Toshihiro Akaike was born on July 20, 1946. He graduated from the Department of Synthetic Chemistry, Faculty of Engineering, University of Tokyo in May 1969; obtained doctorate of synthetic chemistry at the University of Tokyo School of Engineering in March 1975. In the following April, he joined the Heart Institute of Japan, Tokyo Women's Medical University as research fellow to professor and was involved in research on biomedical polymers, antithrombogenic material, cell separators, and materials for immuno-engineering. In February 1980, he was appointed associate professor of the Faculty of Engineering, Tokyo University of Agriculture and Engineering, with research focus on cell-specific recognition material, antithrombogenic material, cell separators, hybrid artificial liver, and bioelectronics. In April 1990, he became professor at the Tokyo Institute of Technology School of Bioscience and Biotechnology, embarking on bio-artificial liver research; applications of glycotechnology to cell-specific recognition materials; molecular biological analysis of hepatic cell adhesion, proliferation, and apoptosis (hepatitis); and applications of the results to diagnosis and therapy. Between April 1989 and March 1995, he also served as Laboratory 3 Director of the Kanagawa Academy of Science and Technology, and was in charge of the “Akaike Highly Functional Molecular Recognition Project,” studying the application of cell-specific recognition materials to hybrid organs, missile drugs, and bioelectronic-elements. Since April 1999, he has been serving as Professor of Graduate School of Bioscience and Biotechnology, Tokyo Institute of Technology. Between April 2000 and March 2002, he served as Professor of the Institute of Organ Transplants, Reconstructive Medicine and Tissue Engineering, Shinshu University Graduate School of Medicine (concurrent) (guest professor for a one-year period from April 2002).
Areas of specialties include, but are not limited to, biomedical polymers (biocompatible and blood-compatible materials), cell-specific recognition materials, glycotechnology, artificial organs (hybrid artificial organs [liver, pancreas]), drug (gene) delivery systems, cell engineering, organ engineering, tissue engineering, and regenerative medicine, genetic medicine.
Books written include (among others): Biofunctional Material Science: Basics of Artificial Organs, Tissue Engineering, and Regenerative Medicine (Biotechnology Textbook Series #12, published by Corona Publishing Co., Ltd. in 2006), and Bioengineering for Regenerative Medicine (Regenerative Medicine Basic Series, published by Corona Publishing Co., Ltd. in 2007)
Ravi BellamkondaProf. Bellamkonda earned his bachelors degree in Biomedical Engineering from Osmania University (India), and his doctoral degree from Brown University (with Patrick Aebischer) in 1994. He obtained his post-doctoral training from Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Prof. Bellamkonda currently serves as the Deputy Director of Research for GTEC, a National Science Foundation (NSF) funded Engineering Research Center, and as a professor of Biomedical Engineering at Georgia Institute of Technology.
Prof. Bellamkonda’s laboratory uses a) polymeric systems for spatio-temporally controlled presentation of cues and electrodes that encourage regeneration of, and interfacing to, neural tissue. The lab also develops multifunctional nano-scale agents that facilitate patient-specific cancer diagnosis and therapy. Prof. Bellamkonda’s lab is funded by NIH, NSF, the Nora Reed Foundation, and the Coulter Foundation. Prof. Bellamkonda serves on the editorial boards of several journals, and has won numerous awards including the NSF CAREER Award and the Georgia Cancer Coalition Distinguished Scholar Award.
