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Atlanta, GA | Posted: January 28, 2010
Don Fernandez
404-894-6016
Summary Sentence:
Todd C. McDevitt, PhD, has been awarded the 2010 Young Investigator Award from the Society of Biomaterials (SFB)
Full Summary:
Todd C. McDevitt, PhD, has been awarded the 2010 Young Investigator Award from the Society of Biomaterials (SFB). The Young Investigator Award recognizes an individual each year who has demonstrated outstanding achievements and leadership in the field of biomaterials research. McDevitt will receive the award at the 2010 Annual Meeting to be held in Seattle, WA, next April where he will also be provided the opportunity to address the whole society.
SFB Award WinnersAssistant Professor Todd C. McDevitt, PhD, has been awarded the 2010 Young Investigator Award from the Society of Biomaterials (SFB). The Young Investigator Award recognizes an individual each year who has demonstrated outstanding achievements and leadership in the field of biomaterials research. McDevitt will receive the award at the 2010 Annual Meeting to be held in Seattle, Washington next April where he will also be provided the opportunity to address the whole society.
This
marks the fourth time in the last seven years that a Georgia Tech faculty member
has received the SFB Young Investigator award. Niren Murthy (BME) received the award in 2008, Julia Babensee (BME)
in 2005 and Andrés García (ME) in 2004.
The McDevitt Laboratory for the Engineering of Stem Cell Technologies is
focused on the development and application of engineering principles to
translate the potential of stem cells into viable regenerative therapies and in
vitro diagnostics. Biomaterials-based approaches are used to engineer the
microenvironment of stem cells in order to improve the efficiency and
homogeneity of directed stem cell differentiation strategies.
In
addition, the McDevitt laboratory’s research focuses on development of novel
regenerative molecular therapies from natural biomaterials produced by stem
cells. The combination of directed stem cell differentiation and development of
stem cell-derived biomaterials is expected to yield fresh insights into stem
cell biology, facilitate new regenerative therapies and create novel cell
diagnostic platforms. The McDevitt laboratory research is supported by funding
from the National Institutes of Health, National Science Foundation, American
Heart Association and the Georgia Research Alliance, among others.
In addition to the being named the 2010 Society for Biomaterials Young
Investigator, McDevitt was appointed as a Petit Faculty Fellow in the Institute
for Bioengineering and Bioscience in September 2009 and named the Director of
the new Stem Cell Engineering Center at Georgia Tech, which is scheduled to
officially launch in 2010. The establishment of the first center of its
kind in the United States will bring together expertise from different
engineering disciplines to address key technical challenges that currently
limit the translation of stem cells and to innovate new technologies that will
enhance basic stem cell research. The center will include Georgia Tech
faculty from the College of Engineering, College of Sciences, and Ivan Allen
College, in addition to collaborative partnerships with stem cell researchers at
the University of Georgia, Emory University and other partnering institutions
throughout the state of Georgia.
