS Sensors in August 2021, titled, “Tailoring Thermoplastic In-Plane Nanopore Size by Thermal Fusion Bonding for the Analysis of Single Molecules.”
Read More.
Swarnagowri Vaidyanathan, a 2021 graduate from the Bioengineering program at the University of Kansas, accepted a postdoctoral position at the Sandia National Laboratories for Joint BioEnergy Institute. Read More.
A paper by CBM2 researchers titled, “Isolation and Analysis Methods of Extracellular Vesicles (EVs)“ was published in the journal Extracellular Vesicles and Circulating Nucleic Acids in March 2021.
Read More.
Thilanga N. Pahattuge, CBM2 graduate student from the Soper research group at the University of Kansas, graduated in May 2021 and joined molecular diagnosis company Cepheid in the position of Scientist I-Oncology.
Read More.
Dr. Malgorzata (Maggie) Witek, Associate Research Professor in the chemistry department at the University of Kansas, and CBM2 faculty member, will be guest editing a Special Issue of the journal Cells in 2021. Read More.
Steve Soper Gives Keynote Presentation at SelectBio Innovations in Microfluidics and Single Cell Analysis conference. Read More.
CBM2 researchers published a paper in the March 2021 issue of Lab on a Chip titled, ”Thermoplastic nanofluidic devices for identifying abasic sites in single DNA molecules.“ Read More.
Unwinding Podcast Dr. Steven Soper and his team have been working on a solution to make COVID testing more convenient and more affordable on the "Unwinding Podcast." Listen Here
New Papers Accepted for Publication
CBM2 researchers from the University of Kansas and Louisiana State University have two new papers accepted for publication in January 2021.Read More
CBM2 Researcher Takes Position at AstraZeneca:
Zheng Zhao, CBM2 graduate student in the Soper research group at the University of Kansas, graduated in December 2020 and has accepted a Postdoctoral position at AstraZeneca headquarters in Gaithersburg, MD.. Read More.
CBM2 Makes Headlines: Center director Prof. Steven A. Soper and his team have received funding from NIH to develop a new at-home rapid COVID-19 test, which will yield results in about 15 minutes.. Read More.
Prof.Steven A. Soper, gives keynote presentation at SelectBio Circulating Biomarkers 2021. Read More.
Electrophoresis Cover:This image was selected as the cover of the September 2020 issue of Electrophoresis. Read More.
“Meet the Entrepreneur”: Please join us for a conversation with Dr. Steven Soper, KU Distinguished Professor and founder of Sunflower Genomics, Inc. (SGI). Read More.
Cancer research is delayed due to pandemic shutdown. Group’s technology focus expands to include work on SARS-CoV-2. Read More.
Graduate students Swarnagowri Vaidyanathan and Zheng Zhao work in the Soper laboratory at KU in June 2020. Members of CBM2 are doing COVID-19 research, and have implemented a social distancing work schedule to limit the number of people in any part of the lab at one time.
CBM2 publishes paper on robust superhydrophobic surfaces in the Journal of Colloid and Interface Sciences. Read More
Graduate student Uditha Athapattu works in the Soper laboratory at KU in June 2020. Members of CBM2 are doing COVID-19 research, and have implemented a social distancing work schedule to limit the number of people in any part of the lab at one time.
CBM2 commissions new injection compression molding machine for the high-scale production of both micro- and nanostructures in plastics. The machine is available to assist outside users for medium-scale production of devices.
Ms. Swarnagowri Vaidyanathan, CBM2 Bioengineering Graduate Student, won FIRST prize for her poster presentation poster at the Kansas State Capitol on Wednesday, Feb. 26.
Dr. Andrew K. Godwin joins CBM2 Read more.
Dr. Adam R. Hall joins CBM2 Read more.
Collaborative & Service Projects
The Center seeks to disseminate its Core Technologies into the research and clinical domains. The Center can accomplish this through a variety of mechanisms and is enthusiastic to discuss this with you. In particular, we can support efforts in such areas as liquid biopsy analyses, and designing and building microfluidic and nanofluidic devices for a variety of application areas.
Visiting Scholar Program
CBM2 invites researchers (national and international) at all levels and interested in learning more about our core competencies, which include plastic-based microfluidics/nanofluidics and liquid biopsies, to visit our laboratories for extended periods-of-time as part of our visiting scholar program. Due to the geographical distribution of our Center, visiting scholars can select to visit UNC-Chapel Hill, Louisiana State University, or the University of Kansas (the Medical Center or the Lawrence campus).
During your stay, you can directly participate in experiments that match your learning needs. The length of stay is entirely up to the visiting scholar; we have had visiting scholars that have stayed over the summer months or even an entire year. If you are interested, please click on the “Read More” tab below to learn more about this program.
Precision Medicine
The "Precision Medicine" initiative was announced by President Obama in his January 20th, 2016 State of the Union address. President Obama said he wanted the United States to "lead a new era of medicine, one that delivers the right treatment at the right time."
Rather than the current one-size-fits-all approach, drugs will be tailored to individuals allowing doctors to target the precise form a disease takes in any individual and avoid administering drugs that may be ineffective or even harmful.
CBM2 is making timely and important discoveries for the Precision Medicine initiative by developing state-of-the-art tools that can transition quickly into the clinic to provide diagnostic and prognostic information currently inaccessible to the patient due to limitations in current testing platforms.