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Anthony Atala, M.D.
Director, Wake Forest-Pittsburgh Consortium
Wake Forest School of Medicine
Director of the Institute for Regenerative Medicine, and the W.H. Boyce Professor and chair of the Department of Urology
www.wfirm.org
ANTHONY ATALA oversees a team of 150 physicians and researchers working to engineer more than 20 different types of organs and tissues in the laboratory. His team was the first in the world to engineer an organ in the laboratory that was successfully implanted in patients. He has received numerous awards, including the U.S. Congress funded Christopher Columbus Foundation Award, bestowed on a living American for a discovery that will significantly affect society. Ten applications of technologies developed in Dr. Atala's laboratory have been used clinically. He is the editor of nine books, and has applied for or received over 200 national and international patents.
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Rocky S. Tuan, Ph.D.
Director, Center for Cellular and Molecular Engineering
Professor and Executive Vice Chairman for Orthopaedic Research
University of Pittsburgh – School of Medicine
ROCKY TUAN has studied the workings of the musculoskeletal system and its diseases for more than 30 years. His research focuses on ways to repair damaged muscle and cartilage using regenerative medicine approaches. He directs the Center for Cellular and Molecular Engineering, which works to develop the knowledge base and the technical know-how toward the restoration of organ functions by applying principles of cellular and molecular biology as well as the physical sciences and engineering. Novel approaches, such as stem cells, biomaterials, nanotechnology and bioreactors are utilized to advance skeletal tissue engineering and regeneration.
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Stephen Badylak, M.D., Ph.D., D.V.M.
Professor, Dept. of Surgery
University of Pittsburgh
STEPHEN BADYLAK is a professor in the Department of Surgery, a deputy director of the McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine, and Director of the Center for Pre-Clinical Tissue Engineering within the Institute. In 1976, Dr. Badylak received his D.V.M. from Purdue University. He then obtained an M.S. in Clinical Pathology from Purdue University in 1978, a Ph.D. in Anatomic Pathology from Purdue University in 1981 and graduated with highest honors with a M.D. from Indiana University Medical School in 1985.
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George Christ, Ph.D.
Professor, Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine
Wake Forest School of Medicine
GEORGE CHRIST has a broad interest in muscle physiology, intercellular communication and the role of smooth muscle in the function and dysfunction of visceral and vascular tissues. In particular, he is interested in developing in vitro protocols and bioreactor systems for the accelerated maturation of engineered tissues; in order to further enhance their applications in regenerative medicine. Dr. Christ received his Ph.D. in Pharmacology at Wake Forest University in 1987, and then did a postdoctoral fellowship in the Department of Pharmacology at Mount Sinai Medical Center in NYC. From 1989 until 2004 he was a faculty member at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in the Bronx, NY
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Reinhold Dauskardt, PhD
Professor and Associate Chair, Department of Materials Science and Engineering
Stanford University
www.dauskardt.stanford.edu
REINHOLD DAUSKARDT and his group have worked extensively on integrating new hybrid materials into emerging nanoscience and energy technologies and on the biomechanics of human skin and soft tissues. His research on wound healing has concentrated on establishing a biomechanics framework to understand and control the biological processes that determine scar formation in healing wounds. Experimental studies are complemented with a range of computational capabilities. Dauskardt has contributed significantly to leadership in Stanford’s multidisciplinary materials effort, which spans several schools and the Stanford Hospital.
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Joseph E. Dohar, M.D., M.S.
Research Director, Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh
JOSEPH DOHARholds a BS and an MD from The Ohio State University and received his MS from the University of Minnesota in 1992. After completing a fellowship in Pediatric Otolaryngology at Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC, Dr. Dohar joined the staff of UPMC Presbyterian and Children’s Hospitals in 1994. He joined the faculty of McGowan Institute in 2001 and is currently a research director at Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh in the Aerodigestive Center. Dr. Dohar is also an associate professor in the School of Medicine in both Otolaryngology and the Communication Science Disorders Department.
