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Postdoctoral Training in Tissue Engineering
and Biomaterials Science Former Fellows Tamar Andelman / Sharon Bourke / Charlie Chang / Jayeeta Ghosh / Craig Griffith /Jack Hershey / Henry Hsia / Abraham Joy / Patrick Johnson / Nancy Karuri /Sharonda Meade / Candy Mintz / Tom Morrow / Ophir Ortiz / Marian Pereira / Maria Pia Rossi / Rachel Rosenberg / Sherif Soliman / Asa Vaughan / Adam York
 Dr. Tamar Andelman graduated from Columbia University with a Ph.D. in materials science and engineering.Her Ph.D. research involved the synthesis and detailed structural and properties characterization of zinc oxide nanocrystals of different morphologies.She focused on understanding how nanoscale structure impacts materials properties.Her training gave her a foundation in the emerging field of nanoscience and nanotechnology.During her graduate career, Dr. Andelman was awarded the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship, as well as the National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate Research Fellowship.She is skilled in traditional materials characterization and particle sizing techniques such as X-ray diffraction, electron microscopy, scanning probe microscopy, and dynamic light scattering. Dr. Andelman applied her materials science knowledge towards biomaterials for tissue engineering applications.She worked on the synthesis and application of upconverting nanoparticles, which absorb near infrared light and emit visible light, for cellular imaging in tissue engineered scaffolds and in vivo. She was advised by Drs. Riman and Moghe. Dr. Andelman begins her NSF corporate fellowship at Bristol Myers Squibb in July 2010. Selected Publications:
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 Dr. Sharon Bourke joined the training program after completing her Ph.D. in biomedical engineering. She had experience with resorbable natural (collagen) and synthetic based scaffolds for anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction and expressed a strong desire to expand her experience to the use of synthetic polymeric biomaterials in both regenerative medicine and advanced drug delivery. Dr. Bourke was very ambitious and insisted on an aggressive training plan. To achieve her goal, her training plan involved collaborations with four laboratories and industry. Starting in Prof. Kohn's laboratory, Dr. Bourke worked on the exploration of cytokine delivery, using a newly designed hydrogel as the delivery matrix. For these studies, she was co-advised by Prof. Laura Poole-Warren and had an opportunity to interact closely with scientists from BioCure, Inc. - a biomaterials company that provided the hydrogel matrix. She optimized the formulation and was able to demonstrate the controlled release of biologically active growth factor in vitro. Dr. Bourke moved on to participate in the physical and mechanical characterization of tyrosine-based polycarbonates and polyarylates, two new families of biomaterials. She then transferred the polymers into the laboratory of Prof. Jaffe where she engaged in a collaborative project designed to elucidate the effect of polymer morphology on fabrication and performance. The results obtained in this phase of her training plan made it possible for her to select suitable polymers for the fabrication of a totally synthetic scaffold for anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) reconstruction in collaboration with Prof. Michael Dunn. In addition, she developed a prototype of a collagen-coated resorbable synthetic mesh for hernia repair. The performance of this mesh was evaluated in an in vivo model in collaboration with Prof. Siobhan Corbett. She completed her training by participating in the study and computational modeling of protein adsorption on polymeric surfaces. Upon leaving the program, Dr. Bourke had mastered a comprehensive array of research methods and was familiar with polymer synthesis, characterization, fabrication, drug delivery concepts, in vitro and in vivo studies of device performance, and the use of natural and synthetic polymers in ACL reconstruction. This training made it possible for her to move into a leading position at Celgene Corporation where she spearheaded the company's development of an internal biomaterials initiative. She was selected to lead the development of the Celgene "New Product Lounge" and was primarily responsible for the physico-mechanical characterization of all products within the department. Then she moved on to the leader company in tissue regeneration, LifeCell Corporation, where as a Senior Scientist her research encompass the extension of Lifecell's extracellular matrix technology combined with her tissue engineering training into the areas of reconstructive surgery and orthopaedics. Selected Publications:
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 Dr. Charlie Chang joined the training program having completing his Ph.D. in biomedical engineering at Rutgers. He had experience with evaluating leukocyte adhesion and migration on biomaterials and expressed a strong desire to expand his experience to the use of human vascular endothelial and smooth muscle cells. In consultation with the Core faculty, he selected Prof. Gary Nackman’s laboratory to be his home base. To achieve his goal, his training plan involved collaborations with two other laboratories. Starting in the Nackman laboratory, Dr. Chang participated in the development of a bioreactor for exposure of human aortic endothelial cells co-cultured with smooth muscle cells to hemodynamic loading. He adapted techniques of phagokinetic migration assays from the laboratory of Prof. Moghe to evaluate the heterotypic effects of smooth muscle cells on endothelial cell adhesion and migration under physiologic levels of shear stress. Dr. Chang in collaboration with the laboratory of Prof. Corbett, started the identification of candidate proteins secreted by smooth muscle cells potentially responsible for improved endothelial cell adaptation to mechanical loading. After his postdoctoral fellowship, Dr. Chang received an MBA from Cornell University and is now an investment strategist with Northwest Mutual. Return to Top  Dr. Jayeeta Ghosh worked with Prof. Roland Faller in her graduate studies from University of California, Davis with a Ph.D in Chemical Engineering. She joined the training program in July 2008. Her Ph.D work was focused on investigation of the effect of confinements on glass transition temperature of small glass formers using various molecular simulation techniques including Molecular Dynamics and Monte Carlo. Glass transition temperature poses difficult challenges in manufacturing nano scale polymeric devices in silicon and other industries. She started from atomistic level model of the glass formers and developed Coarse Grain model and applied novel Density of States Monte Carlo technique to elucidate the confinement effect. Dr Ghosh's background is in chemistry and chemical engineering, with expertise in molecular modeling. She wanted to explore other areas of computational chemistry and modeling using her analytical and problem solving skills along with some emphasis on experimental work. She worked with Prof. Doyle Knight in Mechanical and Aeronautical Engineering in the project of prediction of properties for library of poly-methacrylates, using combinatorial approach to study, understand and predict both physicochemical and biological properties, e. g. glass transition temperature, cell proliferation, protein adsorption etc. She also received hands-on experience in the water uptake and degradation study of poly-arylate family of polymers in Prof Joachim Kohn’s lab. In July 2010, she joined the National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA), at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign as a Research Associate. Selected Publications:
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 Dr. Craig Karim Griffith graduated from the University of California Irvine (UCI) with a Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering.His time at UCI was spent characterizing various facets of angiogenesis in a three dimensional soft tissue model.This work addressed generating vasculature in engineered tissues, which remains one of the greatest challenges facing the field tissue engineering.He hopes his work will provide new insights that will lead to the realization of “off-the-shelf” vascularized soft tissues.Performing this research gave Dr. Griffith a broad understanding in the scientific disciplines necessary to continue his biomedical research and engineered tissue development, including cell biology, physiology, and biomaterials.Dr. Griffith is the recipient of the Whitaker Foundation Fellowship, National Achievement Rewards for College Scientists Foundation Fellowship, and National Science Foundation, Alliance for Graduate Education and the Professoriate Fellowship. While at Rutgers, Dr. Griffith looks forward to building on his Biomedical Engineering foundation by supplementing it with polymer chemistry and biomaterial development. His work focuses on characterizing the behavior of differentiated and stem cells on novel polymer motifs. Understanding these cell-scaffold interactions and their effects on stem cell behavior will advance regenerative medicine and lead to new treatments for chronic wounds.This research is performed under the guidance of Drs. Moghe and Kohn. Selected Publications:
