Peter Hesketh came to Georgia Tech in spring 2000 as a professor in the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering. Prior, he was associate professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Hesketh's research interests involve sensors and micro/nano-electro-mechanical Systems (MEMS/NEMS). Many sensors are built by micro/nanofabrication techniques and this provides a host of advantages including lower power consumption, small size and light weight. The issue of manipulation of the sample in addition to introduce it to the chemical sensor array is often achieved with microfluidics technology. Combining photolithographic processes to define three-dimensional structures can accomplish the necessary fluid handling, mixing, and separation through chromatography. Hesketh is also interested in nanosensors, impedance based sensors, miniature magnetic actuators and the use of stereolithography for sensor packaging. He has published over sixty papers and edited fifteen books on microsensor systems.

Dr. Hekman completed her BA in Biophysics and Spanish Literature at Johns Hopkins. She then chose to pursue medicine and completed her MD and PhD in Molecular Medicine at the University of Chicago, where she found Vascular Surgery. She completed her Vascular Surgery Integrated Residency at Northwestern University, including a post-doctoral research fellowship in the lab of Dr. Jason Wertheim, MD, PhD. There she discovered the role of autophagy in the longevity and health of endothelial cells derived from induced pluripotent stem cells. She joined faculty in Vascular Surgery at Emory and the Atlanta VA Healthcare System in 2021, where her lab focuses on generating patient-specific induced pluripotent stem cell-derived endothelial cells to produce personalized regenerative therapies for vascular disease.

Christine Heitsch is Professor of Mathematics at Georgia Tech, with courtesy appointments in Biological Sciences and Computational Science & Engineering as well as an affiliation with the Petit Institute for Bioengineering & Bioscience.

She is also Director of the new Southeast Center for Mathematics and Biology (SCMB), an NSF-Simons MathBioSys Research Center, and finishing her tenure directing the GT Interdisciplinary Mathematics Preparation and Career Training (IMPACT) Postdoctoral Program.

Heitsch's research interests lie at the interface between discrete mathematics and molecular biology, specifically combinatorial problems "as motivated by" and "with applications to" fundamental biomedical questions like RNA folding.

Students interested in pursuing graduate studies in discrete mathematical biology can do so through a number of GT PhD programs including Bioinformatics or Quantitative Biosciences as well as Algorithms, Combinatorics, and Optimization (ACO), Computational Science & Engineering (CSE), and (of course) Mathematics.
 

Many people are familiar with “genetics,” the inheritance of visible traits like eye and hair color. Traits are encoded by a molecular alphabet (A,T,C,G) in the well known double helix structure, DNA. Less well known, but quickly gaining attention, is the network of protein particles that interact with DNA to control the folding of chromosomes and the expression of inherited traits. This process is epi-genetics (epi, EH-pee = upon or above). Our research group uses gene and protein engineering to create new epigenetic machinery that regulates DNA at will. One day synthetic epigenetics may allow us to rationally design new biological systems with predictable, reliable behavior and replace “magic bullet medicine” with “smart medicine.”

We assemble interchangeable protein modules to build synthetic transcription factors that regulate gene activity in human cells. Unlike typical synthetic transcription factors that recognize specific DNA sequences, our Polycomb-based transcription factors (“PcTFs”) are engineered to read chromatin modifications. Thus, a single engineered TF could activate a group of silenced, therapeutic genes in cancer cells. Using strong gene activators could enhance cancer treatment and advance epigenetic medicine.

As synthetic biologists, our goal is to make the folded DNA-protein material, or chromatin (KRO-mah-tin = dark colored material in the nucleus of a fixed and stained cell), easier to design and engineer. Groups of genes often reside in the same compartments, and share the same DNA-protein packaging structures. Therefore, a small artificial change in one packaging protein can reprogram the expression of dozens, and even hundreds of genes. Is this outcome messy and useless, or is it a powerful mode of signal amplification that changes cells in useful ways? To answer this question, our group couples synthetic biology with bioinformatics by interrogating the expression of thousands of genes after we introduce artificial chromatin proteins into cells.

