Hyunjoon Kong

Guest Editor for this issue of MRS Bulletin

Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA; email [email protected].

Kong is an associate professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He received his PhD degree from the University of Michigan and completed postdoctoral work at the University of Michigan and Harvard University. His research is broadly focused on the design of biomaterials for cell culture and therapies, drug delivery, and bioimaging.

Joyce Y. Wong

Guest Editor for this issue of MRS Bulletin

Biomedical Engineering and Materials Science and Engineering, Boston University, USA; email [email protected].

Wong is a professor of biomedical engineering and materials science and engineering at Boston University. She directs the Biomimetic Materials Engineering Laboratory, which is focused on developing biomaterial systems that mimic physiological and pathophysiological environments to study fundamental cellular processes at the biointerface. Current research includes vascular tissue engineering, theranostics, and engineering biomimetic systems to study restenosis and cancer metastasis.

María José Alonso

CIMUS Research Center, School of Pharmacy, University of Santiago de Compostela, Avda, Barcelona, Spain; tel. + 34 881815454; and email [email protected].

Alonso is full professor in biopharmaceutics and pharmaceutical technology at the University of Santiago de Compostela. Her research focuses on the design and development of novel nanostructured materials intended to transport complex biomolecules, drugs, and antigens across biological barriers and deliver them to the target tissue. She has pioneered the development of chitosan nanoparticles for drug delivery.

Ashutosh Chilkoti

Department of Biomedical Engineering, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA; tel. 919-660-5373; and email [email protected].

Chilkoti is the Theo Pilkington Chair in Biomedical Engineering at Duke University and is currently the director of the Center for Biologically Inspired Materials and Materials Systems at Duke University. His areas of research include biomolecular engineering with a focus on stimulus responsive biopolymers for applications in protein purification and drug delivery, and biointerface science, with a focus on the development of clinical diagnostics and plasmonic biosensors.

Minhwan Chung

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Seoul National University, South Korea; email [email protected].

Chung is a PhD candidate in the School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at Seoul National University. He received his bachelor of engineering degree in mechanical and aerospace engineering at the Seoul National University in 2011. His current research interest is in vitro immune systems for cancer immunotherapy.

Carla Pereira Gomes

Instituto de Engenharia Biomédica, Universidade do Porto, Rua do Campo Alegre, Portugal; tel. +351 22 6074900 ; and email [email protected].

Gomes is a PhD student in biomedical engineering at the University of Porto. She has a bachelor’s degree in biomedical sciences from the University of Aveiro and a master’s degree in molecular and cell biology from the University of Coimbra. Currently she is working toward the development of functionalized chitosan-based nanoparticles for the targeted delivery of pDNA to the nervous system.

Seung Rim Hwang

College of Pharmacy, Chosun University, South Korea; tel. +82-62-230-6365; and email [email protected].

Hwang is an assistant professor in the College of Pharmacy at Chosun University. She received her PhD degree in 2013 from the College of Pharmacy at Seoul National University. Her research interests include biopharmaceutics, nanotechnology, and theranostics.

Noo Li Jeon

School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Seoul National University, South Korea; email [email protected].

Jeon is a professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at the Seoul National University. In 2001, he joined the faculty of the Department of Biomedical Engineering at the University of California, Irvine. In 2009, he joined the faculty of the Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at Seoul National University. His research interests include vascular engineering of organs-on-a-chip for drug delivery and drug screening systems, with a focus on development of bio-mimetic microfluidic platforms for neuroscience and cancer research.

Min Kyung Joo

Center for Theragnosis, Biomedical Research Institute, Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST), South Korea; tel. +82-2-958-5911; and email [email protected].

Joo is a postdoctoral fellow at the Center for Theragnosis, Biomedical Research Institute, Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST). She received her PhD degree in 2012 in chemistry and nano science from Ewha Womans University under the supervision of Byeongmoon Jeong. Her research interests include drug delivery systems using thermosensitive hydrogels and siRNA delivery using polymeric carriers.

Benjamin G. Keselowsky

J. Crayton Pruitt Family Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Florida, USA; email [email protected].

Keselowsky is an associate professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at the University of Florida. He has a BS degree in chemical engineering from the University of South Florida (1998) and a PhD degree in bioengineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology (2004). The Keselowsky Lab focuses on the engineering of biomaterial-cell interactions, and targeted controlled release of immune modulating factors in order to direct immune cell function.

Sun Hwa Kim

Center for Theragnosis, Biomedical Research Institute, Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST), South Korea; tel. +82-2-958-6639; and email [email protected].

Kim is a senior research scientist at the Center for Theragnosis, Biomedical Research Institute, Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST). She received her PhD degree in 2007 at Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology under the supervision of Tae Gwan Park. Her main research interests include biomaterials-based drug delivery, siRNA therapy, and stem cell delivery.

Sook Hee Ku

Center for Theragnosis, Biomedical Research Institute, Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST), South Korea; tel. +82-2-958-5907; and email [email protected].

Ku is a postdoctoral fellow at the Center for Theragnosis, Biomedical Research Institute, Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST). She received her PhD degree in 2013 in materials science and engineering at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology. Her research interests include nanocarriers for gene delivery and cell-nanomaterial interactions.

Catherine K. Kuo

Department of Biomedical Engineering, Tufts University, Medford, MA; and Cell, Molecular, and Developmental Biology Program, Sackler School of Graduate Biomedical Sciences, Tufts University School of Medicine, Boston, MA, USA; email [email protected].

Kuo is an assistant professor of biomedical engineering at Tufts University. She received her PhD degree in biomaterials and in macromolecular science and engineering from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Her research interests are in musculoskeletal developmental biology and tissue engineering, with a focus on mechano-regulation of stem cell differentiation and tissue regeneration.

Ick Chan Kwon

Center for Theragnosis, Biomedical Research Institute, Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST), South Korea; tel. +82-2-958-5912; and email [email protected].

Kwon is a principal research scientist of the Center for Theragnosis, Biomedical Research Institute, Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST). He is also a professor of KU-KIST Graduate School in Korea University. He received his PhD degree in 1993 in pharmaceutics and pharmaceutical chemistry from the University of Utah. His research interests include targeted drug delivery with polymeric nanoparticles and the development of smart nanoplatforms for theragnosis.

Hyunjae Lee

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Seoul National University, South Korea; email [email protected].

Lee is a PhD candidate in the School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at Seoul National University. He received his bachelor of engineering degree in mechanical and aerospace engineering at the Seoul National University in 2010 and his master of engineering degree in 2012. His current research interest is in the development of in vitro models for vascular biology and tumor microenvironment.

Jamal S. Lewis

J. Crayton Pruitt Family Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Florida, USA; email [email protected].

Lewis received his PhD degree in biomedical engineering in 2012 from the University of Florida. As a postdoctoral associate at the University of Florida, Lewis focused on the development of a dendritic cell-targeting, microparticle-based vaccine for the prevention of Type I diabetes. He was recently awarded a Phase I Small Business Innovation Research grant to explore the possibility of commercializing this microparticle-based vaccine formulation for OneVax, LLC, where he also serves as a senior scientist.

Cátia Daniela Ferreira Lopes

Instituto de Engenharia Biomédica, Universidade do Porto, Rua do Campo Alegre, Portugal; tel. +351 22 6074900; and email [email protected].

Lopes is a PhD student in neurosciences at the University of Porto. She previously attended the Health Sciences School of the Polytechnic Institute of Porto from where she received a degree in pathological anatomy, cytology, and thanatology. Her current research work focuses on the evaluation of nerve regeneration after gene therapy mediated by a chitosan platform designed for targeted gene delivery to the peripheral nervous system.

Eric Mastria

Duke University, Durham, NC, USA; tel. 919-660-5535; and email [email protected].

Mastria is a MD/PhD student in biomedical engineering at Duke University studying drug delivery to tumors in the lab of Ashutosh Chilkoti. He previously attended the University of Michigan, where he received a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering in 2009. He is a member of the Alpha Omega Alpha Medical Honor Society and Tau Beta Pi Engineering Honor Society.

Pedro Miguel Duarte Moreno

Instituto de Engenharia Biomédica, Universidade do Porto, Rua do Campo Alegre, Portugal; tel. +351 22 6074900; and email [email protected].

Moreno is an assistant investigator at INEB in the NEWTherapies Group working in the Biomaterials for Neuroscience Team. He received a doctoral degree in molecular cell biology from the Karolinska Institute. His research interests focus on development of DNA technologies for therapeutic applications and the design of biomaterial-based vectors for delivery of nucleic acids to target tissues and cells.

Ana Paula Pêgo

Instituto de Engenharia Biomédica, Universidade do Porto, Rua do Campo Alegre, Portugal; tel. +351 22 6074900; email [email protected].

Pêgo is a principal investigator at INEB and an invited professor at the University of Porto. She is co-coordinator of the NEWTherapies Group and leader of the Biomaterials for Neurosciences team. Her research on new biomaterials for application in neurosciences includes the development of new polymers for the design of biomaterial-based vectors for gene therapy and preparation of nerve grafts for spinal cord injury treatment.

Krishnendu Roy

Center for ImmunoEngineering at Georgia Tech, The Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering at Georgia Tech and Emory University, and the Parker H. Petit Institute for Bioscience and Bioengineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, USA; tel. 404-385-6166; and email [email protected].

Roy received his undergraduate degree from the Indian Institute of Technology followed by his MS degree from Boston University and his PhD degree in biomedical engineering from Johns Hopkins University. He is currently the Carol Ann and David D. Flanagan professor of Biomedical Engineering and Director of the Center for ImmunoEngineering at Georgia Institute of Technology. Roy’s research interests are in the areas of controlled drug and vaccine delivery technologies, immunoengineering, and stem cell engineering, with a particular focus in biomedical materials with applications in cancer and immunotherapies. Roy has been elected Fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering and of the Biomedical Engineering Society. He has won numerous awards and serves as a member of the editorial boards of the Journal of Controlled Release and the European Journal of Pharmaceutics and Biopharmaceutics.

Michael L. Smith

Department of Biomedical Engineering, Boston University, MA, USA; email [email protected].

Smith is an assistant professor of biomedical engineering at Boston University. He received his PhD degree in biomedical engineering from the University of Virginia in 2004. His research is broadly focused on the role of the extracellular matrix in mechanobiology.

Aida Varela-Moreira

Instituto de Engenharia Biomédica, Universidade do Porto, Rua do Campo Alegre, Portugal; tel. +351 22 6074900; and email [email protected].

Varela-Moreira is a MSc student in medicine and molecular oncology at the University of Porto. She earned a degree in biology from the University of Porto. She is currently working on the optimization of chitosan-based nanoparticles for gene delivery focusing on the study of intracellular pathways and degradation of chitosan nanoparticles.