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There is now a CONTENT FREEZE for Mercury while we switch to a new platform. It began on Friday, March 10 at 6pm and will end on Wednesday, March 15 at noon. No new content can be created during this time, but all material in the system as of the beginning of the freeze will be migrated to the new platform, including users and groups. Functionally the new site is identical to the old one. webteam@gatech.edu
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Lisa Tuttle
Office of Stephen Cross
Executive Vice President for Research
Georgia Tech
Summary Sentence: Andrés García, Ph.D. - Georgia Tech
Full Summary: No summary paragraph submitted.
Andrés García, Ph.D. - Georgia TechAndrés García, Ph.D.
Rae S. and Frank H. Neely Chair and Regents' Professor of Mechanical Engineering
George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering
Director, Interdisciplinary Bioengineering Graduate Program
Georgia Tech
Background:
Andrés García, Ph.D. began at Georgia Tech in 1998 as an Assistant Professor. Prior, he was a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Department of Microbiology at the School of Medicine of the University of Pennsylvania.
Research:
García's research centers on cellular and tissue engineering, areas which integrate engineering and biological principles to control cell function in order to restore and/or enhance function in injured or diseased organs. Specifically, his research focuses on fundamental structure-function relationships governing cell-biomaterials interactions for bone and muscle applications. Current projects involve the analysis and manipulation of cell adhesion receptors and their extracellular matrix ligands. For example, a mechanochemical system has been developed to analyze the contributions of receptor binding, clustering, and interactions with other cellular structural proteins to cell adhesion strength.
In another research thrust, bio-inspired surfaces, including micropatterned substrates, are engineered to control cell adhesion in order to direct signaling and cell function. For instance, biomolecular surfaces have been engineered to target specific adhesion receptors to modulate cell signaling and differentiation. These biomolecular strategies are applicable to the development of 3D hybrid scaffolds for enhanced tissue reconstruction,"smart" biomaterials, and cell growth supports. Finally, genetic engineering approaches have been applied to engineer cells that form bone tissue for use in the development of mineralized templates for enhanced bone repair.