Laura Hansen received her BS in Bioengineering from the University of Pittsburgh and Ph.D. in Bioengineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology, where she studied the mechanics of blood vessel walls and changes associated with different disease states. She then completed her post-doctoral fellowship studying the RAGE receptor in peripheral artery disease at Emory University in Cardiology. She is currently an Assistant Professor in the Department of Medicine and Division of Cardiology and program faculty in Biomedical Engineering and Molecular and Systems Pharmacology. Hansen’s lab studies the interactions between satellite cells and the vasculature. Satellite cells are skeletal muscle progenitor cells that are known to play an important role in muscle repair after injury and adaptation to exercise. However, the Hansen lab focuses on a previously underexplored role of satellite cells in vascular growth. They have found that satellite cells, when activated, produced a number of chemoattractant growth factors that drive the migration of vascular smooth muscle and endothelial cells which in an important factor in the growth and development of blood vessels. This area is of particular interest in the context of peripheral artery disease, where patients suffer from ischemic tissue damage but treatment options are still limited. The lab has shown that ischemia stimulates satellite cells and are exploring ways to harness their angiogenic properties in vivo or through therapeutically delivered cells.

Brian Hammer's lab studies molecular mechanisms important for microbial interactions. Bacteria are genetically encoded with regulatory networks to integrate external information that tailors gene expression to particular niches. Bacteria use chemical signals to orchestrate behaviors that facilitate both cooperation and conflict with members of the communities they inhabit. The group uses genetics and genomics, biochemistry, bioinformatics, and ecological approaches with a focus on the waterborne pathogen Vibrio cholerae.

Frank L. Hammond III joined George W. Woodruff George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering in April 2015. Prior to this appointment, he was a postdoctoral research affiliate and instructor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at MIT and a Ford postdoctoral research fellow at the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences. He received his Ph.D. in 2010 from Carnegie Mellon University.

Bilal Haider is an assistant professor in the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering at Georgia Tech and Emory University. He received B.S. and M.S. degrees from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and M.Phil. and Ph.D. degrees from Yale University. He joined the faculty at Georgia Tech after completing postdoctoral training at University College London.

Haider’s research measures, manipulates and deciphers neural circuit activity underlying normal and impaired visual perception, providing new insights into how the brain processes information and orchestrates behavioral actions.

Haider has received several prestigious awards, including from the Whitehall Foundation, Simons Foundation and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. His work has been published in leading journals, including Nature, Nature Neuroscience, Nature Communications and Neuron.

Robert E. Guldberg is the DeArmond Executive Director of the Phil and Penny Knight Campus for Accelerating Scientific Impact and Vice President of the University of Oregon. Guldberg’s research is focused on musculoskeletal mechanobiology, regenerative medicine, and orthopaedic medical devices. Over his 25+ year academic career, Dr. Guldberg has produced over 280 peer-reviewed publications, served as an advisor and board member for numerous biotechnology companies, and co-founded six start-ups. He was previously executive director of the Parker H. Petit Institute for Bioengineering and Bioscience at Georgia Tech from 2009-2018. In 2018, he was selected from a national search to lead the Knight Campus as its inaugural permanent Executive Director, where he has led the creation of its strategic plan, hired faculty into the campus’ first building opened in 2020, and launched the University of Oregon’s first ever engineering degree program. In 2021, he led the launch of Phase 2 of the Knight Campus development with the announcement of a second $500 million gift from Phil and Penny Knight. At the national level, Dr. Guldberg is past Chair of the Americas Chapter of the Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine International Society (TERMIS-AM). He currently serves on the Executive Leadership Council of the Wu Tsai Human Performance Alliance, a $220 million global initiative to promote wellness and peak performance through scientific discovery and innovation. Dr. Guldberg is an elected fellow of TERMIS, the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME), the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE), the Orthopaedic Research Society (ORS), and the National Academy of Inventors (NAI).