Dr. Yilin Cao is a Professor of Plastic Surgery at Shanghai Jiao Tong University, School of Medicine. He graduated from Shanghai Second Medical University with a MD degree in 1975 and with a PhD degree in 1991. He currently serves as Vice Dean of Shanghai 9th People’s Hospital, Chairman of Plastic Surgery Department, Directors of Shanghai Tissue Engineering Center and of Shanghai Institute of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery. In 1991, Dr. Cao was funded by American Plastic Surgery Education Foundation to go to United States for clinical training as a visiting Professor. In 1992, he joined Dr. Jay Vacanti’s Laboratory as a research fellow for tissue engineering research at Children Hospital, Harvard Medical School. His major contribution is the creation of cartilage in the shape of human ear in nude mouse, and thus he received James Barrett Brown Award in 1998 at the meeting of American Association of Plastic Surgeons. Dr. Cao later became Assistant Professor at University of Massachusetts, School of Medicine (UAMMS) to work with Dr. Charles Vacanti and has served as lab director, and contributed by tendon, cartilage and bone engineering. He was promoted as Associate Professor of UAMMS in 1996. Dr. Cao returned to China since 1997, established first tissue engineering center in Shanghai. This center has received total funding of 10 million US$ equivalent thus far. Later, he launched two national tissue engineering research projects, which were supported, by The Administration of Science and Technology of China (total 10 millions US$ equivalent) and serves as national leader. His major contributions in this period are the tissue constructions of bone, cartilage, tendon and skin etc, in large animal models. Currently, his center has moved to clinical application of tissue-engineered bone with great success. Dr. Cao has gained his international reputation in tissue engineering research and has been invited to give lectures in Korea, Japan, Singapore and Germany. Dr. Cao is the executive editor of Tissue Engineering and editorial board member of Biomaterials, British Journal of Plastic Surgery and Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine. Currently, he is the President of Beijing Plastic Surgery Hospital, Chairman of Plastic Surgery Department of Shanghai 9th People’s Hospital and the President of Chinese Society of Plastic Surgery and Chinese Society of Tissue Engineering.
Professor George Guo-Qiang Chen has been focusing his research on biomaterials polyhydroxyalkanoates (abbreviated as PHA) since 1986. He obtained his BSc from the South China University of Technology, his PhD in Microbiology from Graz University of Technology Austria, and completed his postdoc at the University of Nottingham, UK and the University of Alberta in Canada. He is currently heading the Laboratory of Microbiology at Tsinghua University and the Multidisciplinary Research Center at Shantou University. He has contributed to the founding of several PHA based Biotech companies in China. Professor Chen has been actively promoting PHA biomaterials in China, he has more than 20 years of R&D experiences on PHA production and applications, has published over 120 international peer reviewed papers with over 1600 citation. Currently, Professor Chen is editor or editorial board for the journals of Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology, Biomaterials, Artificial Cells, Blood Substitutes and Biotechnology and Asia-Pacific Biotech News. At the same time, he serves as associate Editor-in-Chief for the Chinese Biotechnology Journal.
Professor Si-Shen FENG graduated from Peking University. He obtained his Master Degree from Tsinghua University and his PhD from Columbia University. He was a research scientist in the Department of Biochemistry, Cell and Molecular Biology, Northwestern University before he joined NUS in 1996. He now holds a joint appointment of 75% with Department of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering and 25% with Department of Bioengineering in the National University of Singapore. His research interests include cellular and molecular biomechanics, viscoelastic fluids, biomembranes, tissue engineering, cancer nanobiotechnology and nanomedicine. He is an Associated Editor of Biomaterials and is involved in the Editorial board of Nanomedicine, International Journal of Nanomedicine, Journal of Biomedical Nanotechnology, Recent Patents on Drug Delivery and Formulation, Chinese Journal of Biomedical Engineering. He is awarded Visiting Professor and Special International Advisor by the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences Institute of Biomedical Engineering, and the Peking Union Medical College
Howard P. Greisler, M.D. is currently Professor of Surgery and Professor of Cell Biology, Neurobiology, and Anatomy at Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood, Illinois and Edward Hines, Jr. V.A. Hospital in Hines, Illinois. Dr. Greisler has received numerous grants from the National Institutes of Health and from the Veterans Administration. He is past President of the International Society for Applied Cardiovascular Biology, an Honorary Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh, and has been Chairman of the Lifeline Foundation Research and Education Committee and President of the Midwestern Vascular Surgical Society and holds three United States and international patents. He has served on the World Technology Evaluation Center Tissue Engineering panel and on the panel assessing the Health component of the Helmholtz Association in Germany. He has authored over 250 publications, including four books, and has given over 385 scientific and clinical presentations. His research endeavors are in the area of angiogenesis and tissue engineering with specific attention to the regulation of growth factor secretion by arterial wall cells and the role of these growth factors in modulating endothelial cell and smooth muscle cell proliferation in vascular injury models. He has been active in utilizing strategies of site directed mutagenesis to generate novel protein structures and has used a variety of delivery vehicles for immobilizing biologically active mutant proteins and genes to surfaces, both natural and synthetic, for engineering cell recruitment and modulation of cell phenotypic characteristics.