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Mark E. Furth, Ph.D.
Technical Development Officer, Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine
Wake Forest School of Medicine
MARK E. FURTH’s interests include the use of fetal and adult stem cells as sources for new tissues and organs for regenerative medicine and pharmaceutical research; and regulation of lineage specification in differentiation from stem cells. He received his B.A. from Harvard University and his Ph.D. in Molecular Biology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He did postdoctoral research on novel stem cell antigens with Sydney Brenner at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Cambridge, UK, and on oncogenes with Edward Scolnick at the National Cancer Institute.
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Jörg Gerlach, M.D., Ph.D.
Professor, Dept. of Surgery
University of Pittsburgh
JORG GERLACH joined the faculty of the University of Pittsburgh in 2003 as Professor to the Department of Surgery. Prior to his appointment, Dr. Gerlach founded the Charité Institute for Transplantation and Organ Regeneration (CITO) as an Associate Professor to the Department of Surgery at the Charité Medical Faculty of the Humboldt University Berlin, Germany. His specialties lie in surgery, hepatology, intensive care and experimental transplantation medicine. Additionally, he has an engineering background with expertise in artificial organ development, hybrid system research and preclinical trial efforts.
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Robert E. Guldberg, Ph.D.
Professor, Mechanical Engineering and Biomedical Engineering
Director, Institute for Bioengineering and Bioscience
Georgia Institute of Technology
ROBERT GULDBERG research interests focus on musculoskeletal growth and development, functional regeneration following traumatic injury, and degenerative diseases, including skeletal fragility and arthritis. His research is supported by the NIH, NSF, DoD, and several biotechnology companies. Dr. Guldberg is a Fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE) and a Woodruff Faculty Fellow in Mechanical Engineering at Georgia Tech. He holds several national and international leadership positions. In 2008, he was elected President-Elect of the North American Chapter of the Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine International Society (TERMIS-NA).
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Geoffrey C. Gurtner, M.D.
Professor, Department of Surgery (Plastic/Reconstructive Surgery)
Principal investigator, Children’s Surgical Research Lab
Stanford University
www://med.stanford.edu/profiles/Geoffrey_Gurtner/
GEOFFREY C. GURTNER is a surgeon and researcher focused on understanding the mechanisms of new blood vessel growth following injury and how pathways of tissue regeneration and fibrosis interact in wound healing. Since his residency, when he worked with children who were burn victims, Dr. Gurtner has sought out a way to eliminate scars. His lab has produced the first animal model for scar research.
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Benjamin Harrison, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine
Wake Forest School of Medicine
BENJAMIN S. HARRISION received his B.S. degree in chemistry from the University of West Florida in 1998. Following that, he attended graduate school at the University of Florida and obtained a Ph.D. in Inorganic Chemistry in 2003. His interests include small molecules, polymeric, and nanomaterials that can provide enchanced functionality to biomaterials including mass transport and oxygen delivery and image contrast. He believes that significant advances in tissue engineering will be made using ideas rooted and developed over many years in other scientific disciplines, such as aerospace and environmental engineering, and rapidly developing areas such as nanotechnology.
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Patricia A. Hebda, Ph.D.
Professor, Otolaryngology and Pathology
University of Pittsburgh
PATRICIA HEBDA is a professor of Otolaryngology and Pathology and an adjunct professor of Speech and Communication Disorders at the University of Pittsburgh. She is also the director of the Otolaryngology Wound Healing Research Program at Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh. In addition, she is an associate faculty member of the Pittsburgh Tissue Engineering Initiative.
Dr. Hebda earned her BS in Biochemistry from Michigan State University. She then achieved her PhD from Ohio State University. She did her post-graduate work at UCLA-Harbor Medical Center Department of Pediatrics before she moved to the University of Pittsburgh, where she continued her work in the Department of Opthomology.