 Dr. Jack Hershey graduated from the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Veterinary Medicine in May 2000. After two years in small animal private practice he returned to academia at Washington State University and completed a PhD in neuroscience in December 2008. Dr. Hershey’s doctoral work studied the unusual phenomenon of resistance of skeletal muscle to disuse atrophy during hibernation in captive brown bears (Ursus arctos). Potential seasonal changes in the calcium handling system of skeletal muscle were examined related to calcium release, uptake and storage during muscular contractions. This research is relevant to human medicine as skeletal muscle disuse atrophy is a complication of many disease processes, affects bed-ridden persons such as the elderly, and occurs during prolonged exposure to hypogravity (i.e. spaceflight). During his time at WSU he also served as a clinical instructor of gross anatomy in both the College of Veterinary Medicine and the School of Medicine. His training at WSU gave him a solid foundation in molecular biology, advanced imaging techniques and a commitment to the training of the next generation of scientists.Currently he is working in the laboratory of Dr. Henry Hsia, developing a self-assembling replacement for damaged or diseased skin. This involves the development of appropriate cell lines and constructs, based on the principles of the differential adhesion hypothesis. The project also entails identifying various potential cell-signaling molecules along with determining a vehicle for delivery. To help maintain his clinical skills, Dr. Hershey also performs surgeries in mice, rats and rabbits, all animal models utilized in the laboratory of Dr. Joachim Kohn. Selected Publications:
 Dr. Henry Hsia joined the training program after completing his plastic surgery residency at Yale University. His goals were to obtain research experience and ultimately to establish a research program related to his surgical interests in tissue repair and regeneration. As a physician, he also wanted to maintain connections to clinical work. To achieve these goals, Dr. Hsia held a primary appointment as a post-doctoral fellow in the NJ Center for Biomaterials training program with a secondary appointment as a Clinical Instructor in the Division of Plastic Surgery at UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School (RWJMS).In Prof. Schwarzbauer’s lab in the Department of Molecular Biology at Princeton University, Dr. Hsia developed novel adenoviral vectors for expression of recombinant tenascin-C, an extracellular matrix protein that is upregulated during wound repair and modulates cell interactions with extracellular matrix. He has shown that adenoviral-mediated expression of this protein dramatically downregulates matrix contraction, an important process for extracellular matrix remodeling and wound closure during wound repair. In collaboration with Dr. Kim Midwood and Leyla Valenick, Dr. Hsia defined a novel mechanism for adhesion modulation by tenascin-C through blockade of adhesion receptor binding to other extracellular matrix proteins. In addition to a productive research program, Dr. Hsia performed surgical duties in the Surgery Department of the RWJMS, headed by Dr. Stephen Lowry, another Core faculty member in the training program. At Princeton, he volunteered to teach in the Summer Undergraduate Research Program and in the undergraduate course MOL205-Genes, Health, and Society. Thus, in his two years in the training program, Dr. Hsia has developed a number of new research and teaching skills and has maintained his clinical connections. Upon completing his two-year research experience in August 2004, he was appointed Assistant Professor of Surgery, UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School in the RWJMS Surgery Department and has successfully applied for an NIH K08 Career Development Award, a five-year grant which has allowed him to continue his research in Prof. Schwarzbauer's lab. He has maintained his board certification with the American Board of Plastic Surgery, and was named a Fellow of American College of Surgeons. He has been invited to serve on Steering Committee of Young Plastic Surgeons Section of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, and was invited to represent the US in the First International Congress of Plastic Surgeons of Chinese Descent held in Beijing. Selected Publications:
His work involved cell adhesion to the extracellular matrix, which is crucial to the regulation of many cell functions. Recently there have also been a number of studies which show that the mechanical stiffness of materials also regulate cell function. The focus of his project was to decouple the mechanical properties of polymeric biomaterials from their adhesive properties. Dr. Joy's project involved developing a new library of polymers in which the members of the library are chemically related to each other but are different from one another in their elasticity. Such a library functionalized with the desired adhesion ligands would enable the decoupling of the effects of mechanical stiffness and cell adhesivity on the cellular processes like attachment, growth and differentiation. Dr. Joy resided in the Kohn Laboratory. His co-mentor was Dr. Christopher Chen at the University of Pennsylvania. He has recently accepted a tenure-track faculty position at the University of Akron in Ohio.
