Professor Ali Khademhosseini, a bioengineer who is internationally regarded for his research and contributions in the area of biomedical microdevices and biomaterials, will join The University of Texas at Austin's Department of Biomedical Engineering as a Donald D. Harrington Fellow and visiting scholar for the fall 2011 semester.
Dr. Ali Khademhosseini
Khademhosseini is an associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and holds additional appointments at the Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences Technology and at Brigham & Women's Hospital. He has published almost 150 refereed publications and has been cited almost 4,000 times in just eight years. He is the second most-cited biomedical engineering faculty member in a U.S. university in the last five years. In 2007, he was named by Technology Review magazine as one of the top young innovators under the age of 35 for his development of "living legos," which can be used to make artificial organs.
"Ali's research contributions in biomaterials, drug delivery and tissue engineering are leading to significant cost and time savings and, ultimately, to faster treatment discovery," said Cockrell School of Engineering Dean Gregory L. Fenves. "His presence on our campus will be a great asset to our faculty and students, and I'm thankful for the generosity of the Harrington family, whose commitment to higher education has helped make his visit possible."
Created by Sybil B. Harrington as a tribute to her late husband, the Donald D. Harrington Fellows Program is one of the most well-endowed visiting scholar and graduate fellow programs in the nation, and the most prestigious at The University of Texas at Austin. The program selects only five Fellows each academic year and is designed to attract outstanding faculty that are near the beginning of their professional careers.
"It is very exciting to be selected as a Harrington fellow. In particular, I am looking forward to interacting with UT Austin's world-renowned faculty and experiencing its stimulating environment," Khademhosseini said.
Through his research, Khademhosseini has developed technologies at the micro- and nano- scale that enable generation of tissue engineered organs and control of cell behavior. His novel, modular approach to tissue engineering treats cells like "living Legos" and uses tissue building blocks from specialized cells that are stacked, shaped and manipulated to form an organ. By giving cells within the organ the same interconnections they have in the body, Khademhosseini hopes to create tissues that can be used to test new drugs and, eventually, to rebuild organs.
During his appointment at the BME Department, Khademhosseini will perform collaborative research with UT Austin faculty on merging microfabrication techniques and biomaterials for regenerative medicine and drug discovery applications.
"Ali is a bright star in bioengineering. He is one of the most imaginative and innovative young biomaterials and biomedical scientists," said Nicholas A. Peppas, chair of the BME Department. "Ali's contributions will have major impact in medical research. We are looking forward to collaborating with him and undertaking novel research and educational projects."
Khademhosseini received his Ph.D. in bioengineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and his M.S. and B.S. degrees both in chemical engineering from the University of Toronto in Canada.
Khademhosseini holds many awards and distinctions, including the young investigator awards in the fields of chemical engineering, mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, tissue engineering and biomaterials science. Others include: a 2011 Sloan Fellowship, the Society for Biomaterials Young Investigator Award, the American Institute of Chemical Engineers A. P. Colburn Award, the American Society of Mechanical Engineers Y.C. Fung Young Investigator Award, the TERMIS (Tissue Engineering)-North America Young Investigator Award, the International Academy of Medical and Biological Engineering Young Faculty Award, the National Science Foundation CAREER Award, the Office of Naval Research Young Investigator Award, the IEEE- Engineering in Medicine and Biology Early Career Award, the IEEE -Early Career Award in Nanotechnology, the American Chemical Society (ACS) Victor K. LaMer Award, the ACS Unilever Award, and the Coulter Foundation Early Career Award.
