BME Special Seminar
Title: |
Applying Bioengineering to the Development |
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Speaker: |
Dr. Susan Thomas |
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Affiliation: |
École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Switzerland |
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When: |
Tuesday, August 23, 2011 at 11:00:00 AM |
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Where: |
Whitaker Building, Room 1103 |
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Host: |
Cindy Pickett | |
Abstract Cancer progression is tightly linked to the ability of malignant cells to exploit the immune system to promote survival. Insight into immune function can therefore be gained from understanding how tumors exploit immunity through the application of engineering fundamentals. Conversely, this interplay makes the concept of harness-ing the immune system to combat cancer using biomaterial methodologies an intriguing approach. I will describe how nanobiotechnology-based strategies using biomaterials can provide improved delivery of immune modulators to enhance or stem immunity. Furthermore, I will highlight how physiological transport phenomena regulate both cancer metastasis and immune response and how these transport processes can be harnessed in cancer immunotherapeutic applications. |
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Biography Dr. Thomas joins Georgia Tech this fall as Assistant Professor in the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering. From 2008 –2011 she was the Institute of Bioengineering Whitaker International Postdoctoral Scholar at the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Switzerland – Advisors: Melody A. Swartz and Jeffrey A. Hubbell. She earned a Ph.D. in Chemical & Biomolecular Engineer¬ing from The Johns Hopkins University in 2008. http://people.epfl.ch/susan.thomas |
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