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Newsletter
Stay connected with the latest breakthroughs in biological design with The Biodesign Bulletin. This recurring digest highlights new research, major publications, center updates, and upcoming opportunities.
Current Edition
Upgrading the Immune System to Fight Cancer
There have been few cancer treatments with such a promising future as using the patient’s own immune system. Known as chimeric antigen receptor T-cell therapy, or CAR-T, this treatment uses re-engineered killer T-cells to attack cancer cells, but it also causes potentially deadly side effects. More
Wilson Wong receives Young Investigator Award
Assistant Professor Wilson Wong (BME) is the 2018 recipient of the ACS Synthetic Biology Young Investigator Award. The award recognizes the contributions of scientists who have made a major impact on the field of synthetic biology, early on in their careers. More
Breakthroughs in Biotechnology Series Lecture: Jonathan Thon, PhD, CEO/CSO and Co-Founder of Platelet BioGenesis
Dr. Thon will highlight how he translated his academic research on the mechanics and signaling pathways regulating platelet formation, to the development of a biomimetic human platelet bioreactor, with which he founded Platelet BioGenesis Inc. Platelet BioGenesis is making donor-independent human platelets from induced pluripotent stem cells. More
A Hidden Pathway is Revealed
Two BME researchers were excited to use a new 3D blood vessel-on-a-chip that they developed in Professor Christopher Chen’s (BME, MSE) lab because it provided a perfect platform for studying the effects of mechanical forces of blood flow on vessels in life-like conditions. More
Inaugural Breakthroughs in Biotechnology Series Lecture: Jennifer Brogdon, PhD. Novartis, “Advances in CAR-T cell therapy: CTL019 and Beyond”
Dr. Brogdon will highlight how her group at Novartis developed CTL019 – the first FDA approved CAR-T cell therapy (Kymriah™) – through their collaboration with UPenn, some of the unique aspects of developing a novel cell and gene therapy, and the technologies and resources that NIBR brings to bear on such a collaboration. More
Allyson Sgro Receives Moorman-Simon Interdisciplinary Career Development Professorship
BDC faculty Allyson Sgro, a College of Engineering assistant professor of biomedical engineering, is one of seven distinguished junior faculty to win a 2017 Career Development Award recognizing outstanding junior faculty who are emerging leaders in their fields. More
Mary Dunlop receives Young Investigator Award
Assistant Professor Mary Dunlop (BME) is the 2017 recipient of the ACS Synthetic Biology Young Investigator Award. The award recognizes the contributions of scientists who have made a major impact on the field of synthetic biology, early on in their careers. More
Symposium Celebrates Grand Opening of Biological Design Center
More than 200 researchers from industry, academia and healthcare gathered on campus June 1 to celebrate the formal launch of the Biological Design Center and its new home, the just-completed, nine-story Kilachand Center More
Charles Cantor Lecture by Professor Bonnie Bassler of Princeton: Bacterial Quorum Sensing and Its Control
Professor Bonnie Bassler, a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator Squibb Professor in Molecular Biology, and Chair of Molecular Biology at Princeton University, will deliver the 2nd Charles Cantor Lecture, “Bacterial Quorum Sensine and Its Control” as the highlight of the Biological Design Center Kickoff Symposium on June 1st. More
Breakthroughs in Biotechnology Series Lecture: Eric Vanderploeg, PhD
Bioventus is an orthobiologics company providing cost-effective solutions for bone healing, bone graft, and osteoarthritis. It has developed a novel bone morphogenetic proteins (BMPs) product that can replace bone grafts. BMPs are a critical family of growth factors involved in bone repair More