Krishnendu Roy, PhD - University of Texas at Austin

Abstract:
Biomaterials and synthetic micro-environments, e.g. scaffolds, bioreactors, drug carriers, etc. can be designed to interact with stem cells and directly influence signaling pathways, differentiation and cell behavior. Most physiological and pathophysiological processes involve complex interactions of cells with their microenvironments.  These interactions often vary both spatially and temporally and provide critical, instructive cues to the cells. In this talk we would specifically focus on engineering artificial niches to control stem cell fate. Specifically, we would present results from our effort to (a) generate complex tissues with spatially varying extracellular matrix (ECM) compositions and mechanical properties from a single stem cell population, and (b) generate functional immune cells from embryonic and adult stem cells using biomaterial and bioreactor-based approaches. We will also briefly discuss our work on designing new biomaterial-based delivery systems for cancer therapies.

Biosketch:
Dr. Krishnendu (Krish) Roy received his undergraduate degree from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT Kharagpur, India) followed by his MS from Boston University and his PhD in Biomedical Engineering from Johns Hopkins University. Following his PhD, he joined Zycos Inc., a start-up biotechnology company where he served first as a Scientist and then as a Senior Scientist in the Drug Delivery Research group.  Dr. Roy left his industrial position to join The University of Texas at Austin in 2002, where he is currently the General Dynamics Endowed Faculty Fellow in Engineering, Associate Chair for Education and Outreach and Associate Professor of Biomedical Engineering. Dr. Roy’s research interests are in the areas of stem cell engineering with particular focus on bioreactor cultures and immune cell generation. He is also interested in controlled drug and vaccine delivery technologies and biomedical polymers with applications in cancer and immunotherapies. He was recently elected Fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE). Dr. Roy has received numerous awards and honors including the Young Investigator Awards from both the Controlled Release Society (CRS) and The Society for Biomaterials (SFB), the Young Scientist Award from HSEMB, NSF CAREER award, Global Indus Technovator Award from MIT, the CRS Cygnus Award etc. He has also received the translational research award from the Coulter foundation and the bioengineering grant from the Whitaker Foundation. Dr. Roy’s research has been supported through numerous grants from the NIH and NSF as well as an individual investigator award from the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas (CPRIT). He serves as a member of the Editorial Boards for the Journal of Controlled Release and the European Journal of Pharmaceutics and Biopharmaceutics.