Fall 2003 -- Vol. 56, No. 4

Beads of Promise
by Sandy Dees

Faced with breast cancer, a woman's first job is survival. Later, when she's safe, come the other decisions. That's where Clemson alumnus -- and, now, Clemson professor -- Karen Burg's award-winning work holds significant promise. She's developing an injectable tissue implant that could one day provide patients a viable reconstructive surgical solution for damage left by lumpectomies and other invasive procedures.

The putty-like implant, grown from the donor's own healthy cells, is expected to reduce scarring, help restore the breast's natural shape and promote quicker surgical recoveries.

"It's thrilling to be a part of a project that could have such a profound impact on women's lives," says Burg, a bioengineering researcher who just celebrated her 35th birthday.

Cells are grown on a scaffolding of tiny beads, then mixed with a gel and injected into the human body. The gel and beads are eventually absorbed, leaving only the cells. Unlike traditional implants, her gel-based implant, theoretically, will grow to fill the entire damaged area.

If the testing goes well, the injectable transplant technology could be ready for use in humans within 10 to 15 years. Burg's work could provide the first permanent biologically based reconstructive solution for breast-cancer survivors. The need is immense: An estimated 74,000-plus American women undergo breast reconstructions each year to repair damage from invasive procedures such as lumpectomies and mastectomies.

Burg's research also has potential in bone reconstruction and spinal disc repair. Treatment of patients with tissue and organ failure, which includes bone, accounts for approximately 50 percent of a total health care cost of $400 billion in the United States.

"This research is important - but I'm also happy that I'm able to work at Clemson," says the double-degree alumna, whose office is ablaze with orange. Fluorescent-orange plaster arms, periodically dusted off and used to demonstrate tissue implants for Girl Scouts, give jaunty salutes on one side of her Rhodes Hall office; her Tiger Paw lab coat hangs in state behind her office door.

Colleagues admire her dedication, down-to-earth nature and brilliant mind that sees cooperation as a way to solve problems. The Girl Scouts, however, like her because she's hysterically funny and gives very gross, very memorable descriptions of bioengineering techniques.

"She's what I'd like to be when I grow up," says one scout, so enraptured by the experience that she's already planning on a bioengineering career complete with "BIOGRL" license tag.

Burg received her B.S. in chemical engineering from N.C. State. She earned her M.S., 1992, and Ph.D., 1996, in bioengineering at Clemson. She completed postdoctoral work in tissue engineering at Carolinas Medical Center in Charlotte, N.C.

Burg was recruited to Clemson four years ago to help develop Clemson's tissue engineering program. The program has doubled in size within the past two years, bolstered in part by a $6 million federal grant that is prompting unheard of levels of cooperation between Clemson and fellow research university the Medical University of South Carolina.

Burg's research has drawn wide attention from the scientific community.

In September, Technology Review, MIT's Magazine of Innovation named Burg to its 2003 list of the world's 100 Top Young Innovators -- young scientists whose innovative work in technology has a profound impact on today's world. Recipients hail from biotechnology, computing, energy, medicine, manufacturing, nanotechnology, telecommunications and transportation.

Other national honors for Burg include the National Science Foundation's Faculty Early Career Award, the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers and, most recently, an invitation to participate in the National Academy of Engineering's elite Frontiers of Engineering Symposium. On the home front, she received the 2001 Clemson University Board of Trustees Award for Faculty Excellence and the 2003 Woman Faculty of the Year Award.

Her laboratory is currently funded by the Swiss-based bioengineering research group AO Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation and the Department of Defense.

"Dr. Burg's work exemplifies the spirit of innovation," says Martine LaBerge, the bioengineering department's interim chair and editor of the national publication Biomaterials Forum. "She's an exceptional role model and a dedicated researcher."

And best of all, she's at Clemson.

Visit the Bioengineering Web site.