Hot Topics in Bioengineering Research: Biomaterials Panel Speakers

Joel Collier, Assitant Professor of Surgery, University of Chicago

Joel Collier received his undergraduate degree in Materials Science from Rice University, his Masters degree in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Texas at Austin, and his Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering from Northwestern University. His postdoctoral work was in Chemistry at the University of Chicago. He was an Assistant Professor of Biomedical Engineering at the University of Cincinnati from 2004-2007 and is now an Assistant Professor of Surgery at the University of Chicago. He has received several awards for his research, including an NSF CAREER award, and his work on self-assembling modular biomaterials is currently supported by the NIH, NSF, and American Heart Association.

Eric Brey, Assistant Professor of Biomedical Engineering, IIT

Dr. Brey is an Assistant Professor of Biomedical Engineering at the Illinois Institute of Technology. He received his Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from Rice University in 2003. His thesis work involved the development and application of novel techniques for quantifying microsvacular structure in tissue samples. He followed his Ph.D. with an NIH Ruth L. Kirchstein Post-doctoral fellowship in vascular biology at Loyola University Medical Center. He has received a number of awards, including the young investigator award from the International Society of Applied Cardiovascular Biology. His current research focuses on the development and application of in vitro, in vivo , and in silico models of neovascularization, the study of vessel assembly in diabetes, and engineering new approaches to improve therapeutic neovascularization. He has published over 25 peer-reviewed papers and presented at numerous National and International Meetings.

John L Toner

Kyle Jadin, Product Specialist, W.L. Gore and Associates

Kyle Jadin got his Ph.D. in Bioengineering in 2006 from the University of California-San Diego, where he conducted research on cartilage tissue engineering. Dr. Jadin is currently a Product Specialist in the Medical Division of W.L. Gore and Associates in Flagstaff, Arizona. His role is to develop relationships with other medical device companies to incorporate Gore's unique array of biomaterials into finished implantable medical device designs. In these roles, Dr. Jadin has developed an understanding of key concepts of tissue engineering and biomaterial interactions in biological systems, including cell differentiation and growth, inflammatory responses, and tissue regeneration.