Posts classified under: Core faculty

Director, Institute for NanoBioTechnology
Professor, Materials Science & Engineering, Biomedical Engineering

Our lab specializes in engineering nanomaterials for delivery of therapeutics and vaccines, regenerative medicine, and stem cell engineering applications. We aim to enhance nanoparticles’ efficacy as gene and vaccine delivery vehicles and develop scalable methods for synthesizing self-assembled nanoparticles—while controlling their shape, size and surface properties. We also use biomaterial platforms to influence stem cell fate and promote tissue regeneration.

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Antibiotic Coating Prevents Orthopaedic Joint Infections in Animals

The incidents are rare, but the repercussions can be grave: Every year, about 1 to 2 percent of people undergoing hip and knee replacements in the U.S. end up with surgery-related bacterial infections. In a worst-case scenario, the infection continues for months and the patient requires a new prosthesis.

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Professor, Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery

The Hillel Laboratory investigates laryngotracheal stenosis, or scar formation in the airway. Specifically, we are examining the interrelationship between genetics, the immune system, bacteria and scar formation. The lab has developed unique models to study laryngotracheal stenosis and to test drugs and delivery methods—including a drug-releasing stent—that may halt the progression of or reverse scar formation.

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Comprehensive Treatment of Laryngotracheal Stenosis

One night in October 2013, when Kinzie Landers was 14 years old, her parents rushed her to the local emergency room near their home in Texas as she was sliding into a coma. Unaware that their daughter had type 1 diabetes, her parents listened helplessly as doctors explained that they’d need to intubate her. She was minutes away from losing the ability to breathe on her own.

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Director, Biomaterials and Drug Delivery Laboratory
Professor, Biomedical Engineering, Ophthalmology, Oncology, Neurosurgery, Materials Science & Engineering, Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering

By harnessing the power of cellular engineering and nanobiotechnology, the “Green Group” seeks to better understand and control the therapeutic delivery and presentation of biological agents and drugs to cells. The group examines the chemistry-biology-engineering interface to answer fundamental scientific questions and to create innovative technologies and advanced therapeutics (like biodegradable nanoparticles) that can directly benefit human health.

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Scientists Create Nano-Size Packets of Genetic Code Aimed at Brain Cancer ‘Seed’ Cells

In a “proof of concept” study, scientists at Johns Hopkins Medicine say they have successfully delivered nano-size packets of genetic code called microRNAs to treat human brain tumors implanted in mice. The contents of the super-small containers were designed to target cancer stem cells, a kind of cellular “seed” that produces countless progeny and is a relentless barrier to ridding the brain of malignant cells.
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Director, Laboratory for Craniofacial and Orthopedic Tissue Engineering
Professor, Biomedical Engineering

Our research in the Grayson Lab addresses the challenges associated with regenerating large craniofacial and skeletal muscle tissue defects. We employ engineering techniques to regulate cell fate in biomaterial scaffolds and to design bioreactors capable of maintaining cells’ viability and guiding their differentiation in large tissue implants. Our final goal is to create patient-specific grafts with functional biological and mechanical characteristics.

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COOKING UP BONE REPLACEMENT

Each year, birth defects, trauma or surgery leave some 200,000 people in the United States in need of replacement bones in the head or face. Traditionally, the best treatment required surgeons to remove part of a patient’s fibula, cut it into the general shape needed and implant it in the right location. But this procedure not only creates leg trauma but also falls short—because the relatively straight fibula can’t be shaped to fit the subtle curves of the face very well.

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Assistant Professor, Biomedical Engineering, Materials Science & Engineering

Our mission is to better understand what happens when therapeutics–whether biologic or synthetic in origin–are introduced into the body. Of key importance is how the host immune system perceives them and how it behaves toward them. We use systems biology and synthetic biology approaches to elucidate these complex tissue dynamics and generate improved therapies.

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Study Points a way to Better Implants

Medical devices implanted in the body for drug delivery, sensing, or tissue regeneration usually come under fire from the host’s immune system. Defense cells work to isolate material they consider foreign to the body, building up a wall of dense scar tissue around the devices, which eventually become unable to perform their functions.

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https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/news/newsroom/news-releases/study-suggests-that-smoother-silicone-breast-implants-reduce-severity-of-immune-system-reactions

https://www.bme.jhu.edu/news-events/news/new-immune-model-sheds-light-on-implant-rejection/