ANTONIOS MIKOS

2013 / 2014 Fred S. Grodins Keynote Lecture
Biomedical Engineering Department

Title: Advancing Scaffold Based Approaches for Tissue Engineering
Antonios Mikos
Louis Calder Professor of Bioengineering, Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
Director, Center for Excellence in Tissue Engineering
Director, J.W. Cox Laboratory for Biomedical Engineering
Rice University


Lecture Information: September 5, 2013
4:00 pm - 5:00 pm
Boardroom of the Davidson Continuing Education Conference Center (second floor)

Abstract:
Scaffold based approaches for tissue engineering range from the development of innovative biomaterials that can be tailored with appropriate mechanical and biological signals to regenerate tissue in specific sites in the body to applying implants comprising existing biomaterials approved for use in certain clinical applications in strategies to encourage tissue regeneration. For example, our laboratory has developed a variety of biodegradable polymeric scaffolds for the controlled delivery of biologically active agents and/or progenitor stem cell populations to promote regeneration of tissues such as bone and cartilage. Further, our laboratory has explored the application of bioreactor culture of progenitor cell populations on fiber mesh scaffolds to produce extracellular matrix constructs containing biologically active signals to direct cellular differentiation and tissue formation. This talk will present recent examples from our laboratory to illustrate designer scaffold-based approaches for tissue engineering, as well as examples of emerging applications of clinically available biomaterials as components of implant-based strategies to promote tissue regeneration.

Biography
Antonios G. Mikos is the Louis Calder Professor of Bioengineering and Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at Rice University. He is the Director of the J.W. Cox Laboratory for Biomedical Engineering and the Director of the Center for Excellence in Tissue Engineering at Rice University. He received his Dipl.Eng. (1983) from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece, and his Ph.D. (1988) in chemical engineering from Purdue University. He was a postdoctoral researcher at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Harvard Medical School before joining the Rice faculty in 1992 as an assistant professor.

Mikos' research focuses on the synthesis, processing, and evaluation of new biomaterials for use as scaffolds for tissue engineering, as carriers for controlled drug delivery, and as non-viral vectors for gene therapy. His work has led to the development of novel orthopaedic, dental, cardiovascular, neurologic, and ophthalmologic biomaterials. He is the author of over 450 publications and 25 patents. He is the editor of 14 books and the author of one textbook (Biomaterials: The Intersection of Biology and Materials Science, Pearson Prentice Hall, 2008). He has been cited over 34,000 times and has an h-index of 101.

Mikos is a Member of the National Academy of Engineering, a Member of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies, and a Member of the Academy of Medicine, Engineering and Science of Texas. He is a Founding Fellow of the the Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine International Society, a Fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering, a Fellow of the International Union of Societies for Biomaterials Science and Engineering, a Fellow of the Biomedical Engineering Society, a Fellow of the Controlled Release Society, and a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He has been recognized by various awards including the Founders Award and the Clemson Award for Contributions to the Literature of the Society For Biomaterials, the Robert A. Pritzker Distinguished Lecturer Award of the Biomedical Engineering Society, the Alpha Chi Sigma Award for Chemical Engineering Research and the Food, Pharmaceutical and Bioengineering Award in Chemical Engineering of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers, the Meriam/Wiley Distinguished Author Award and the Chemstations Lectureship Award of the American Society for Engineering Education, the Edith and Peter O'Donnell Award in Engineering of the Academy of Medicine, Engineering and Science of Texas, the Marshall R. Urist Award for Excellence in Tissue Regeneration Research of the Orthopaedic Research Society, the Distinguished Scientist Award - Isaac Schour Memorial Award of the International Association for Dental Research, and the Outstanding Chemical Engineer Award of Purdue University.

Mikos has mentored ­­­52 graduate students on their way to completing their doctoral studies, as well as 36 postdoctoral fellows, 22 of whom remain in academia at institutions including Georgia Tech, Hanyang University, Mayo Clinic, Texas A&M University, Tulane University, University of Maryland, University of New Mexico, University of Oklahoma, University of Texas at Austin, Virginia Tech, and Rice University among others. He is organizer of the continuing education course Advances in Tissue Engineering offered annually at Rice University since 1993.

Mikos is a founding editor and editor-in-chief of the journals Tissue Engineering Part A, Tissue Engineering Part B: Reviews, and Tissue Engineering Part C: Methods and a member of the editorial boards of the journals Advanced Drug Delivery Reviews, Cell Transplantation, Journal of Biomaterials Science Polymer Edition, Journal of Biomedical Materials Research (Part A and B), and Journal of Controlled Release. He is the 2012-13 President-elect of the Society For Biomaterials.

Current projects in the Mikos Research Group include:

Investigating bone regeneration and repair using a biodegradable polymer scaffold, either by inducing post-implantation bone tissue growth or by seeding the scaffold with bone cells prior to implantation;
Developing new rapid prototyping processing methods for manufacturing 3-D biodegradable polymer scaffolds of anatomical shapes with precise architecture;
Fabricating injectable, in situ polymerizable, biodegradable composite scaffolds as carriers for bone and cartilage cells to improve the quality of tissue formed in localized areas after injury;
Developing new flow perfusion bioreactors and examining the effects of mechanical forces and flow on three-dimensional cultures of bone cells and the production of extracellular matrix;
Synthesizing new biomimetic materials that exhibit the mechanical responsiveness and biochemical processing capabilities of living cells and tissues;
Investigating the controlled release of growth factors from polymeric scaffolds to induce regeneration cascades in bone and cartilage; and
Fabricating novel nanocomposites using nanoparticles and single-walled carbon nanotubes as reinforcing agents to improve mechanical properties of scaffolds for bone tissue engineering.