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 Dr. Patrick Johnson completed his PhD in chemical engineering from Columbia University and joined the training program in Fall 2004. In his doctoral work he studied the properties of DNA at metallic surfaces. The experiments probed the molecular level interactions between DNA and gold surfaces. The research has implications for diagnostic technologies such as DNA chips and microarrays. Dr. Johnson joined the postdoctoral training program with a view to broaden his strong engineering skills to the areas of biomedical imaging and cellular bioengineering within the overall field of tissue engineering. Dr. Johnson undertook his formal training process under the guidance of Prof. Moghe and has studied the means to perform quantitative profiling of cellular dynamics on biomaterials. The overall goals of this effort involve the development of real-time imaging and analytical methods to visualize and quantitate cellular morphogenetic, signaling, and functional responses to biomaterials in situ. As part of his cross-disciplinary training, Dr. Johnson participated in a rotation in the Polymeric Biomaterials laboratory of Prof. Dr. Kohn. Dr. Johnson served as a laboratory mentor for various undergraduate and graduate research projects. As part of his professional activities, Dr. Johnson initiated collaborative efforts with Dr. Matthew Becker and Dr. Eric Amis at the National Institute of Standards and Technologies (NIST), Maryland; and Prof. Knight, Director of the Center for Computational Design at Rutgers. With Prof. Knight, Dr. Johnson conducted studies on surrogate modeling of cellular motility on a combinatorial library of synthetic biologically relevant polymers. Upon completion of his training, Dr. Johnson joined the University of Wyoming as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering. In September 2007, Dr. Johnson was awarded a project grant of $484,000 over a four year period from the 2007 North Central Sun Grant Regional Competitive Grant Program for his proposal on Novel Recoverable Enzyme Nanoparticles for Cellulose Hydrolysis. The program is funded by the US Department of Transportation with matching funds of $50,000 by the University of Wyoming School of Energy Resources. Selected Publications:
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 Dr. Nancy Karuri completed her doctoral studies under the direction of Prof. Paul Nealey at the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, University of Wisconsin-Madison. Her dissertation was titled "The Effect of Biological Length Scale Topography on Cell-substrate Adhesion in Human Corneal Epithelial Cells" and her doctoral research focused on designing and implementing an adhesion assay to characterize the strength of cell-substrate adhesion in cells cultured on topographies with the same length scale as the basement membrane, the extracellular matrix (ECM) of corneal epithelial cells. The work demonstrated that topography is an important consideration in biomaterial design. During the course of her graduate studies she developed an interest in the process by which the ECM is assembled, which motivated her to pursue postdoctoral research in Prof. Jean Schwarzbauer's Lab, at the Department of Molecular Biology, Princeton University. Her postdoctoral research involved using Fluorescent Resonance Energy Transfer (FRET) techniques to infer the conformation of structural repeats in fibronectin, a major ECM component, with a view of understanding the process by which it is assembled into a matrix. With Prof. Schwarzbauer and co-mentor Prof. Jeffrey Schwartz at Princeton's Department of Chemistry, Dr. Karuri focused on functionalizing materials to improve biocompatiblity. In September 2009, Dr. Karuri joined the Armour College of Engineering at the Illinois Institute of Technology as an Assistant Professor. Selected Publications:
 Dr. Sharonda Meade received her Ph.D. in Avian Immunology at Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. She joined the Training Program in December 2004. In her doctoral work, she studied the effects of social stress and vitamin supplements on the immunological and pathological effects to viral diseases and vaccines that impact the poultry industry. This research has practical applications on the response of animals with viral infections that are subjected to various environmental stressors. Dr. Meade joined the postdoctoral training program with the goal of broadening her strong skills in veterinary science and gaining clinical experience in tissue engineering in order to address challenges in the field of veterinary medicine. She worked in the laboratory of Prof. Kohn to develop core competencies relating to polymeric materials for tissue engineering. Under the direction and guidance of Prof. J. Russell Parsons and clinician Sheldon Lin, Dr. Meade studied biodegradable nanofibrous polymer scaffolds and stem cells for bone repair in diabetic and non-diabetic animals.Dr. Meade serves as a liaison between several veterinarians and researchers at Rutgers University who are participating in in vivo projects. As a part of her professional development activities, Dr. Meade collaborated with TyRx Pharma. Inc. to conduct animal studies. In September 2006, Dr. Meade began her studies at the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine. Manuscripts In Progress
