Friday, November 15, 2024
9:00 a.m. – 4:45 p.m.
Rajen Kilachand Center for Life Sciences & Engineering
610 Commonwealth Ave, Boston, MA 02215

AGENDA

9:00 a.m. – Breakfast Reception

9:30 a.m. – Welcome and Introductions, Dr. Katherine Zhang, CMTM Executive Director

9:40 a.m. – First Keynote Session, Dr. Antonios G. Mikos, Rice University

10:40 a.m. ­– Short Break

11:00 a.m. – Second Keynote Session, Dr. Sajay Kumar, University of California Berkeley

12:00 p.m. – Lunch Break

1:00 p.m. – Trainee Poster Session

2:00 p.m. – Trainee Lightning Talks

2:45 p.m.  – Short Break

3:00 p.m. – Afternoon Session

• Dr. Brianne Connizzo, Boston University
• Dr. Megan McCain, University of Southern California
• Dr. Kostas Alysandratos, Boston University
• Dr. Jennifer Puetzer, Virginia Commonwealth University

4:40 p.m. – Closing Remarks, Dr. Katherine Zhang

All members members of the scientific and academic communities are welcome to join us for this free event.

Please contact us if you have any questions or require reasonable accommodations for the event.

KEYNOTE SPEAKERS

Dr. Antonios G. Mikos, Rice University
Biomaterials for Tissue Engineering

Antonios G. Mikos is the Louis Calder Professor of Bioengineering and Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at Rice University. His research focuses on the synthesis, processing, and evaluation of new biomaterials for use as scaffolds for tissue engineering, as carriers for controlled drug delivery, as non-viral vectors for gene therapy, and as platforms for disease modeling. His work has led to the development of novel orthopaedic, dental, cardiovascular, neurologic, and ophthalmologic biomaterials. Mikos is a Member of the National Academy of Engineering, the National Academy of Medicine, the National Academy of Inventors, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the Chinese Academy of Engineering, the Academia Europaea, and the Academy of Athens. He has been recognized by various awards including the Jensen Tissue Engineering Award of the Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine International Society-Global, the Lifetime Achievement Award of the Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine International Society-Americas, the Founders Award of the Society For Biomaterials, the Founders Award of the Controlled Release Society, the Robert A. Pritzker Distinguished Lecturer Award of the Biomedical Engineering Society, the Biomaterials Global Impact Award, and the Acta Biomaterialia Gold Medal. He is a Founding Editor and Editor-in-Chief of the journal Tissue Engineering.

Dr. Sanjay Kumar, UC Berkeley
Tales from the fourth dimension: Incorporating the element of time into biomaterial paradigms

Sanjay Kumar, M.D., Ph.D., is Chancellor’s Professor and Director of the California Institute for Quantitative Biosciences at UC Berkeley (QB3-Berkeley).  His primary appointment is in the Department of Bioengineering (which he chaired from 2019-22), with joint appointments in the UC Berkeley Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, the UCSF Department of Bioengineering and Therapeutic Sciences, and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.  Dr. Kumar earned his B.S. in Chemical Engineering at the University of Minnesota (1996) and his M.D. and Ph.D. in Molecular Biophysics from Johns Hopkins University (2003).  He then completed postdoctoral training at Boston Children’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School.   Dr. Kumar has co-authored >100 peer-reviewed publications and mentored >30 graduate students and postdoctoral fellows.  He and his group have been recognized with the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE), The NIH Director’s New Innovator Award, The Beckman Young Investigator Award, the NSF CAREER Award, and the Stem Cells Young Investigator Award. Dr. Kumar is an elected fellow of AAAS, AIMBE, and BMES, and he is a member of the BMES Board of Directors.

RISING STAR FACULTY PRESENTERS

Dr. Brianne Connizzo, Boston University
Aging Tendons Lack Adaptive Responses to Mechanical Loading

Dr. Brianne Connizzo is an Assistant Professor in Biomedical Engineering at Boston University. Her postdoctoral studies were completed in the Department of Biological Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Previously, she obtained her Ph.D. in Bioengineering from the University of Pennsylvania and her B.S in Engineering from Smith College. Her research focuses on how extracellular matrix adaptations at the nanoscale influence multi-scale tendon biomechanics and how this process changes naturally throughout life, with the ultimate goal of identifying and preventing the initiation of age-related tendon degeneration and injuries.

