Research work in my laboratory spans a wide spectrum from fundamental to technological to pre-clinical/translational research. It is highly interdisciplinary, and is facilitated by collaboration with researchers from the School of Medicine (Pediatrics, Physiology and Biophysics); Dental School (Oral Biology); Center of Excellence in Bioinformatics and Life Sciences; Roswell Park Cancer Institute (RPCI) and Biomedical Engineering. To date our work has resulted in 105 peer-reviewed publications, 32 conference proceedings, 74 invited presentations and over 250 conference presentations. Our work has been continuously funded over the years from federal, state and private foundation sources including NIH, NSF, the New York State Stem Cell Fund (NYSTEM), JDRF, the John R. Oishei Foundation and the Whittaker Foundation. Recently, I led a team of UB and RPCI investigators that was awarded a grant from NYSTEM to launch a new Training Program focusing on Stem Cells in Regenerative Medicine (SCiRM).

• Adult and induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells for cardiovascular tissue engineering
• Direct cell reprogramming to neural crest stem cells and associated lineages
• Systems bioengineering of gene regulatory networks in stem cell engineering through development of a novel technology - LentiViral Arrays (LVA) for real-time monitoring of stem cell behavior
• Intercellular adhesion signaling in epithelial development and stem cell differentiation
• Molecular engineering of biomimetic biomaterials for protein and gene delivery