Graduate Student Profile: Chris Byrd
Serving Through Education
Home town: St. Albans, WV- B.S.: Design Engineering, University of Central Florida
- Technical Advisor: Dr. Madan Dubey (Chief, Micro-electromechanical Systems [MEMS] Branch, Army Research Laboratories. Academic Advisor: Professor Peter Kofinas (Fischell Department of Bioengineering)
- Started Program: Fall 2006
Chris Byrd is not your typical graduate student. A major in the U.S. Army with over a decade of service, his current assignment is to earn a Ph.D.
Byrd joined the army after graduating with a B.S. in design engineering from the University of Central Florida in 1995. For the first eight years, he served in what he describes as "typical" positions. But he had always wanted to make use of his engineering knowledge, and eventually began to look for new opportunities. The problem was, while he wanted to be involved in research, he had been "out of the loop" for a long time.
Byrd learned about the Acquisition Corps, an agency involved in research and development that works with scientists to define and serve the army's technology needs. He transferred to the Corps, and for three years served as a military advisor to civilian scientists at the Army Research Laboratory, working on soldier networks and wearable computing. It was there that he learned about the Corps' Uniformed Army Scientist and Engineer Program, and decided to apply. The UASEP's goal is to provide the army with officers with advanced science and engineering degrees to serve as consultants for senior staff involved in the development or deployment of new technology.
The program is highly selective. Candidates must already be assigned to the Acquisition Corps, have a degree in a technical field, and have solid service records to apply, and must then pass a series of tests and evaluations. Byrd is currently one of only about half a dozen people in the program.
The UASEP allows officers to choose their field of study and the school they attend. Byrd chose bioengineering because he is interested in technology used to assist soldiers, such as maintaining better health in high-pressure and dangerous situations, and better prosthesis for the wounded. For his education, he chose the University of Maryland's Graduate Program in Bioengineering.
"UM was at the top of my list [of schools] because of the location and program," he told us. "There are so many places I can go in this area to work. The location was absolutely ideal for me, and so was the fact that UM had a young BioE program that was doing great things. [Department Chair] Dr. Bentley was incredibly gracious when I came to visit. I feel very indebted to him for being as receptive to me as he was."
Byrd's personal interests and professional obligations—and the program providing him with the flexibility to accommodate them both—has him conducting the main body of his dissertation research at the Army Research Laboratory in Adelphi, Md., under the guidance of his technical advisor, Dr. Madan Dubey, Chief of its Micro-electromechanical Systems (MEMS) Branch. He sought Dubey out because of his involvement and expertise with areas such as biosystems modeling, bioelectronics, electrochemistry, and microfluidics.
Byrd will be creating advanced, microscopic sensors by affixing DNA and proteins to a thin film of gold, then monitoring the arrangement of their molecules as a means to detect biological agents (harmful or otherwise) present in the air. By studying how the DNA molecules interact with others in their environment, Byrd hopes to create sensors that are faster to react, more accurate and more specific than those in use today. Currently, a sample must be taken with a swab and put into a kit, and takes 2-3 days to process. Byrd's sensors, integrated into handheld or other devices, would work by simply being exposed to the air, and could provide results in under 10 minutes. These new sensors could better protect anyone working in or exposed to hazardous air conditions.
This investigation is directly related to Byrd's work with the Army. "There's a lot of emphasis being placed by the military on creating light, portable sensors that can be used to gather information about the environment," he explains. "If you can put these in the hands of soldier, it could prevent him from having to go into harm's way."
The sensors are made with stem-loop DNA strands, segments of DNA that have been arranged in loops rather than the usually-encountered double helix structure. Two special features are integrated into the loops: the first is a chemical group designed to strongly bind them to the gold substrate, keeping them ordered and in place. The second is a fluorescent organic molecule, called methylene blue, which is often used as a dye in biology labs to stain cells.
The DNA loops are used as switches. Whenever they are exposed to free-floating strands of DNA in their environment whose configuration matches their own, they respond by uncurling. As the loop unrolls, the methylene blue molecule is exposed, and ends up at the tip of the strand, visible and measurable by spectroscopy. The more methylene blue detected, the greater the presence of the target agent.
Since the DNA loops must be made from the agent they are trying to detect, Byrd is not currently working with dangerous molecules the sensors will ultimately be designed to protect against, such as anthrax or other toxins.
The properties and potential of stem loop DNA strands have been explored in recent past, but Byrd has an ambitious goal: to generate a sensor library of many known biological threats and incorporate it into a handheld, low-energy device capable of detecting them all. The most difficult challenge that lies ahead for him, and at the core of his research, is designing a sensor in which the stem loop DNA segments of the various agents do not interfere with or react to each other.
Byrd is confident that with Dr. Dubey's experience and mentorship, and collaboration with other subject matter experts at both the ARL and the University of Maryland, he’ll have all resources he’ll need to succeed. "So far," he says, "everyone I've met at the University and the Army Research Laboratory has been very supportive. I was expecting to have to pull a lot of teeth to do this, but people are going out of their way to incorporate me into their research plans."
Byrd was concerned about jumping back into college after so many years away, but he quickly found support. He cites fellow students and the faculty as the best part of his experience so far: "Right now, I'm really enjoying getting to know and working with my classmates. Everyone is very generous with their time and willing to help each other. I guess I'd expected a cutthroat environment or someplace very competitive where I'd be working by myself.
"I'm very impressed by the faculty and how they constantly take into account the [students'] variety of backgrounds in how they teach—we have some [students] with engineering [degrees], some with biology [degrees], and I've been out of school so long...the professor has to customize the class based on a wide range of capabilities. Students have to work hard, too, though!"
After graduation, Byrd plans to continue in his career in the military. While the Army will ultimately determine his assignments, his personal preferences are taken into account. He tells us he would like to be stationed at a military defense laboratory, or work side-by-side with a 1- or 2- star general as a technical advisor. Ideally, he'd like to try out both roles. Whatever he ends up doing, he says, "...if it can be applied to the safety of soldiers, than I would consider it a success."
Byrd is enthusiastic about recommending the Graduate Program in Bioengineering to prospective students. "One of the greatest things about the BioE program and the school in general is your access to other departments and opportunities," he explains. "There are a lot of industry, military, and other educational programs that favor the [University of Maryland]. It was only after applying that I fully learned about the vast amount of BioE-related research going on at the school. I love the wide variety—I like that we're not being funneled into a specific area. I have plenty of leeway to make decisions about my education."
Living in the Washington, D.C. metro area also gives him a lot of choices about his work and social life. "I like that DC has everything you can possibly want to do in a city," he told us. "It's really interesting, frustrating, and exhilarating all at the same time. There are a million things going on, but if you drive an hour you can 'get the heck out of Dodge,' which is also refreshing. The D.C. area has many opportunities for employment after graduation. It's a good launching point, very well-connected."
Asked if he had any advice for undergraduates considering graduate studies in bioengineering, Byrd replied, "Be sure that you're dedicated to your studies, because it takes time, discipline, and patience."
