E-Mail:tombb@umich.edu
Web:http://tombb.com
Street Address:
Phone:
Full Name: Tommaso F. Bersano-Begey
LAST UPDATED ON: Friday, 20-Jun-2008 20:09:51 EDT
- MIcrofluidics devices for single-cell studies and cancer research;
- Applying Artificial Intelligence to the automated design of new gene circuits in actual living cells, gaining control of their vast range of molecular sensors and nanoscale machinery, and their ability to replicate and navigate in microenvironments;
- Providing better approaches to organization and scalability of synthetic biology;
- Using Bioinformatics and data-mining discovery of new components for bio-circuits;
- Automating microfluidic cell culture and analysis, and standardizing gene circuit testing;
- Improving evolutionary computation theory with additional insights from molecular genetics.
- Studying molecular mechanisms of Cellular Aging and Senescence, particularly as they relate to Stem Cell research from non-embryonic cells.
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Design, fabrication and development of
microfluidic devices for automated, computer-controlled, long-term
cell-passaging outside of incubators, 
allowing real-time continuous monitoring and tracking of
individual cells (the animation
on
the left is from one of my experiments, showing cells growing, dividing
and crawling over
hours/days). The system can also be controlled remotely to make changes to
the experimental script in real time, and it sends reports with cell
microscopy images at programmed intervals through email.
Worked on developing bio-chips in which
living cells are embedded in a network of microscale chambers and
channels, using the same technology used to fabricate microprocessors and
micro-scale robotics. Investigated its potential to try
hundreds of simultaneous genetic and chemical manipulations on growing
cells for the purpose of testing potential treatments to alter cellular
aging in a controlled
environment that allows for automated tissue culturing and isolates
individual cells and their aging process.
Used genetic engineering to create a
recombinant gene product that can spread from cell to cell, to investigate
the effect of telomerase and cancer genes on cellular senescence without
the potential side-effects of irreversible cell immortalization (cancer).
Specifically I spliced a viral protein gene, a fluorescent gene (GFP/YFP)
and different cancer proteins to generate fusion proteins and transfected
them into mammalian cells (COS7). 
The viral gene
allowed these
fusion proteins to spread across cells and into the surrounding media and
enter the nucleus of other cells, where the cancer protein could override
the normal cellular mechanisms,and the fluorescence protein made it
possible to see it on a fluorescent microscope in living cells.
Worked on real-time planning and control in
multi-agent systems (using a procedural reasoning system on projects like
the Unmanned Ground Vehicles or the Robocup competition)
Developed evolutionary computation
systems (coding in C and Java) to find solutions in applications ranging
from robotics to image processing and Geo-science.
Redesigned existing system to allow
scalability, generate network simulations for automated predictions and
improvements in a network layout or configuration. Netarx used AI,
automated network traffic monitoring and live technicians to prevent
network crashes before they occur. Developed a web-based tool written in
Java that allowed corporate partners to monitor and navigate through a
dynamic visual representation of their entire network in which any network
congestion,
security breach, or problem is displayed in real time. Additional features
included the ability to predict or deduce possible causes for any network
problem and automatic notifications to support and service people.
Developed a new laser gauging technology
and software for machines that use laser, ultrasound, and eddy currents to
analyze, measure, and sort parts with variable specifications at high
speeds (~300 parts per minute). This included data collection, data
interpolation to compensate for variable speed/ bouncing/friction, laser
signal calibration to compensate for temperature driven fluctuations,
automatic shape recognition/analysis/fitting and measurement
of relevant
features, OLE, statistical software, and database interfaces and
OpenGL.
and Europe 
) Since 2008