Professor Dietmar Hutmacher considers himself to be a biomedical engineer trained at multidisciplinary interfaces; an educator, an inventor, a tissue engineer and a committed developer of new intellectual property opportunities. His recent research efforts have resulted in both scientific/academic outcomes, as well as commercialization. His outstanding academic contribution is evidenced by regular invitations to write “review articles” in top tier journals (across disciplines); and by sponsored invitations to present his research as a plenary/key note speaker at more than 30 international conferences over the past 6 years. He has successfully mastered the main challenge in this interdisciplinary field: transcending traditional boundaries to initiate research and educational programs across medicine, medical engineering and biology.
Dr. Kazuhiko Ishihara is Professor of Department of Materials Engineering and Department of Bioengineering (Head of Department in 2008), School of Engineering, The University of Tokyo. His research interests are biomedical materials, particularly synthesis and characterization of bioinspired polymers, biointerface constructed with biomolecules, cell-engineering materials. These biomedical polymers have been applied worldwide to implantable artificial organs for obtaining biocompatibility. Regarding these research fields, he has more than 330 original articles and 120 reviews and book chapters. He received many awards including Japanese Society for Biomaterials (2001), Japanese Society of Artificial Organs (2000), Polymer Society of Japan (2004), and Japanese Agency of Science and Technology (Inoue Harushige award: 2004), The Hip Society, The American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons (Frank Stinchfield Award; 2006) and fellow member of International Union of Society for Biomaterials Science and Technology (IUSBSE) and American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE).
Professor Iwata earned his bachelors degree in 1973, and his doctoral degree in 1979 in Polymer Chemistry from Kyoto University (supervised by Professor Yoshito Ikada). He obtained his post- doctoral training from University of Florida (Professor E.P Goldberg). Prof. Iwata currently serves as a head of department of reparative materials, Institute for Frontier Medical Sciences, Kyoto University. Research efforts of Prof. Iwata's laboratory are concentrated to Biointerface, Bioartificial pancreas, Devices for interventional neuroradiology.
Dr Jayakrishnan is presently Professor in the Department of Biotechnology, Indian Institute of Technology Madras, India. He obtained his Ph.D. in Polymer Chemistry from the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras in 1980 and did his postdoctoral research at the University of Florida, Gainesville, USA from 1981 to 1984.
He has authored over 90 original research papers as well as many invited reviews and is an inventor or a co-inventor in a dozen patents. He is a member of the Editorial Board of Biomaterials and the reference series Microspheres, Microcapsules and Liposomes, and Polymeric Biomaterials published by Citus Books, London.
He has been a Visiting Scientist to the University of Florida, USA, University of Liverpool, England, University of Paris (XI), France, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (EPFL), Switzerland and a JSPS Invitation Fellow to Toyo University, Japan.
His interest is in the area of polymeric biomaterials and is focussed on controlled drug delivery, synthesis and modification of polymers and hydrogels. He is an elected Fellow of the Indian Academy of Sciences, and a recipient of the Distinguished Alumnus Award of the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras.
