By Cato T. Laurencin, M.D., Ph.D.

On June 1, 2016, I had the honor of being inducted as an Academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering (CAE).

I was among a small number of new foreign members elected to the Chinese Academy of Engineering, and it was a great pleasure to meet new colleagues and associates there.

A Chinese Academy of Engineering academician title signifies the  highest Chinese academic achievement level in Engineering and Technology and a lifelong honor. It's a true honor for me to be elected to the Chinese Academy of Engineering. I am deeply grateful to my mentors, colleagues, fellows, students, and friends who have inspired me through my career. I look forward to continue to work closely with the engineering community in China.

By Cato T. Laurencin, M.D., Ph.D.

As the CEO of the Connecticut Institute for Clinical and Translational Science (CICATS), I congratulate the Young Innovative Investigator Program (YIIP) scholars who earned their master degrees in biomedical science from the UConn Graduate School. Under the direction of Dr. Linda Barry, CICATS Assistant Director and YIIP program director, the program’s aim is providing academic training to underrepresented minorities who are dedicated to pursuing careers as scientists and scholars in the biological and biomedical sciences. The ultimate goal is developing the next generation of innovative biomedical scientists while incresing diversity in the current pool of academic scientists. YIIP provides tools for scholars to conduct research, succeed in an academic environment, and become competitive candidates for medical or graduate school. All of our YIIP scholars conducted basic scientific research in a UConn Health lab under the direction of their assigned faculty. Simultaneously, they completed graduate level studies. I am proud of their achievements and look forward to their successes! Thank you to all our faculty and staff who contributed to the success of the program.

By Cato T. Laurencin, M.D., Ph.D.

On May 10th, I was honored to sit on the Excellence in Science and Technology Discussion Panel for the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (Intel ISEF) in Phoenix, AZ. Intel ISEF is the world’s largest international pre-college science competition, the premier science competition in the world.  Each year, it provides a forum for more than 1,750 high school students from more than 75 countries, regions and territories to showcase their independent research. The discussion panel was made up of many Nobel Laureates and other prestigious scientists. During the discussion, I talked about the most important characteristics of a scientist and the power of regenerative engineering. The event was incredibly rewarding and I really enjoyed the discussion with students and the panelists.

By Cato T. Laurencin, M.D., Ph.D.

Last week, I was pleased to learn two of my former students completed the rigorous process of receiving tenure and promotion.

Justin Brown of Penn State University received tenure and promotion to associate professor. In 2008, Professor Brown received his Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering from my lab at the University of Virginia. In 2010, He joined to the Department of Biomedical Engineering at Penn State as assistant professor in 2010. His current research involves the investigation of the interface between osteoprogenitor cells and synthetic nanofibers. This includes the application of systems biology to elucidate the alterations in the interactome of an osteoprogenitor on nanofiber substrates as the cell population progresses from adhesion, to migration and proliferation, and finally differentiation; and also the utilization of polymer chemistry to modulate the diameter of synthetic nanofibers across several orders of magnitude and evaluate the subsequent alterations and interactions of focal adhesion proteins.

Ehsan Jabbarzadeh of the University of South Carolina also received tenure and promotion to associate professor. He received his Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from my lab at Drexel in 2007. Three years later, he joined the Department of Chemical Engineering at University of South Carolina as an assistant professor. The overarching theme of Professor Jabbarzadeh’s research include robust design and engineering of tissues through understanding and modeling of the environmental effects on stem cell differentiation and tissue remodeling and development. This includes engineering microenvironments based on carbon nanotube arrays with finely controllable biophysical and biochemical properties for the investigation of molecular mechanisms associated with cell migration, proliferation and differentiation. Investigations in his lab revolve around how cells sense distinctive types of mechanical, biochemical and morphological cues and integrate them to generate an appropriate response. This work is complemented by a parallel effort to construct a single cell based mathematical model of intercellular signaling events that are linked to signaling outputs associated with fate commitment.                                                                                   

I offer each my enthusiastic congratulations!