For more than 20 years, Glenn Gaudette has used this model to demonstrate the electrical and mechanical forces at work in the human heart.
OFFICE HOURS
Glenn Gaudette’s journey from “old-school” training to leading BC’s pioneering Human-Centered Engineering program
Glenn Gaudette is a pretty big deal. He’s appeared on Bill Nye Saves the World, CBS’s Innovation Nation, and the BBC. His research was featured in a sold-out exhibition of modern art at the Centre Pompidou in Paris. He’s been issued four patents, published over 75 papers, and founded a company; he’s even had a children’s book written about his work. But the discovery that brought him fame, using spinach leaves to grow human heart tissue, was just his first act. Now, he’s turned his attention to solving even more complex problems in ways that are both innovative and just—and he’s come to Boston College to do it.
As the inaugural John W. Kozarich ’71 Chair of BC’s new engineering department, Gaudette is in the vanguard of a revolution in how engineers are trained and the work they do.
Originally, Gaudette saw his research in purely technical terms—solve problem X with new technology Y and move on to the next project. He’d worked for years to develop innovative treatments for heart attacks and had breakthrough success. But even as his work was celebrated by the scientific and medical communities, Gaudette found himself asking new questions: How many people would benefit from his work? What about those who could not afford such a high-tech (and high-cost) treatment?
We have to put people at the center of the problem, and really listen, really understand them. That’s what human-centered engineering means.”
—GLENN GAUDETTE
Decellularized spinach leaves ready for use in Gaudette’s research lab.
He began to look at his work from new perspectives—social, cultural, economic, environmental, and ethical—and found an affinity with human-centered design, which emphasizes a holistic approach to both problems and solutions.
“I wanted to find ways that my work could make a difference for a broader range of people, without causing unintended consequences that could harm a community or the environment,” says Gaudette. “To do that, we have to put people at the center of the problem, and really listen, really understand them. That’s what human-centered engineering means to me.”
Luke Perrault, a post-doc research fellow who works in Gaudette’s lab, demonstrates the decellularization process as Gaudette looks on with his son Connor, who served as a summer research assistant.
An Accidental Engineer
Growing up, Gaudette had always been good at math and science, but he didn’t know what to do with it. When his high school counselor suggested engineering, Gaudette thought he’d give it a try and registered at his local college. Gaudette thrived in the engineering program, but after graduation, he found that working in a corporate setting lacked the same level of intellectual stimulation. He turned to his college professors for advice and, at their urging, applied to Georgia Tech’s competitive mechanical engineering program.
After graduation, he returned home to a job at Deaconess Medical Center in a cardiac surgery research lab. “It was a great opportunity,” recalls Gaudette. “We were looking at how surgery affects heart function, like when they give drugs to stop the heart from beating during surgery—how does that affect the heart? How can we evaluate that? And more importantly, how can we fix it?”
After several years, Gaudette left to pursue a doctorate at SUNY Stony Brook, where he taught biomedical engineering with joint appointments in both physiology and surgery. He then spent two years in the surgery department at UMass Medical Center before moving across town to Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI), where he taught for nearly 15 years.
Food for Thought
At WPI, Gaudette led a team of researchers charged with developing new ways to treat cardiac issues. He experimented with adult stem cell therapy to restore function in damaged hearts. He learned how to decellularize hearts—essentially stripping them of all cellular matter—to avoid transplant rejection. But these interventions only treated the symptoms, and the question still nagged at him: How could he reverse the loss of blood flow that causes heart damage in the first place?
We want our students to consider the human impact as they are developing new technologies. That’s a new way of looking at engineering, and that’s what we’re doing here at BC.”
—GLENN GAUDETTE
Gaudette met with experts in cell regeneration, plant biology, and other fields, and led his lab in countless experiments to find or develop a material that mimics the heart’s system of vessels. But, like the best “eureka” stories, the answer came not in the lab but the lunchroom, while chatting with one of his graduate research assistants.
“He had a spinach salad, and all of a sudden we both looked at this spinach leaf and we saw the branching pattern, the vein that comes off the leaf just like the aorta on a heart,” Gaudette says, a note of wonder still in his voice. “We never said ‘Wow, this is it!’ but we said ‘Let’s give it a shot!’” Back in the lab, Gaudette and his team put their hypothesis to the test: Could they decellularize the spinach? Yes. Could they grow cells on the frame? Yes. Could they generate electrical activity similar to a beating heart? Yes—and that is when he knew he’d found something truly exciting.
His findings, accompanied by a video of red dye pulsing through a translucent leaf, captured the international media’s attention. Though just a first step toward developing cardiac patches or other interventions to help damaged heart tissue regenerate, it was an important proof of concept that sparked a rush of new research into plant-based innovations.
New Questions and a New Approach
Gaudette rose quickly through the ranks of faculty at WPI, receiving a named professorship and leading a student entrepreneurship program. He also began teaching interdisciplinary courses, collaborating for the first time with faculty in English, sociology, and other fields outside his own. In the classroom and the lab, he began to look beyond the bounds of traditional engineering, to ask questions about the underlying causes of a problem and the unexpected impact a proposed solution could have. His experience caring for his father, coupled with his work in cardiac surgery units, informed his increasingly holistic approach.
