On August 23rd, we were honored to have Joseph W. Freeman, Associate Professor of Biomedical Engineering at Rutgers University, as the first speaker in the Raymond and Beverly Sackler Seminar Series. Dr. Freeman delivered a talk entitled “Novel Approaches to Musculoskeletal Tissue Repair, Replacement, and Regeneration.” The Sackler Seminar Series is but one of several activities funded through our center endowed by the Raymond and Beverly Sackler Foundation.
After receiving a bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering from Princeton University, Dr. Freeman earned his Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering from Rutgers University and the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey. Dr. Freeman then joined my laboratory at the University of Virginia as a postdoctoral fellow. He worked on the use of novel biomaterials in bone regeneration, the development of new scaffolds for ligament repair, the use of hydrogels for ligament repair, and the design and construction of a braiding machine for ligament graft construction.
Dr. Freeman’s areas of research interest involve developing and evaluating new implantable scaffolds for the regeneration of musculoskeletal tissues, use of molecular modeling to investigate collagen structure and function, and develop tumor engineering models.
I was pleased Dr. Freeman agreed to speak as part of the Sackler Seminar Series and enjoyed catching up with him. We look forward to bringing other innovative leaders to speak here at the Health Center.
The Institute for Regenerative Engineering has launched a textbook entitled Regenerative Engineering. It explores the development and examination of vital organs and tissue types, addressing concerns as they relate to the regenerative engineering of various organ tissues, vascular tissues, bone, ligament, neural tissue, and the interfaces between tissues. I would like to thank all of the authors for their outstanding contributions. I also thank my mentor, Dr. Robert S. Langer of MIT who contributed the foreword. In addition, I value Dr. Yusuf Khan’s time and effort in putting together this textbook.