In August 2023, Krishnendu Roy joined Vanderbilt University as the Bruce and Bridgitt Evans Dean of Engineering and a University Distinguished Professor in Biomedical Engineering, and Pathology, Microbiology, and Immunology, with a secondary appointment in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering.

Previously, Roy served as Robert A. Milton Endowed Chair for the Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering at Georgia Tech. He is also the former Director of the NSF Engineering Research Center (ERC) for Cell Manufacturing Technologies (CMaT), Center for ImmunoEngineering at Georgia Tech, and Marcus Center for Therapeutic Cell Characterization and Manufacturing. 

His overall research interests are in developing novel concepts for stem cell engineering as well as polymer controlled delivery of biological factors, especially for nucleic acid therapeutics (DNA, SiRNA and oligos) and immunoengineering. Currently, his group is involved in the following major areas of research; (a) Developing novel concepts to produce biodegradable surface functionalized micro-and nanoparticles for targeted and sustained delivery of nucleic acids, proteins, peptides and other immune modulators. In particular he is interested in developing multi-agent vaccine delivery systems for cancer and infectious diseases as well as immunotherapies for autoimmune diseases. (b) Creating spatio-temporally patterned polymer scaffolds for directed compartmental differentiation of stem cells into multiple lineages. (c) Engineering an artificial thymic niche for directed differentiation of stem cells into functional, antigen- specific T cells. (e) The development of novel nanoimprinting techniques to generate shape specific, environmentally triggered drug nanocarriers.

Faces of Research - Profile Article

Dr. Francisco Robles is currently an adjunct assistant professor in the School of ECE and an assistant professor in the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology and Emory University. He runs the Optical Imaging and Spectroscopy (OIS) Lab which focuses on advancing optical technologies to help improve the understanding of biological processes and the ability to identify and stage disease. The team develops and applies novel label-free linear and nonlinear spectroscopic methods, along with advanced signal processing methods, to gain access to novel forms of functional and molecular contrast for a variety of applications, including cancer detection, tumor margin assessment, and hematology. 

Dr. Robles completed a Postdoctoral Fellowship in the Department of Chemistry at Duke University (2016), earned his Ph.D. in Medical Physics at Duke University (2011), and earned a B.S. in Physics and in Nuclear Engineering from North Carolina State University (2007).

Since joining the faculty in 2012, James Rains has taught two of Tech’s most critical classes for creating the next generation of biomedical engineers. “Intro to Biomedical Engineering Design” and the “Biomedical Engineering Capstone” courses are bookends on the student experience in the BME program, which has consistently ranked among the best in the nation. Meanwhile, Rains helps give students more real-world healthcare problems from clinicians and medical companies than any other BME department in the world. He constantly strives to find the best and most diverse projects for his students, including in 2018, a new collaboration with the world-renowned Mayo Clinic. His BME student teams consistently win top honors in innovation competitions and mentors and coaches Create-X student startups. For all of his tremendous efforts, he was named the 2019 Undergraduate Educator of the Year by Tech’s Center for Teaching and Learning.

Felipe trained as a biomedical engineer in his native Colombia before obtaining a PhD from the Biomedical Engineering department of Duke University. At Duke, working in the laboratory of Ashutosh Chilkoti, he focused on the engineering of genetically-encoded, self-assembling protein polymers. An important outcome of this PhD work was the elucidation of sequence rules to program the phase separation behavior of intrinsically disordered proteins (IDPs). Motivated by a newly acquired ability to engineer the phase behavior of IDPs, for his postdoctoral work he turned to their poorly-understood biology. To pursue skin as an outstanding biological system, Felipe joined the group of Elaine Fuchs at Rockefeller University. Felipe’s postdoctoral research led to the discovery that liquid-liquid phase separation drives the process of skin barrier formation. In 2020, he established the Quiroz Lab in the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering at Georgia Tech and Emory University, where he is currently an Assistant Professor. Felipe is the recipient of multiple research awards, including a Career Award at the Scientific Interface from the Burroughs Wellcome Fund and the NIH Director’s New Innovator Award.

Peng Qiu is a professor in the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering at Georgia Tech School of Engineering and Emory University School of Medicine. 

His research interests are in the areas of bioinformatics and computational biology, focusing on machine learning, data integration, statistical signal processing, control systems and optimization. 

In particular, he is interested in developing machine learning methods to advance single-cell data science, with applications in characterizing cellular heterogeneity, identifying cancer biomarkers, understanding disease progression, reconstructing gene regulatory networks, etc.

