Prof. Ethier was originally trained as a mechanical engineer, receiving his Ph.D. from MIT in 1986 working in the lab of Roger D. Kamm. He then joined the University of Toronto, where he was a Professor of Bioengineering, Mechanical Engineering and Ophthalmology, and latterly the Director of the Institute of Biomaterials and Biomedical Engineering. Prior to joining Georgia Tech/Emory, Professor Ethier was the Head of the Department of Bioengineering at Imperial College, London from 2007-12. 

His research is in the biomechanics of cells and whole organs. His specific research topics include glaucoma (biomechanics of aqueous humour drainage in the normal and glaucomatous eye, and the mechanical and cellular response of optic nerve tissues to intraocular pressure), study of hemodynamic basis of arterial disease.

Dr. Stanislav Emelianov is a Joseph M. Pettit Endowed Chair, Georgia Research Alliance Eminent Scholar, and Professor of Electrical & Computer Engineering and Biomedical Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology. He is also appointed at the Emory University School of Medicine, where he is affiliated with Winship Cancer Institute, Department of Radiology, and other clinical units. Furthermore, Dr. Emelianov is Director of the Ultrasound Imaging and Therapeutics Research Laboratory at the Georgia Institute of Technology focused on the translation of diagnostic imaging & therapeutic instrumentation, and nanobiotechnology for clinical applications. 

Throughout his career, Dr. Emelianov has been devoted to the development of advanced imaging methods capable of detecting and diagnosing cancer and other pathologies, assisting treatment planning, and enhancing image-guided therapy and monitoring of the treatment outcome. He is specifically interested in intelligent biomedical imaging and sensing ranging from molecular imaging to small animal imaging to clinical applications. Furthermore, Dr. Emelianov develops approaches for image-guided molecular therapy and therapeutic applications of ultrasound and electromagnetic energy. Finally, nanobiotechnology plays a critical role in his research. In the course of his work, Dr. Emelianov has pioneered several ultrasound-based imaging techniques, including shear wave elasticity imaging and molecular photoacoustic imaging. Overall, projects in Dr. Emelianov's laboratory, which focuses on cancer and other diseases, range from molecular imaging to functional imaging and tissue differentiation, from drug delivery and release to image-guided surgery and intervention.

The Emanuel lab investigates how the sense of touch is generated in the mammalian brain by combining modern neurophysiology with mouse genetic manipulations. Dr. Emanuel joined Emory University School of Medicine in January 2023 as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Cell Biology. Before joining Emory, he completed his postdoc at Harvard Medical School during which he investigated the contributions of mechanoreceptor subtypes to the central representation of touch. Dr. Emanuel earned his Ph.D. from Harvard University by studying the biophysical properties of retinal ganglion cell photoreceptors.

Dyer’s research interests lie at the intersection of machine learning, optimization, and neuroscience. Her lab develops computational methods for discovering principles that govern the organization and structure of the brain, as well as methods for integrating multi-modal datasets to reveal the link between neural structure and function.

Erik C. Dreaden joined the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering at Georgia Institute of Technology and Emory University in 2017. Dr. Dreaden also holds a joint faculty appointment in the Department of Pediatrics at the Emory University School of Medicine where he collaborates with researchers at Children's Healthcare of Atlanta and the Aflac Center for Cancer and Blood Disorders. Dr. Dreaden's research seeks to apply principles of molecular and nanoscale engineering to improve the therapeutic potential of drug combinations, vaccines, and immunotherapies directed against pediatric and adult cancers. 

Prior to joining Emory and Georgia Tech, Dr. Dreaden was a postdoctoral fellow at the Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research at MIT, where his research focused on the development of polymer-based technologies for nucleic acid and rational combination cancer therapies. 

Dr. Dreaden is a member of the Cancer Immunology Research Program at the Winship Cancer Institute of Emory University. He also holds memberships in the Biomedical Engineering Society, American Institute of Chemical Engineers, American Association of Cancer Research, Materials Research Society, American Association for the Advancement of Science, and American Chemical Society.

Hicham Drissi is a professor in the Department of Orthopaedics at Emory University School of Medicine. He holds a Ph.D. from Paris Descartes University.

Dr. Simone Douglas-Green (@DrBlackBoots on Twitter/X and Instagram) is a new Assistant Professor in the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering at Georgia Tech and Emory University, where she has been named a BME Distinguished Faculty Fellow. She received her B.S. in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Miami, and her Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering from the joint program at Georgia Tech and Emory University. Dr. Douglas-Green’s professional and scholarly development as a doctoral and postdoctoral trainee has been supported by a number of awards including the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation's Minority Ph.D. (MPHD) Fellowship, NASEM Ford Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship, and Burroughs Wellcome Fund Postdoctoral Enrichment Program (PDEP). The Douglas-Green Lab focuses on developing tools/techniques to study how biology interacts with nanoparticles with an emphasis on understanding person and disease specific proteins coronas. Her goal is to train the next generation of engineers to be “EPIC”- engineering with purpose, intentionality, and compassion.

Dr. Dixon began at Georgia Tech in August 2009 as an Assistant Professor. Prior to his current appointment, he was a staff scientist at Ecole Polytechnique Federal de Lausanne (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology - Lausanne) doing research on tissue-engineered models of the lymphatic system. Dr. Dixon received his Ph.D. in biomedical engineering while working in the Optical Biosensing Laboratory, where he developed an imaging system for measuring lymphatic flow and estimating wall shear stress in contracting lymphatic vessels. 

Dr. Dixon's research focuses on elucidating and quantifying the molecular aspects that control lymphatic function as they respond to the dynamically changing mechanical environment they encounter in the body. Through the use of tissue-engineered model systems and animal models, our research is shedding light on key functions of lymphatic transport, and the consequence of disease on these functions. One such function is the lymphatic transport of dietary lipid from the intestine to the circulation. Recent evidence from our lab suggests that this process involves active uptake into lymphatics by the lymphatic endothelial cells. There are currently no efficacious cures for people suffering from lymphedema, and the molecular details connecting lymphedema severity with clinically observed obesity and lipid accumulation are unknown. Knowledge of these mechanisms will provide insight for planning treatment and prevention strategies for people facing lipid-lymphatic related diseases. 

Intrinsic to the lymphatic system are the varying mechanical forces (i.e., stretch, fluid shear stress) that the vessels encounter as they seek to maintain interstitial fluid balance and promote crucial transport functions, such as lipid transport and immune cell trafficking. Thus, we are also interested in understanding the nature of these forces in both healthy and disease states, such as lymphedema, in order to probe the biological response of the lymphatic system to mechanical forces. The complexity of these questions requires the development of new tools and technologies in tissue engineering and imaging. In the context of exploring lymphatic physiology, students in Dr. Dixon's laboratory learn to weave together techniques in molecular and cell biology, biomechanics, imaging, computer programming, and image and signal processing to provide insight into the regulation of lymphatic physiology. Students in the lab also have the opportunity to work in an interdisciplinary environment, as we collaborate with clinicians, life scientists, and other engineers, thus preparing the student for a career in academia and basic science research, or a career in industry.