Kazunori Kataoka, Ph.D., is a Professor of Biomaterials at Graduate School of Engineering, the University of Tokyo, Japan. He has been appointed joint position since 2004 from Graduate School of Medicine, the University of Tokyo as a Professor of Clinical Biotechnology at Center of Disease Biology and Integrative Medicine. He received B.S. (1974) and Ph.D. (1979) from the University of Tokyo.
Dr. Kataoka received the Society Award from the Japanese Society for Biomaterials (1993), the Society Award from the Society of Polymer Science, Japan (2000), Clemson Award from the Society for Biomaterials, USA (2005), and Founders Award from the Controlled Release Society (2008). He has been a Fellow of the American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering since 1999, and a vice president of the Society of Polymer Science, Japan since 2008.
His current major research interest includes the development of new polymeric carrier systems, especially block copolymer micelles, for drug and gene targeting.
Byung-Soo KimByung-Soo Kim is an Associate Professor of Bioengineering at Hanyang University, Seoul, Korea. He received his Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Michigan, USA. He is an active researcher with over 130 peer reviewed publications and 10 book chapters. He currently serves as an editorial board member of the Tissue Engineering and the Journal of Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine. His research area has focused on fabricating human tissues or organs with stem cells and tissue engineering. To enhance the regenerative potential of stem cells, the concepts of gene or growth factor delivery and biomaterials are applied to this approach.
Doo Sung Lee is currently a Professor in Department of Polymer Science and Engineering at Sungkyunkwan University. He received his B.S. from the Chemical Engineering department at Seoul National University in 1978 and his M.S. and Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from the KAIST in 1981 and 1984. He served as a Dean of College of Engineering at Sungkyunkwan University for 2 years. He served as an Editor-in-chief of the Polymer Science and Technology for 1 year (2001) and Editorial board of Macromolecular Research for 4 years (2002-2005). He was elected as a member of Korean Academy of Engineering in 2007. He is currently a vice president and an editorial board of Biomaterials Research of the Korean Society of Biomaterals (2006-present). His main research interest is functionalized & biodegradable injectable hydrogels and micelles for controlled drug and protein delivery and molecular imaging. He has published over 116 peer-reviewed papers, 7 book chapters, 3 review articles and filed 26 patents
Kam W. Leong is the James B. Duke Professor of Biomedical Engineering at Duke University. He received his PhD in Chemical Engineering from the University of Pennsylvania under William Forsman, and a postdoctoral training in Applied Biological Sciences at MIT, under Robert Langer. After serving as a faculty in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at The Johns Hopkins School of Medicine for 20 years, he moved to Duke University in 2006 to lead a research initiative on applying nanotechnology to drug, gene, immuno-, and cell therapy. He also holds a faculty appointment at the Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School in Singapore. He serves on the editorial boards of eight journals, owns 40 issued patents, and has published over 200 peer-reviewed research manuscripts. The research focus of the laboratory is on nanotherapeutics. By exploiting the unusual physical, chemical, and biological properties of materials at the nanoscale, his lab is exploring application of nanotechnology to the delivery of DNA-based therapeutics and to the understanding of cellular response to nanotopographical cues for stem cell tissue engineering.
Xiang Yang Liu has over 20 years of academic and industrial experiences in various academic and industrial research institutions, with a Ph.D. degree and the Cum laude title from the University of Nijmegen (Netherlands). Research interests range from biophysics, nanosciences and technologies, crystallization, surface science, colloids to liquid crystals, and broad industrial and academic contacts.
Dr Liu has authored and co-authored more than 140 papers and invited book chapters, mainly in Nature, Phys. Rev. Lett., J. Am. Chem. Soc., J. Bio. Chem., Angew.Chem.Int Ed, Adv. Materials, etc. He has delivered more than 40 keynote and/or invited talks in international conferences and workshops, and organized 11 international conferences/symposia.
He is Councilor of the International Organization for Crystal Growth; Co-Executive Secretary of the Executive Committee of the Asian Society for Crystal Growth and Crystal Technology, Managing Editor of Biophysics Reviews and Letters and Co-Editor-in-Chief of Innovation. He is referee for China Changjiang Scholars Distinguished Professor, referee for the Chinese Government Award for Outstanding Self-Financed Students Abroad, and won the Outstanding Researcher Award 2007, NUS, Singapore.