Inspired by these interdisciplinary experiences, he began searching for new ways his work with tissue regeneration could make a difference. A colleague brought up the idea of lab-grown meat, and Gaudette immediately saw the potential. “What if instead of growing human heart muscle, we could grow cow skeletal muscle—which is essentially steak—and do it at a reasonable cost?” he asks with enthusiasm. “What if we could increase the amount of food on our planet in ways that are cost-effective, ethical, and environmentally sustainable?”
Early results have been promising, and at his lab and in his fledgling department, Gaudette continues to push the envelope of meat alternatives and beyond, with an eye toward improving sustainability and human health. He understands the bigger picture of his discipline.
“The future of engineering education is about more than just technical knowledge, it’s the mindset,” he says. “We want our students to consider the human impact as they are developing new technologies. That’s a new way of looking at engineering, and that’s what we’re doing here at BC.”
Just around the corner from Gaudette’s lab is his office, a small but sunny corner spot that overlooks the quad and Alumni Stadium. His desk is covered with papers, textbooks, mechanical models, family photos, and coffee cups—lots of coffee cups. Here are five things that matter to Gaudette.
FELLOW INVENTOR
“One of my proudest moments was being named a fellow in the National Academy of Inventors,” says Gaudette, explaining that it is the highest professional distinction awarded to academics in recognition of inventions that make a tangible impact on quality of life, economic development, and the welfare of society.
HANDS-ON LEARNING
“These are just simple toys, but they help students conceptualize complex engineering principles they have to get their hands on it.” In “Making the Modern World: Design, Ethics, and Engineering,” Gaudette and Professor Jenna Tonn give students Play-Doh and cardboard to engineer on a smaller scale solutions that could better prevent tragedies like the historic 1919 Boston Molasses Disaster.
THE FAMILY MAN
“Family is everything,” says Gaudette, who keeps dozens of photos and mementos of his wife, children, and parents scattered around his office.
THE FUTURE IS HERE
In addition to multiple TV appearances and journal articles, Gaudette was also featured in a children’s book, From Plant to Human: The Extraordinary Spinach-Leaf Heart. Written by Oscar Silver, the book is part of “The Future is Here,” a guided reading series for eight to 10 year olds, some of whom, Gaudette hopes, will grow up to become scientists, inventors, and engineers themselves.
SHOW AND TELL
When working with students, Gaudette likes to demonstrate real-life examples of the materials used in bioengineering, like artificial aortic tubing, pacemakers, and metal bone screws, like the one above.
FELLOW INVENTOR
“One of my proudest moments was being named a fellow in the National Academy of Inventors,” says Gaudette, explaining that it is the highest professional distinction awarded to academics in recognition of inventions that make a tangible impact on quality of life, economic development, and the welfare of society.
HANDS-ON LEARNING
“These are just simple toys, but they help students conceptualize complex engineering principles they have to get their hands on it.” In “Making the Modern World: Design, Ethics, and Engineering,” Gaudette and Professor Jenna Tonn give students Play-Doh and cardboard to engineer on a smaller scale solutions that could better prevent tragedies like the historic 1919 Boston Molasses Disaster.
THE FAMILY MAN
“Family is everything,” says Gaudette, who keeps dozens of photos and mementos of his wife, children, and parents scattered around his office.
THE FUTURE IS HERE
In addition to multiple TV appearances and journal articles, Gaudette was also featured in a children’s book, From Plant to Human: The Extraordinary Spinach-Leaf Heart. Written by Oscar Silver, the book is part of “The Future is Here,” a guided reading series for eight to 10 year olds, some of whom, Gaudette hopes, will grow up to become scientists, inventors, and engineers themselves.
SHOW AND TELL
When working with students, Gaudette likes to demonstrate real-life examples of the materials used in bioengineering, like artificial aortic tubing, pacemakers, and metal bone screws, like the one above.
Students put their theories to work in an electronics lab, part of “Making the Modern World,” an interdisciplinary core course co-taught by Gaudette and Professor Jenna Tonn.
Engineering for Others
“Being the engineer on a white horse who arrives to save the day, that doesn’t work,” says Gaudette. “We have to understand people and their environment. That’s where our colleagues in social work, in nursing, in education, come in. We’re working together so our students can identify the real problems and develop solutions that serve everyone, not just a privileged few.”
Like all BC students, engineering majors still take core curriculum courses, but Gaudette has also integrated the liberal arts and reflection groups into the program’s foundational and advanced engineering courses. The department is part of the Morrissey College of Arts and Sciences, and most classes are held in 245 Beacon Street, a state-of-the-art facility that also houses the Schiller Institute of Integrated Science and Society, the Shea Center for Entrepreneurship, and the Computer Science Department.
Gaudette says the program is unique, even among the handful of engineering schools that include human-centered design. “My colleagues from different universities are amazed at what we’re doing here,” he says. “Others have tried bits and pieces, but nobody has gone all in like BC has. This is the right program, in the right place.”
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Diana Chaban Griffith
