Charles Peak, first-year graduate student in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at Texas A&M University, has been awarded Best Poster at Biomaterials Day, funded by the Society for Biomaterials (SFB).
Peak's abstract was selected from more than 60 abstracts for the event’s graduate student competition, held at Rice University this year. In addition, Peak was awarded second place in the oral presentation portion of the event for his four-minute “rapid fire” talk in which he discussed his research.
Peak, who is advised by Assistant Professor Akhilesh K. Gaharwar, was recognized for his project "Elastomeric cell-laden nanocomposite microfibers for engineering complex tissues."
Working in Gaharwar’s laboratory, Peak has developed elastomeric microfibers-based cellular constructs from natural and synthetic polymer via ionic and covalent crosslinking. By controlling the interactions between nanoparticles and polymers, he was able to design the nanocomposite hydrogels with tunable mechanical and degradation properties. Gaharwar explained. These elastic microfibers may serve as model systems to explore the effect of mechanical stress on cell-matrix interactions for engineer scaffold structures, fabric sheets, bundles, or as building blocks for 3D tissue construction, he said.
“Charles is a creative and hard working researcher,” Gaharwar said. “Charles has demonstrated the ability to synergistically combine his background with new knowledge from various scientific and engineering disciplines to forge new ideas and develop simple yet innovative bioengineering tools and approaches."
Biomaterials Day is a one-day symposium at six different locations throughout the United States. It is designed to enhance networking between academic, industrial and government sectors and increase student exposure to biomaterials research. Students throughout the area, SFB industry members as well as non-SFB members interested in the biomaterials field attend the event.