SEAS forms center to advance cell, gene and tissue engineering research

A team of UB researchers in chemical, biological and biomedical engineering have joined forces to develop innovative technologies for regenerative medicine and educate future leaders in the field.

Funded by the Office of the Provost, the new Center for Cell, Gene and Tissue Engineering (CGTE) will be led by SUNY Distinguished Professor Stelios Andreadis.

“I am very happy to announce the launch of the Cell, Gene and Tissue Engineering Center with support from Provost (A. Scott) Weber,” says Kemper Lewis, dean of the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences. “The center will build on existing strengths in SEAS to enhance our research infrastructure, promote collaborations, increase our competitiveness in large center-type grants and make UB one of the leading institutions in this area.”

Andreadis is an expert in stem cells, tissue engineering and regenerative medicine, and directs UB’s Stem Cells in Regenerative Medicine (SCiRM) Training Program, a joint initiative between the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, and Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center Graduate Division that is funded through the New York State Stem Cell Science Board (NYSTEM).

“I am excited that we are able to launch the CGTE center during such difficult times, and am looking forward to working with the core faculty on collaborations that will enrich our collective research activities, as well as those of the UB scientific community at large,” says Andreadis.

The center’s research will initially focus on several areas of core faculty expertise, including stem cell engineering, tissue engineering and regeneration; biomaterials; cell and tissue biomechanics; gene, protein and drug delivery (including novel vectors, vaccines and CRISPR technologies), and novel imaging technologies; high-throughput data acquisition technologies; BioMEMS; and omics (genomics, proteomics, glycomics) and associated systems, computational and big data engineering.

The core faculty are Sriram Neelamegham, Natesh Parashurama, Sheldon Park and Blaine Pfeifer, all from the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, and B. Rita Alevriadou, Jonathan Lovell, Yun Wu and Ruogang Zhao from the Department of Biomedical Engineering, a joint program with the Jacobs School. The center will eventually expand to include additional faculty from SEAS, as well as other UB units such the Jacobs School and the College of Arts and Sciences.