In a breakthrough achievement, the Gracias laboratory has designed micro-scale grippers that can grab and remove living tissue from hard to reach places. Read about this research in the early edition of  the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA and also the New York times.  

Professor Denis Wirtz awarded an NIH/NIGMS-RO1 grant

Professor Denis Wirtz and his colleague Professor Didier Hodzic at Washington University in St. Louis were awarded a $1.42 million dollar research grant from the National Institutes of Health to study the structural role and functions of the connections between the nucleus and the cytoskeleton in normal cells and cells derived from models of human diseases, including progeria and muscular dystrophy.

NIH Director's New Innovator Award Goes 
to David Gracias

On September 22, 2008 the National Institutes of Health named David Gracias the recipient of a 2008 NIH Director's New Innovator Award. The award, given in recognition of David’s pioneering work in microscale and nanoscale tools and devices for medicine, also serves as confirmation of his role as an exceptionally innovative engineer and acknowledges the great potential his research holds. This year, only 31 individuals were selected for the honor. Launched in 2007, the New Innovator Award is a key component of the NIH Roadmap for Medical Research and is intended to stimulate and sustain innovation. More information 
about the award can be found here.

Congratulations to Professor Konstantinos Konstantopoulos on assuming the chairmanship of the department. 

Professor Konstantopoulos awarded an NIH/NCI-R01 grant
Prof. Konstantopoulos was awarded a research grant in the amount of approximately 1.5 million dollars from the National Institutes of Health/National Cancer Institute to characterize the molecular interactions between colon carcinoma cells and host cells.

Congratulations to Justin Hanes who was promoted to Full Professor

Justin Hanes awarded a National Institutes of Health RO1 grant to study gene vectors for cystic fibrosis
The major goals are to understand the bottlenecks to efficient gene delivery in the lungs and to develop improved gene carriers to treat Cystic Fibrosis. Collaborators include: Pam Zeitlin (Pediatrics--Pulmonary Division), Trina Schroer (Biology), and Denis Wirtz (Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering).