LSP People..........
The educational and scientific backgrounds of the members of the Living State Physics Group match the breadth of the group's approach to the physics of the living state. Over the past 23 years, various group members have developed methods to determine cellular action currents from measurements of magnetic fields in nerve, skeletal muscle, smooth muscle, and cardiac preparations, both in vivo and in vitro. They have also built and used laser fluorescence systems, scanning magnetometers, and novel electrode arrays to study cardiac activation, conduction, fibrillation and defibrillation in the canine, rabbit, and mouse heart, and electrical abnormalities in intestinal smooth muscle. To interpret their data, they have developed mathematical models which have provided new insights into the behavior of nerves and cardiac and skeletal muscle.

	Living State Physics Alumni Page      Recent Meetings
	Franz J. Baudenbacher, Deputy Director, Vanderbilt Institute for Integrative Biosystems Research and Education (VIIBRE), Assistant Professor in Biomedical Engineering, Assistant Professor in Physics, is interested in: Magnetic and optical measurements and modeling of the propagation of action currents and potentials in cardiac tissue; development and application of ultrahigh resolution Superconducting Quantum Interference Device (SQUID) magnetometers for bio- and geophysics; soft-lithography, microfluidics and single-cell instrumentation.
	L. Alan Bradshaw, Research Assistant Professor of Physics & Surgery, and Assistant Professor of Physics at Lipscomb University, is interested in the electric and magnetic fields of the gastrointestinal system. He uses SQUID magnetometers and mathematical models to measure and predict the magnetic fields of the stomach and small bowel to aid in the diagnosis of diseases such as mesenteric ischemia and gastroparesis.
	Benjamin Diop-Frimpong, Undergraduate student majoring in Biomedical Engineering and Chemical Engineering interested in biochemical systems and nanoscale engineering. Currently working on instrument control with Labview programming for nanophysiometer device.
	Luis E. Fong , Research assistant, is currently working toward his PhD. degree in Physics. His research interest is the development and utilization of SQUID microscopes to image and study the magnetic properties of biological systems.
	Igor Ges , Research Associate, Director of the BioMicroSensor Fabrication Laboratory being established within the Vanderbilt Institute for Biosystems Research and Education (VIIBRE).
	Jenny Holzer, Postdoctoral Research Associate, developing and using a new high-resolution, superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID) microscope to study the electrophysiological properties of cardiac tissue.
	Yu Pei Ma, research assistant professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy. As a graduate student, she worked on the low-temperature physics and superconductivity. At Vanderbilt, she is involved with the SQUID-based IVDG.
	Krista McBride, physics graduate student studying magnetic properties of the biological system using SQUID (Superconducting Quantum Interference Device) Microscopy. Her interests include working with magnetic beads, further developing the SQUIDs, and other related projects.
	William O. Richards, M.D., Professor of Surgery and Director of Laparoscopic and Endoscopic General Surgery, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Nashville. His major research interest is magnetic and electrical recording in gastrointestinal smooth muscle.
	Veniamin Yu. Sidorov, Research Associate
	Andreas A. Werdich, Research Assistant, currently working toward his Ph.D in physics. He is investigating the coupling of metabolic and electrical activity in single cardiac muscle cells. The key is to develop BioMEMS devices with restricted extracelluar space for fast, high-bandwidth measurements on single cells in picoliter volumes.
	John P. Wikswo, Jr., Gordon A. Cain University Professor and Director of the Vanderbilt Institute for Integrative Biosystems Research and Education (VIIBRE), is a fellow of the American Heart Association, the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering, and the American Physical Society. His research over the past twenty years has been directed toward using electric and magnetic measurements and electromagnetic theory for studying the propagation of bioelectrical activity, corrosion in aluminum, and non-destructive testing. His is leading a large group in developing BioMEMS systems, models, and measurement techniques to instrument and control the single cell to provide advanced systems for toxicology, drug development, and physiology.
	Marcella Woods, biomedical Engineering graduate student, is developing methods to quantify the effects of strong external electrical shocks on cardiac tissue.

Living State Physics Alumni Page
Recent Meetings