Vadim Backman is an American biomedical engineer and the Sachs Family Professor of

biomedical engineering Biomedical engineering (BME) or medical engineering is the application of engineering principles and design concepts to medicine and biology for healthcare purposes (e.g., diagnostic or therapeutic). BME is also traditionally logical sciences ...

at the

Robert R. McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science Established in 1909, the Robert R. McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science is one of twelve constituent schools at Northwestern University. Most engineering classes are held in the Technological Institute (1942), which students commo ...

Northwestern University Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston, Illinois. Founded in 1851, Northwestern is the oldest chartered university in Illinois and is ranked among the most prestigious academic institutions in the world. Charte ...

. He is also a Professor of Medicine (Hematology/Oncology) and Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics at Feinberg School of Medicine and is the Associate Director of Research Technology and Infrastructure and Program Leader in Cancer and Physical Sciences at

Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center The Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center of Northwestern University (Lurie Cancer Center), is a National Cancer Institute (NCI)-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center located on Northwestern Memorial Hospital's downtown medical campus in ...

Early life

Backman was born in the former USSR in 1973 and later emigrated with his family to the United States.

Career

Backman received his

M.S. A Master of Science ( la, Magisterii Scientiae; abbreviated MS, M.S., MSc, M.Sc., SM, S.M., ScM or Sc.M.) is a master's degree in the field of science awarded by universities in many countries or a person holding such a degree. In contrast to ...

in physics from the

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the ...

(MIT), and a

PhD PHD or PhD may refer to: * Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), an academic qualification Entertainment * '' PhD: Phantasy Degree'', a Korean comic series * ''Piled Higher and Deeper'', a web comic * Ph.D. (band), a 1980s British group ** Ph.D. (Ph.D. albu ...

in medical engineering and medical physics from

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

and MIT. In 2001, he joined Northwestern University's faculty.Monk, Kyle
"Where Cancer Lurks"
, ''Northwestern University'', 2018. Retrieved on 13 June 2021. Backman also serves as the Associate Director for Research Technology and Infrastructure at the Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center at Northwestern. He became an American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering Fellow in 2010 and a senior member of

The Optical Society Optica (formerly known as The Optical Society (OSA) and before that as the Optical Society of America) is a professional society of individuals and companies with an interest in optics and photonics. It publishes journals and organizes conference ...

Board of Directors in 2011. He helped co-found four start-ups: Preora Diagnostics Inc., ASP Health Inc., Nanocytomics, and American BioOptics.

Research

Since 2003, he has been working on strategies for early detection of cancer by looking for cell changes at a 20 to 50 nanometer scale. In 2019, his lab developed a tool that images blood flow in such a way to see capillaries more closely and measure things like oxygenation and

metabolic rate Metabolism (, from el, μεταβολή ''metabolē'', "change") is the set of life-sustaining chemical reactions in organisms. The three main functions of metabolism are: the conversion of the energy in food to energy available to run cell ...

. In 2020, he led a study that noted that countries with higher

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...

mortality rates also had higher levels of Vitamin D deficiency. In 2021, Backman published a paper in ''Science Advances'' about the construction of cells on a genomic level and how this impacts their ability to deal with external stressors.

Personal life

Backman collaborates with and is married to civil and environmental engineer Luisa Marcelino.Morris, Amanda
"Data Diving to Save Coral"
, ''Northwestern University'', 2016. Retrieved on 13 June 2021.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Backman, Vadim Living people Northwestern University faculty Fellows of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering Russian engineers 1973 births Cancer researchers Harvard Medical School alumni Massachusetts Institute of Technology alumni Peter the Great St. Petersburg Polytechnic University alumni Engineers from Saint Petersburg