MMB 2009 Conference - April 1-3, 2009



	Program Keynote Speakers Preliminary Program << Back		Donald Ingber, MD, Ph.D. Director Wyss Institute of Biologically Inspired Engineering Harvard University www.hms.harvard.edu/dms/bbs/fac/ingber.html Donald Ingber has made major contributions to cell and tissue engineering, as well as angiogenesis, cancer, developmental biology, biocomplexity, and nanobiotechnology. His research group is interested in how living cells and tissues structure themselves so as to exhibit their incredible organic properties, including their ability to change shape, move, grow, and heal, as well as how cancer results from a breakdown of normal developmental control. His team strives to identify design principles that govern the formation and control of living systems and to use this knowledge to develop novel therapeutics, devices, and robotic control systems. By combining approaches from molecular cell biology, chemistry, physics, engineering, computer science, magnetics, and optics, Ingber has helped to develop multiple new experimental nano- and micro-technologies, as well as engineered tissues and cancer therapeutics that have entered human clinical trials. His pioneering work demonstrating that tensegrity architecture is a fundamental principle that governs how living cells and tissues are structured at the nanometer scale has inspired a new generation of cancer researchers, bioengineers, and nanotechnologists. It also has led to insight into the molecular biophysical mechanisms by which cells within all organs sense and respond to mechanical forces. This work has led to more than 275 publications and 30 patents in areas ranging from anti-cancer therapeutics, tissue engineering, medical devices, and nanotechnology to bioinformatics software. Ingber received his B.A., M.A., M.Phil., M.D., and Ph.D. degrees from Yale University before completing his postdoctoral training with Judah Folkman at Harvard University. He is the first incumbent of the Judah Folkman Professorship of Vascular Biology at Harvard Medical School and Children's Hospital Boston, as well as a Professor of Bioengineering at the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences. Ingber served as Co-Director of Harvard's Center for Integration in Medicine and Innovative Technology (CIMIT) at Children's Hospital from 2005-2007. He helped to found two biotechnology start-ups, and has consulted for multiple pharmaceutical, biotechnology, venture capital and private investment companies, as well as the Department of Defense, Office of National Intelligence and National Public Radio. Ingber was named one of the world's "Best and Brightest" in 2003 by Esquire magazine, and is a recipient of a Breast Cancer Innovator Award from the Department of Defense, and of the Pritzker Distinguished Lecture Award from the Biomedical Engineering Society. Ingber was recently appointed as the Founding Director of the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University.