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James H. Holmes IV, M.D., Assistant Professor of Surgery
Wake Forest School of Medicine
JAMES HOLMES joined the faculty at Wake Forest School of Medicine in 2006 as an Assistant Professor of Surgery and is currently the Medical Director of the Burn Center. He received a cross-appointment to the Wake Forest Institute of Regenerative Medicine in January 2008. Dr. Holmes has published multiple peer-reviewed articles and book chapters on all aspects of burn care. Dr. Holmes is currently active in burn surge capacity and burn disaster management in the State of North Carolina. His current research interests range from all aspects of burn care to patient safety improvements and surgical quality of care initiatives.
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Johnny Huard, Ph.D.
Director, Stem Cell Research Center
University of Pittsburgh
JOHNNY HUARD, of the University of Pittsburgh, is a professor in the Departments of Orthopaedic Surgery, Molecular Genetics, Biochemistry, Bioengineering, Pathology and also the director of the Stem Cell Research Center. He has been named the Henry J. Mankin Endowed Chair in Orthopaedic Surgery Research. Dr. Huard is also deputy director for cellular therapy at the McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine (MIRM) and an associate director of the Pittsburgh Tissue Engineering Initiative (PTEI). Dr. Huard is co-founder of Cook MyoSite, Inc., a biotechnology company.
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David Hurley, M.D.
Organogenesis, Inc.
Medical Director, Skin & Connective Tissue Regeneration (www.organogenesis.com)
David Hurley is a plastic and reconstructive surgeon who has worked as medical director of a hospital-based wound care center, chief medical officer of a wound management company and as an independent consultant in the development and management of wound care clinics. His business and management experience includes time as vice president of medical affairs for a 250-bed regional hospital and medical director of a healthcare system. He has served as assistant professor and chief of the Division of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery at the University of South Alabama
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David Kaplan, Ph.D.
Director, Tissue Engineering Resource Center (www.ase.tufts.edu/terc.org)
Professor and Chair, Department of Biomedical Engineering
Professor, Departments of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Chemistry, the Tufts University School of Medicine and the Tufts University School of Dental Medicine
Tufts University School of Engineering
DAVID KAPLAN’s research focuses on biopolymer engineering to understand structure-function relationships, with emphasis on studies related to self-assembly, biomaterials engineering and functional tissue engineering. He has published more than 400 papers and edited eight books. He serves of the editorial boards of numerous journals and is Associate Editor for the journal Biomacromolecules. He was elected Fellow, American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering in 2003 and received the Society for Biomaterials Clemson Award for contributions to the literature in 2007. |
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Richard Koepsel, Ph.D.
Research Professor, Dept. of Surgery
University of Pittsburgh
RICK KOEPSEL is a Research Professor in the Department of Surgery at the University of Pittsburgh and is the Laboratory Director of the Russell Labs. He received his PhD in Bacteriology from the University of Wisconsin and did post doctoral training in microbial genetics at Purdue University and molecular biology ant the University of Pittsburgh. He has extensive research experience in metabolic engineering, antimicrobial materials and surfaces, enzyme immobilization, and biomaterials.
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Andrew Lee, M.D.
Chief, Division of Plastic Surgery
University of Pittsburgh
ANDREW LEE is a professor of Surgery and chief of the Division of Plastic Surgery at the University of Pittsburgh. He is also the director of the Hand Surgery Fellowship at the University’s School of Medicine. Dr. Lee graduated with a BA in Physics from Harvard University in 1979. He went on to earn his medical degree at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. He later did a residency at Johns Hopkins as well as at Massachusetts General Hospital. He was the recipient of fellowships from Johns Hopkins and the Indiana Hand Center.
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Sang Jin Lee, Ph.D.