Dr. Megan McCain, University of Southern California
Engineering Muscular Microtissues to Model Human Development and Disease

Megan L. McCain, PhD, is the Chonette Early Career Chair and Associate Professor and Associate Chair of the Alfred E. Mann Department of Biomedical Engineering in the USC Viterbi School of Engineering at the University of Southern California. She also holds a courtesy appointment in the Department of Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine at Keck School of Medicine of USC. Her research group, the Laboratory for Living Systems Engineering, integrates tunable biomaterials, microfabrication techniques, and human cells to engineer “Organ on a Chip” models of healthy and diseased tissues, with a focus on muscular tissues. Megan is a recipient of a Scientist Development Grant from the American Heart Association and a CAREER Award from the National Science Foundation. She has also been recognized as a Young Innovator of Cellular and Molecular Bioengineering by the Biomedical Engineering Society and is a Fellow of the American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE). She received her PhD and postdoctoral training in Engineering Sciences from Harvard University and the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, and her BS in Biomedical Engineering from Washington University in St. Louis.

Dr. Kostas Alysandratos, Boston University
Pluripotent stem cells to model and treat pulmonary fibrosis

Dr. Alysandratos is an assistant professor in the Pulmonary, Allergy, Sleep & Critical Care Medicine Section at Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine and serves as co-director of the Interstitial Lung Disease (ILD) Clinic at Boston Medical Center, specializing in the treatment of complex lung diseases. He is also a principal investigator at the Center for Regenerative Medicine (CReM) at Boston University and Boston Medical Center, where he leads an NIH-funded research program that focuses on advancing the understanding of the onset of pulmonary fibrosis and identifying druggable targets, particularly within the alveolar epithelium. Dr. Alysandratos earned his MD and PhD degrees from the University of Athens in Greece, completed his internal medicine residency at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, and completed fellowships in Sleep Medicine and Pulmonary/Critical Care Medicine at Boston University.

Dr. Jennifer Puetzer, Virginia Commonwealth University
Using Mechanobiology to Drive Hierarchical Collagen Fiber Formation for Functional Musculoskeletal Repair

Dr. Jennifer Puetzer is an Associate Professor at Virginia Commonwealth University in the Department of Biomedical Engineering. Her lab focuses on musculoskeletal tissue engineering for meniscus, tendon, and ligament replacement, with particular interest in hierarchical collagen fiber formation, bone integration, and the effects of sex and aging. She received her B.S in Biomedical Engineering at North Carolina State University and her Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering at Cornell University. In 2014, she received a Whitaker International Fellowship to perform her postdoc in the group of Professor Molly Stevens in the Departments of Materials and Bioengineering at Imperial College London. Additionally, she was a member of the UK Regenerative Medicine Platform (UKRMP) Acellular Materials Hub, collaborating with researchers from across the UK to develop materials that guide cells to regenerate tissues throughout the body. She has been recognized for her teaching as a HHMI Junior Scientist and NSF GK-12 Scholar. Her contributions to the field of tissue engineering have been recognized through selection for the Tissue Engineering Young Investigator Council in 2014, the Wake Forest Institute of Regenerative Medicine Young Investigator Award in 2015, the UK Regenerative Medicine Platform Special Merit Award in 2017, and the NSF CAREER award in 2021.

TRAINEE LIGHTNING TALKS

Hana Kalčo, Divieti Pajevic Lab
Downhill Running Induces Anti-Inflammatory Signaling in Bone and Tendon

Gabrielle Grifno, Nia Lab
Mosaic pattern: lung function heterogeneity evolves with age at the alveolus level

Neilish Frings, Skeletal Mechanobiology and Biomechanics Lab
Biomechanical, Structural, and Composition Characterization of the Vertebra-Disc Interface

Samuel Halvorson, Multiscale Biomechanics Lab
Cerebrovascular Remodeling in Aging and Neurodegenerative Disease Progression

Emma Stowe, Connizzo Lab
Exercise and Disuse Initiate Adaptive ECM Remodeling to Shift Tendon Mechanohomeostasis

Banner image courtesy of Dr. Lu Ling, postdoctoral fellow in the Kumar Lab at the University of California Berkeley.

Agenda subject to change.