Papers Presented at Scientific Meetings
 Dr. Candy Mintz joined the NIH Tissue Engineering training program in the fall of 2004 after finishing her PhD in Macromolecular Science and Engineering at Case Western Reserve University. As part of her doctoral research, Dr. Mintz developed nonthrombogenic, antirestenotic coatings for self-assembly on cardiovascular devices. Dr. Mintz brought her heparin surfactant coatings from initial design through in vivo testing, which included molecular design, synthesis (organic and polymer) and characterization, followed by surface analysis and in vitro and in vivo evaluation of modified test and device surfaces. Dr. Mintz also has Master and Bachelor degrees in Mechanical Engineering from Stanford University and has practiced her earlier profession in the Polymer and Aerospace industries. By participating in the NIH TE postdoctoral training program Dr. Mintz hoped to broaden her knowledge and experiences to include the cell and molecular biology side of the cell-biomaterial interface.Under the guidance of Prof. Siobhan Corbett, Dr. Mintz studied angiogenesis in wound healing as a function of biomaterial elastic modulus. Biodegradable tyrosine-derived polycarbonates and polyarylates, developed in the Kohn laboratory, served as potential scaffolding candidates which vary in substrate rigidity. Her experiments focused on fibronectin (FN) matrix assembly in an effort to understand specific interactions between FN and cell surface integrin receptors. Dr. Mintz’s training included synthesis of poly(DTE carbonate), scaffold fabrication and tissue culture of several cell lines (Chinese Hamster Ovarian, Mouse Fibroblast and Human Aortic Smooth Muscle and Endothelial cells) in the laboratories of Profs. Corbett, Kohn and Nackman. Dr. Mintz rotated in the Polymeric Biomaterials laboratory of Prof. Kohn at Rutgers where she fabricated degradable films, sponges, woven fabric and gels as carriers to deliver stem cells and growth factors to promote growth of collateral arteries. Return to Top  Dr. Tom Morrow received his Ph.D. in chemistry from The Pennsylvania State University in August 2010.While at Penn State, Tom worked with an interdisciplinary team consisting of researchers from the Departments of Chemistry and Electrical Engineering as well as Hershey Medical Center, designing new fabrication techniques incorporating biomolecules and biofuncitonalized nanowire sensing elements onto integrated circuits for biosensor applications. This work addressed challenges associated with incorporating biomolecules onto integrated circuits due to current fabrication techniques and the lack of submicron positioning methods required for connectivity with integrated circuits. In his work, he successfully positioned multiple batches of DNA coated nanowire sensing elements with submicron accuracy to predetermined locations onto a single chip surface. In addition, Tom received the Schering Plough Award for science and innovation as well as the Miller Fellowship Award through Penn State for outstanding research. While nanoscience still remains of interest to Tom, he has shifted focus from sensing diseases to determining possible treatments. He is currently working with Drs. Sheihet, Clark, and Kohn to examine the efficacy of the nutraceutical Curcumin delivered via polymeric nanospheres or electrospun polymer fiber mats. Selected Publications:
 Dr. Ophir Ortiz joined the program in June 2010 after completing her PhD in electrical engineering. Her dissertation involved the surface characterization of ultra-thin responsive polymer films, and their applications within the area of biomaterials. It was hypothesized that these films could be used as a platform towards elucidating some of the basic mechanisms involved in cancer cell adhesion. Specifically, these films were cued via temperature to change the stress/ strain applied to adhered cells, and the response of the cells was investigated. During this work, she also began studying surface corrugations that were appearing as a result of exposing the films to various solvents. These surface corrugations are a form of instability arising from residual stress in a polymer film anchored to a rigid substrate. These surface instabilities were characterized and various topographies were fabricated with a simple change in solvent during the fabrication procedure.Dr.Ortiz is currently working in the lab of Dr. Joachim Kohn, where she is characterizing calcium-coated scaffolds for craniofacial defects. She is also working in the lab of Dr. Treena Arinzeh-Livingston, where she is investigating osteogenic differentiation of human mesenchymal stem cells on various types of scaffolds. Selected Publications:
 Dr. Marian Pereira joined the training program in September 2004 after earning her PhD in cellular and molecular biology. Her dissertation focused on elucidating the role of fibrinogen as an extracellular matrix protein in the context of wound repair. These studies involved elucidating molecular mechanisms of fibrinogen assembly into the extracellular matrix and addressing the role of matrix fibrinogen in modulating gene expression and cellular signaling in an in vitro model of wound repair. To broaden her knowledge and skill set in the field of wound repair from basic research to that of applied research, Dr Pereira wished to develop an engineer’s perspective of biomaterial design, synthesis, and characterization. To achieve her goal Dr. Pereira started in the laboratory of Prof. Moghe and was involved in the synthesis, characterization, and optimization of nanoscale substrates to engineer cell behavior. These nanoscale substrates, composed of albumin nanoparticles, were functionalized with a recombinant fragment of fibronectin, an extracellular matrix protein known to regulate cell behaviors. Dr. Pereira purified the recombinant fragments of fibronectin as part of a collaboration with Prof. Schwarzbauer at Princeton University. In addition to characterizing the fibronectin fragment conjugated particles, Dr. Pereira used the fibronectin-based nanoscale substrates in cellular assays. The data showed promising evidence that the presentation of the recombinant fibronectin fragment ligand on albumin nanoparticles was able to modulate cellular morphology characteristic of a motile phenotype. Studies performed by other members of the laboratory confirmed increased cellular motility on these fibronectin-based nanoscale substrates. Dr. Pereira’s future studies involve elucidating intracellular signaling events, such as activation of mitogen activated protein kinases, that may occur in response to the display of fibronectin fragment on nanoscale albumin particles and that may participate in the observed phenomenon of increased cellular motility. Dr. Pereira is currently a Rresearch Scientist II in the R&D group at Celgene Cellular Therapeutics, developing cellular therapeutics consisting of placenta derived stem cells. Selected Publications:
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 Dr. Maria Pia Rossi graduated from Drexel University with a Ph.D. in materials science and engineering. Her Ph.D. research was focused on investigating the use of carbon nanotubes for biomedical applications. She worked on the application of carbon nanotubes as nanopipettes for fluid delivery to specific locations, such as a cell. She has explored the effect of carbon nanotube wall structure and surface chemistry on their wetting properties, the effect of wetting on protein and antibody adsorption to the nanotubes and the ability of carbon nanotubes to imbibe fluids ranging from water to proteins. Dr. Rossi is the recipient of the NSF Graduate Student Research Fellowship. She is skilled in characterization techniques such as electron microscopy, atomic force microscopy, optical microscopy, Raman spectroscopy, and X-ray diffraction. While at the Moghe Lab, she worked on biofunctionalization of 2D and 3D polymeric substrates via albumin nanoparticles, cell adhesion and signaling with ligand-functionalized nanoparticles, and enhanced cell-interactive display of biofunctionalized nanoparticles via plasma-initiated patterning. Dr. Rossi is currently a Senior Research Scientist at L'Oreal. Selected Publications:
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 Dr. Rachel Rosenberg graduated from Drexel University with a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering in August 2010. Her Ph.D. research focused on synthesizing hydrogel-based colloidosomes via microfluidic techniques and characterizing their transport for use as drug delivery vehicles. Additionally, she developed theoretical models to describe the transport of drugs through colloidal shells as a function of particle size, packing density and drug properties. During her M.S. research she had the opportunity of working in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Pennsylvania investigating subcutaneous drug delivery implants designed for the long term release of antipsychotic medications.While at Drexel, Dr. Rosenberg was awarded the National Science Foundation’s IGERT Fellowship twice as well as the College of Engineering Dean’s Fellowship Award. Dr. Rosenberg is eager to take her engineering background and apply it to applications in neuroscience and cell biology. She is currently working under the guidance of Dr. Martin Grumet on the controlled delivery of siRNA to the spinal cord in an effort to minimize the deleterious effects of RhoA incurred after spinal cord injury. Selected Publications:
 Dr. Sherif Soliman graduated from University of Rome Tor Vergata with a Ph.D. in materials science and engineering. His Ph.D. research involved the use of various techniques for the fabrication of tunable, porous, 3D polymeric scaffolds that mimic aspects of native extracellular matrix (ECM) for tissue engineering applications (i.e. phase extraction, porogen leaching, and electrospinning). He focused on understanding how the physical structure, substrate topography and mechanical properties of scaffolds affect the seeded cell function. Following this, he was appointed as a research associate at MIT-Harvard Division of Health Science and Technology (HST), under the supervision of Prof. Ali Khademhissoni. His training at HST gave him a solid foundation in material science, characterization of new biomaterials, use of photocrosslinkable biomaterials for patterning surfaces. Dr. Soliman’s goal is to take the biomaterial training to expand his research experience in the applications of biomaterials and tissue engineering. Currently, he is working in the laboratory of Prof. Robert Prud’homme at Princeton University, utilizing up-converting phosphors (UCPs) for applications in photodynamic therapy (PDT) and secure inkjet printing.Selected publications:
 Dr. Asa Dee Vaughan graduated from Auburn University with a Ph.D. in chemical engineering in August 2008. His research included development of molecularly imprinted polymers via “living/controlled” polymerization techniques for tailored design of materials for chemical/biological sensors and development of imprinted hydrogels synthesized via “living/controlled” polymerization for the tailored release of ocular anti-inflammatory drugs. Specific research focus was to enhance the binding characteristics of binding affinity, loading capacity, and selectivity of poly(methacrylic acid-co-ethylene glycol dimethacrylate) imprinted polymers. The use of “living/controlled” polymerization to synthesize imprinted polymers led to a significant increase in the loading capacity of template molecule/drug and demonstrated extended release of template molecule/drug from the polymer/gel. The training at Auburn University gave him a foundation in polymer chemistry, kinetic analysis, traditional thermodynamics, “living/controlled” polymerization synthesis, and imprinted polymer synthesis. Dr. Vaughan was a GAANN fellow.Dr. Vaughan’s goal is to take the biomaterial training and extend his research area into tissue engineering and application of biomaterials. Currently he is working in Dr. Kohn's laboratory on projects two projects: “Synthesis, Characterization, and Computational Modeling of a Library of Polymethacrylates”, and “Nanoparticles with Targeting Moiety for the Delivery of Hydrophobic Drugs”. Possible future projects will include the development of polymers for the repair of anterior cruciate ligament (ACL). Selected Publications:
 Dr. Adam W. York graduated from The University of Southern Mississippi (USM) with a Ph.D. in Polymer Science and Engineering in May 2010. Working under the advisement of Dr. Charles L. McCormick and Dr. Faqing Huang, the goal of his research was to exploit reversible addition-fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) polymerization, a controlled radical technique, to synthesize well-defined functional copolymers, develop bioconjugation methods for polymer chain end and side chain functionalization, and investigate the utility of these polymeric bioconjugates in targeted small interfering RNA (siRNA) delivery. This work led to development of synthetic pathways to successfully label the telechelic chain ends of RAFT copolymers, the facile synthesis of multivalent folate-block copolymer conjugates capable of complexing and directing siRNA to cancer cells over-expressing folate receptors, and an alternative polymeric carrier providing two reactive side chain functionalities for direct backbone conjugation of both siRNA and targeting moieties. Dr. York is the recipient of the Robert M. Hearin Foundation Fellowship and the 2010 Outstanding Doctoral Student Award for the College of Science and Technology at USM.Dr. York has begun research in the laboratories of Dr. Prabhas Moghe (Rutgers) and Dr. Robert K. Prud’homme (Princeton) in collaboration with Dr. Kathryn Uhrich, on developing polymeric nanoparticles (NPs) that will have the potential to alleviate/treat the underlying causes of atherosclerosis. Through the use of NP formulation technology developed by the Prud’homme laboratories, the effect that the polymeric features have on NP size and drug/diagnostic loading capacities as well as the ability of the formulated NPs to treat atherosclerosis will be investigated. In contrast to traditional polymeric micelles, this method allows fabrication of NPs with enhanced physiological stability and tailored core hydrophobicity for drug release manipulation. Selected Publications:
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