Associate Professor, Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine
Wake Forest School of Medicine
SANG JIN LEE focuses on the design of three-dimensional biomaterial scaffolding system for clinical translation. His interests include: development and fabrication of biomaterial system for tissue/organ reconstruction; matrix development for cell transplantation; drug/protein delivery system; engineered functional tissues and organs: bone, cartilage, skeletal muscle, blood vessel, tendon-muscle junction, peripheral and central nerve, kidney, and urological hollow tissues; development of enabling technologies for regenerative medicine. Born and raised in Korea, Dr. Lee received his Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering at Hanyang University, Korea and took a postdoctoral fellowship in the Laboratories for Tissue Engineering and Cellular Therapeutics at Harvard Medical School/Children’s Hospital Boston and the Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine.
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Michael T. Longaker, M.D.
Deputy director, Stanford Institute for Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine
Director, Children’s Surgical Research Lab
Professor, Department of Surgery (Plastic/Reconstructive Surgery)
Stanford University
www.med.stanford.edu/profiles/Michael_Longaker/
MICHAEL T. LONGAKER is an expert on the repair mechanisms in skin and bone. He also studies the formation of bone to understand how the body engineers its own bone either to form the skeleton or to repair the skeleton after birth. In addition, he is studying a class of protein molecules called Wnts that mediate the natural response of adult stem cells to injury.
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Kacey G. Marra, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, Dept. of Surgery
University of Pittsburgh
KACEY MARRA is recognized for her interdisciplinary research in the design, synthesis, characterization and assessment of polymeric biomaterials. Dr. Marra joined the Department of Surgery as an Assistant Professor in November 2002. Prior to that appointment she was with Carnegie Mellon University as a Research Scientist at the Institute for Complex Engineered Systems (ICES), and an associated faculty member in the Department of Biomedical Engineering (1998-2002), and the Department of Materials Science Engineering (2000-2002). In 1996-7, Dr. Marra was a post-doctoral fellow at the Emory University School of Medicine, with advisor Elliot Chaikof, M.D., Ph.D. At Emory, Kacey worked on the synthesis of novel synthetic blood vessels.
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Antonious Mikos, Ph.D.
Director, Center for Excellence in Tissue Engineering
Rice University
ANTONIOUS MIKOS is one of the world's foremost experts on tissue engineering and regenerative medicine. Dr. Mikos is a founding editor and editor-in-chief of the journal Tissue Engineering, and he chairs the North American chapter of the Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine International Society. Dr. Mikos is Rice's Louis Calder Professor of Bioengineering and Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering. He directs Rice's Center for Excellence in Tissue Engineering.
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Anthony Oro, M.D., Ph.D.
Associate professor, Department of Dermatology
Stanford University
www.med.stanford.edu/profiles/Anthony_Oro/
ANTHONY ORO investigates the role of the Sonic hedgehog signaling system in the pathogenesis of the most common human tumor, basal cell carcinoma of the skin. His goal is to understand how basal cell carcinoma forms in order to develop novel anti-tumor therapeutics.
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J. Peter Rubin, M.D.
Associate Professor, Plastic Surgery
University of Pittsburgh
PETER RUBIN earned his undergraduate degree in biology from Grinnell College and his M.D. degree from Tufts University School of Medicine. He completed a categorical residency training program in general surgery at Boston University/Boston City Hospital. He took time away from the clinic for a two-year fellowship in surgical basic science at Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard Medical School. During this sabbatical, he studied tissue engineering and transplantation immunology. After graduating from general surgery residency, he completed a 3 year residency in plastic surgery at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Rubin then joined the faculty of the Division of Plastic Surgery at the University of Pittsburgh. He also holds a faculty appointment with the McGowan Institute of Regenerative Medicine.
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Erkki Ruoslahti, M.D., Ph.D.
Distinguished Professor, Department of Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology
Burnham Institute for Medical Research
University of California, Santa Barbara
www.icb.ucsb.edu
www.lifesci.ucsb.edu/mcdb/labs/ruoslahti/
ERKKI RUOSLAHTI has received numerous honors including elected membership to the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, Institute of Medicine, American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the European Molecular Biology Organization. He was a Nobel Fellow at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm in 1995, and is an Honorary Doctor of Medicine from the University of Lund. His work focuses on cell adhesion and tumor metastasis, the study of molecular signatures that are specific for the vessels of individual tissues and tumors, and the use of these vascular "zip codes" to deliver nanoparticles to specific targets in the body.
