Professor Ravi Bellamkonda has been named the first Carol Ann and David D. Flanagan Chair in Biomedical Engineering in the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering at Georgia Tech and Emory. The award, made possible by a generous $1.5 million gift from the Flanagans, was recently approved by the Georgia Board of Regents. The award recognizes Bellamkonda’s scholarship and thought leadership in regenerative medicine, nanotechnology and cancer research, and will support his active research program.

Bellamkonda directs the Neurological Biomaterials and Cancer Therapeutics Laboratory, a part of the Laboratory for Neuroengineering in the joint Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering at Georgia Tech and Emory. He also serves as associate vice president within the Office of the Executive Vice President for Research (EVPR), directs a T32 training grant called Rational Design of Biomaterials, directs a Graduate Leadership Program for BioE/BME graduate students and is a Georgia Cancer Coalition Distinguished Scholar.  

Current research projects in the Neurological Biomaterials and Cancer Therapeutics Laboratory include: developing scaffolds for peripheral nerve regeneration and interfacing; developing vehicles for contrast agents and receptor-targeted nano-scale drug delivery for the treatment of malignant tumors; and engineering a system for tumor exvasion. He is also leading a research team exploring interfacing technologies that will better integrate external electronics to the nervous system. In addition to the Flanagan endowment, Bellamkonda’s research is funded by grants from NIH, NSF, the Coulter Foundation, the Georgia Cancer Coalition, and Ian's Friend's Foundation.