Teruo Okano
Nicholas Spencer studied at the University of Cambridge, and earned his Ph.D. in the area of Surface Chemistry in 1980. Following this he worked as a postdoctoral fellow at the University of California, Berkeley. From 1982 to 1993 he was employed in materials research at W. R. Grace and Co. in the USA, working in the areas of catalysts and high-temperature superconductors. Since August 1993 he has been Professor for Surface Science and Technology at the ETH Zurich, Switzerland. Currently he is serving as President of the ETH Research Commission. He is Editor-in-Chief of the journal Tribology Letters.
The principal areas of his research are surface functionalization and characterization, with a particular emphasis on their applications in tribology, implant materials, and biosensors. Atomic force microscopy and the surface forces apparatus play an important role in his group, as well as imaging versions of more traditional surface-analytical methods, such as XPS and SIMS. Over the last few years, he has been working extensively in the area of surface-chemical and surface- morphology gradients, and especially their applications in biomaterials.
Professor Samuel Stupp earned his B.S. in Chemistry from the University of California at Los Angeles and his Ph.D. in materials science and engineering from Northwestern University in 1977. He was a member of the faculty at Northwestern until 1980 and then spent 18 years at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign where he was appointed in 1996 Swanlund Professor of Materials Science and Engineering, Chemistry, and Bioengineering. In 1999, he returned to Northwestern as a Board of Trustees professor of Materials Science, Chemistry, and Medicine, and later was appointed Director of Northwestern's Institute for BioNanotechnology in Medicine. Professor Stupp is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and fellow of the American Physical Society, American Association for the Advancement of Science, World Technology Network, and World Biomaterials Congress. His awards include the Department of Energy Prize for Outstanding Achievement in Materials Chemistry, a Humboldt Senior Award, the Materials Research Society's Medal Award, and the American Chemical Society Award in Polymer Chemistry for his work on supramolecular self-assembly. In 2005 Professor Stupp was listed in the Scientific American 50 Leaders Shaping the Future of Technology. His research is focused on self-assembly of materials with special interest in regenerative medicine, cancer therapies, and solar energy technologies.
Kien Wen SunKien Wen Sun was born in Taipei, Taiwan. He holds a PhD from the electrical engineering department at Princeton University in New Jersey, United States. From 1995-2000, he was on the faculty of the electronic engineering at Feng Chia University, Taiwan. He jointed the faculty of the physics department as a professor at National Dong Hwa University, Hualien, Taiwan, from 2000-2004. Since year 2004, he became a professor of the applied chemistry department at National Chiao Tung University, Hsinchu, Taiwan. He is also currently the associate director of the Center of Nano Science and Technology at National Chiao Tung University, Hsinchu, Taiwan. His research interests include femtosecond laser and laser spectroscopy in III-V compound semiconductors, nanolithography, nanoelectronics, solar cells, biochip and biosensing technology.
Tony Weiss
Andreas H. Zisch is Head of the Research at the Department of Obstetrics at the University Hospital Zurich since 2004. Before, staff scientist in the laboratory of Prof. Jeffrey A. Hubbell at the Institute for Biomedical Engineering, ETH Zurich and University of Zurich. Andreas was trained as biochemist at the University of Vienna and ETH Zurich where he graduated in 1992. He received his postdoctoral training in molecular biology at The Burnham Institute, La Jolla, CA, USA. Since 1999, he works in the field of Experimental Tissue Engineering towards development of in situ wound healing therapies with injectable biomaterials, growth factors and cells. His research areas are vascular therapy, prevention and repair of fetal membrane defects in fetal surgery, and the study of adult stem cells from obstetrical sources for cell therapy and ex vivo tissue engineering. Since 2008, Andreas is Associate Editor of the journal Biomaterials.