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Alan J. Russell, Ph.D.
Co-director, Wake Forest-Pittsburgh Consortium
Director, McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine
ALAN J. RUSSELL is director of the McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine. He also serves as University Professor of Surgery and has secondary appointments in the departments of Chemical Engineering, Bioengineering, and Rehabilitation Sciences & Technology. Additionally, Dr. Russell is the Executive Director of the Pittsburgh Tissue Engineering Initiative (PTEI) and Director of the National Tissue Engineering Center. Dr. Russell received his baccalaureate degree in Biochemistry and Applied Molecular Biology from the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology (United Kingdom) in 1984, and his doctorate in Biological Chemistry from Imperial College, the University of London, in 1987.
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Charles Sfeir, D.M.D., Ph.D.
Associate Professor, Dept. of Oral Medicine and Pathology
University of Pittsburgh
CHARLES SFEIR is an Associate Professor at the University of Pittsburgh Dept. of Oral Medicine and Pathology. Dr. Sfeir also has secondary appointments within the departments of Biomedical Engineering and Materials Science and Engineering at Carnegie Mellon University. He received a Doctor of Dental Surgery (DDS) degree from the Université Louis Pasteur - Strasbourg France in 1990. He also has a degree in Periodontology and holds a Ph.D. in Molecular Biology from Northwestern University.
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Thomas L. Smith, Ph.D.
Associate Professor, Orthopaedic Surgery
Wake Forest School of Medicine
THOMAS SMITH’s research projects in collaboration with the Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine include
the use of tissue engineered constructs for repair of significant peripheral nerve gaps following injury, tissue-engineered allografts for ACL, tendon, and meniscus repairs, and animal models of myocardial infarction to test stem cell therapies. His interests include microcirculation of thermoregulation and inflammation, hemodynamics, peripheral nerve injury and repair, skeletal muscle adaptation to injury, diabetes, microsurgery, wound care, and tissue reconstruction. Smith has a bachelor’s degree in zoology from Texas A&M University, a master’s degree in veterinary physiology from Texas A&M Veterinary College and a Ph.D. in physiology from Wake Forest University.
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H. Tom Soh, Ph.D.
University of California, Santa Barbara
Associate Professor, Mechanical Engineering and Materials
www.engr.ucsb.edu/sohlab
H. TOM SOH is the recipient of the MIT Technology Review’s "TR 100" Award, ONR Young Investigator Award, Beckman Young Investigator Award, the ALA Innovator Award, and an NIH Director’s TR01 Award. He is co-Director at the Center for Stem Cell Biology & Engineering at UCSB, and is affiliated with the Institute for Collaborative Biotechnologies and the California Nanosystems Institute. Prior to joining UCSB in 2003, Dr. Soh served as the technical manager of MEMS Device Research Group at Bell Laboratories and MEMS R&D group at Agere Systems. His current research interests are in analytical biotechnology, especially in high throughput chemical library screening, microfluidic cell sorting and bioseparations, directed evolution and integrated biosensors.
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Shay Soker, Ph.D.
Professor, Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine
Wake Forest School of Medicine
SHAY SOKER received his Bachelor’s Degree in Agriculture and his Master’s Degree in Microbiology and Molecular Genetics from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He received his PhD in Biology from the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology in 1993. He is an expert in the field of angiogenesis. His research is focused on the molecular and cellular biology of the vascular system, especially on vascular growth factors and their receptors. Dr. Soker is developing new approaches to enhance the growth of blood vessels and nerves into the engineered or regenerated tissue. He also oversees the stem cell and genomic research at the Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine.