My lab, Biohybrid System Laboratory, is interested in elucidating how biological systems coordinate the hierarchical structures and functions of their individual components, in order to produce emergent physical behaviors, and how disrupting this coordination potentiates disease. We seek to design, build, and test a hierarchy of biohybrid systems capable of reproducing the targeted behaviors. Our primary interest is coordinated activation and contraction of tissue- and organ-level cardiac and skeletal muscle systems. To pursue this goal, we focus on the development of biohybrid fabrication methods and measurement systems through the combined application of genetic tools, induced pluripotent stem cells, tissue engineering, microfabrication, electronics, optics, and feedback control. The resulting findings and technical developments will be translated into various applications such as (1) stem cell-based functional assays for personalized disease diagnosis and treatment and (2) new types of biohybrid actuators for creating biological autonomous systems.

Dr. Pardue is a Research Career Scientist at the Atlanta VA Medical Center, and a Professor in Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering at Georgia Institute of Technology and Emory University School of Medicine. Dr. Pardue received her B.S. in zoology from the University of Wyoming and her doctorate in vision science and biology at the University of Waterloo. Her post-doctorate training in visual electrophysiology was completed with Dr. Neal Peachey at Loyola School of Medicine and Hines VA Hospital in Chicago and focused on biocompatibility of retinal prosthetics. Dr. Pardue moved to Atlanta in 2000 to join the Atlanta VA Medical Center and Emory University Department of Ophthalmology. She moved her academic appointment to Biomedical Engineering in 2015. Her research interests are focused on developing treatments for people with vision loss. To this end, she has developed three research themes within her lab: 1) neuroprotective and restorative treatments for retinal degeneration, 2) early detection and treatment of diabetic retinopathy, and 3) retinal mechanisms of refractive development and myopia. Her research has been continuously supported by the Department of Veterans Affairs, NIH, and private companies (1999-present). She has served on several VA and NIH grant review panels and frequently reviews manuscripts for several journals including Journal of Neuroscience, Investigative Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, Molecular Vision, Vision Research, Journal of Neuroscience Methods, Journal of Neurochemistry and PlosOne.

The Panitch lab research has focused on the extracellular matrix (ECM) and how matrix signals affect tissue regeneration, including nerve regeneration, wound healing and angiogenesis, cartilage and vascular. More recently, the lab has focused on the proteoglycan component of the ECM. Proteoglycans are critical components of tissue function. They influence matrix organization, the viscoelastic properties of the matrix, access of enzymes to the matrix and serve as a protective barrier as in the case of the glycocalyx. Proteoglycans are difficult to synthesize because of the complex post translational modifications and the complexity of carbohydrate chemistry. The Panitch laboratory has demonstrated that proteoglycan function can largely be recapitulated by conjugating short, bioactive peptide sequences to GAGs. The peptide sequences direct the GAG to its target and ensure that it is held in place, similarly to how native proteoglycans function. The lab has used proteoglycan mimetic strategies to develop therapeutics to treat osteoarthritis, improve wound healing, and treat diseased blood vessels.

Our work centers on understanding how the brain represents information and intention, and using this knowledge to develop high-performance, robust, and practical assistive devices for people with disabilities and neurological disorders. We take a dynamical systems approach to characterizing the activity of large populations of neurons, combined with rigorous systems engineering (signal processing, machine learning, and real-time systems) to advance the performance of brain-machine interfaces and neuromodulatory devices.

Shuming Nie is the Wallace H. Coulter Distinguished Chair Professor in Biomedical Engineering at Emory University and the Georgia Institute of Technology, with joint appointments in chemistry, materials science and engineering, and hematology and oncology. He is the Principal Investigator and Director of the Emory-Georgia Tech Nanotechnology Center for Personalized and Predictive Oncology, one of the eight national centers funded by the National Cancer Institute (NIH/NCI). His research interest is broadly in biomolecular engineering and nanotechnology, with a focus on bioconjugated nanoparticles for cancer molecular imaging, molecular profiling, pharmacogenomics, and targeted therapy. His research program is currently supported by three large-scale grants from the National Institutes of Health. During the last 10 years, Professor Nie has published nearly 100 scholarly papers, filed 20 patents/inventions, and has delivered more than 350 invited talks and keynote lectures. In recognition of his work, Professor Nie has received many awards and honors including the Merck Award (2007), Elected Fellow of the American Institute of Biological and Medical Engineering (2006), the Cheung Kong Professorship (The Ministry of Education of China, 2006), the Rank Prize in Opto-electronics (London, UK, 2005), the Georgia Distinguished Cancer Scholar Award (Georgia Cancer Coalition, 2002-2007), the Beckman Young Investigator Award, the National Collegiate Inventors Award, and the NSFC Overseas Young Scholar Award. Dr. Nie serves on the scientific advisory/editorial boards of 5 biotech companies and 6 scientific journals. Professor Nie received his BS degree from Nankai University (China) in 1983, earned his MS and PhD degrees from Northwestern University under the direction of Professor Richard P. Van Duyne (1984-1990), and did postdoctoral research at both Georgia Institute of Technology and Stanford University (1990-1994).