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James A. Thomson, D.V.M., Ph.D.
Director of Regenerative Biology
University of Wisconsin – Madison
JAMES THOMSON is a John D. MacArthur Professor at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology at the University of California, Santa Barbara and serves as the Director of Regenerative Biology at the Morgridge Institute for Research. Dr. Thomson has conducted pioneering work in the isolation and culture of non-human primate and human embryonic stem cells. The current focus of his laboratory is on understanding how ES cells can form any cell in the body; how an ES cell chooses between self-renewal and the initial decision to differentiate; and how a differentiated cell with limited developmental potential can be reprogrammed to a pluripotent cell.
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David Tirrell, Ph.D.
California Institute of Technology
McCollum-Corcoran Professor and Chair of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering Division
http://tirrell-lab.caltech.edu/
DAVID TIRRELL has been elected to the National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Engineering, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, he’s received numerous awards from the American Chemical Society, the Chancellor’s Medal of the University of Massachusetts, the G. N. Lewis Medal of the University of California Berkeley, and the degree of Doctor honoris causa from the Technical University of Eindhoven. His work focuses on combining organic, biological, and materials chemistry to make new polymeric systems of controlled molecular and supramolecular architectures; specifically artificial proteins made by expression of artificial genes in microbial cells and incorporation of noncanonical amino acids into proteins.
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Mark Van Dyke, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine
Wake Forest School of Medicine
www.wfirm.org
MARK VAN DYKEwas born and raised in Michigan. He received his Bachelor’s Degree in chemistry from Central Michigan University in 1988. After several years as a Chemist for the Dow Chemical Company and the Dow Corning Corporation, he attended graduate school at the University of Cincinnati and obtained a Ph.D. in Materials Science from the Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering in 1998. His interests include novel biomaterials that replicate the native cellular environment to facilitate normal development of engineered tissues and organs. His work includes "intelligent" scaffolds that are able to interact with the cells of interest and direct the development of vascularized, innervated, functional tissues.
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William R. Wagner, Ph.D.
Deputy Director, McGowan Inst. For Regenerative Medicine
University of Pittsburgh
WILLIAM R. WAGNER is the Deputy Director of the McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine. In addition, he is Professor of Surgery, Bioengineering and Chemical Engineering at the University of Pittsburgh as well as the Director of Thrombosis Research for the Artificial Heart and Lung Program. He serves as a graduate track coordinator for the Department of Bioengineering for students pursuing the Cellular and Organ Engineering track and teaches courses on biomaterials and tissue engineering in the Bioengineering and Chemical Engineering Departments. He holds a B.S. (Johns Hopkins) and Ph.D. (University of Texas) in Chemical Engineering and has been on the faculty at the University of Pittsburgh since 1991.
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Newell R. Washburn, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Chemistry, Biomedical Engineering and Materials Science Engineering
Carnegie Mellon University
www.chem.cmu.edu/groups/washburn/
www.cmu.edu
NEWELL WASHBURN conducts research at the interface of polymer science and biotechnology. His research group focuses on creating materials that locally control inflammatory responses. These materials are being developed to improve healing of burns and other injuries by promoting native healing responses.
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James A. Yoo, M.D., Ph.D.
Associate Professor and Chief Scientific Officer, Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine
Wake Forest School of Medicine
www.wfirm.org
JAMES YOO’s research efforts have been directed toward the clinical translation of tissue engineering technologies and cell-based therapies by developing new therapeutic modalities for the functional repair and replacement of diseased tissues and organs. Dr. Yoo's background in cell biology and medicine has facilitated the transfer of numerous cell-based technologies from the bench-top to the bedside. He has been involved in the engineering of blood vessels, heart valves, kidney, cartilage, bone, muscle, bladder and urethra for clinical translation. His extensive experience in cell culture, biomaterials design, surgical techniques and animal handling has contributed to achieving functional tissues and organs for successful pre-clinical and clinical studies. |