Find a Conference

Alert – GRC attendees have received calls and emails from representatives claiming to be affiliated with hotels in the area of GRC conference venues. These representatives are not authorized by GRC. Details are available by clicking here.

For important information regarding GRC’s vaccination policy and on-site COVID-19 protocols, please click here.

Biomaterials and Tissue Engineering

Gordon Research Conference

Building Novel Molecular Designs and Basic Biological Discoveries into Successful Medical Technologies

July 23 - 28, 2017

Chairs Horst A. von Recum and Joel H. Collier

Vice Chairs Jennifer L. West and Brendan Harley

Holderness School

33 Chapel Lane

Holderness, NH, US

Venue and Travel Information

Conference Description

The 2017 GRC and GRS on Biomaterials and Tissue Engineering will bring together world-class clinicians, scientists and engineers to discuss materials-related strategies for disease remediation and tissue repair. The theme of the 2017 conference will be "Building Novel Molecular Designs and Basic Biological Discoveries into Successful Medical Technologies" and will feature multidisciplinary presentations by bioengineers, chemists and clinical scientists on emerging topics in immunology and stem cells as well as basic and translational aspects of biomaterials science. Session topics include: Immunology, Novel Molecular Biomaterials, New Materials for Delivery, Stem Cell Biology, Polymer Science, Vascular Biology, Clinical Practice, Computation, Translational Research, and Industrial Trends. Additionally we have key committed speakers from fields just beyond the current edges of the Biomaterials and Tissue Engineering field, who we expect will help lead the rest of the attendees more deeply into these fields and who will enrich our scientific culture. The 2017 program also adheres to the GRC directive of holding vigorous formal and informal discussions between researchers at all career stages. There will be poster sessions organized on topical themes to match the session topics.

Related Meeting

This GRC will be held in conjunction with the "Biomaterials and Tissue Engineering (GRS)" Gordon Research Seminar (GRS). Those interested in attending both meetings must submit an application for the GRS in addition to an application for the GRC. Refer to the associated GRS program page for more information.

Conference Program

Sunday
2:00 pm - 9:00 pm	Arrival and Check-in
6:00 pm - 7:00 pm	Dinner
7:30 pm - 7:40 pm	Introductory Comments by GRC Site Staff / Welcome from the GRC Chair
7:40 pm - 9:30 pm	Molecular Design in Biomaterials Discussion Leader: Gregory Hudalla (University of Florida, USA)
7:40 pm - 7:45 pm	Introduction by Discussion Leader
7:45 pm - 8:25 pm	Ashutosh Chilkoti (Duke University, USA) "Genetically Encoded Biomaterials that Self-Assemble Across Multiple Length Scales"
8:25 pm - 8:40 pm	Discussion
8:40 pm - 9:20 pm	Suzie Pun (University of Washington, USA) "Peptide-Based Polymers for Drug Delivery and Cell Therapy"
9:20 pm - 9:30 pm	Discussion
Monday
7:30 am - 8:30 am	Breakfast
8:30 am - 9:00 am	Group Photo
9:00 am - 12:30 pm	Biomaterials ImmunoEngineering Discussion Leader: Julia Babensee (Georgia Institute of Technology, USA)
9:00 am - 9:10 am	Introduction by Discussion Leader
9:10 am - 9:50 am	Benjamin Keselowsky (University of Florida, USA) "Dendritic Cell-Targeted Immunomodulation for Tolerance and Suppression"
9:50 am - 10:05 am	Discussion
10:05 am - 10:40 am	Coffee Break
10:40 am - 11:20 am	Aaron Esser-Kahn (University of Chicago, USA) "Modulating the Innate Immune System - Understanding Adjuvant Design"
11:20 am - 11:35 am	Discussion
11:35 am - 12:15 pm	Ankur Singh (Cornell University, USA) "Engineering Ex Vivo Lymphoid Tissues to Model Immunity and Malignancies"
12:15 pm - 12:30 pm	Discussion
12:30 pm - 1:30 pm	Lunch
1:30 pm - 4:00 pm	Free Time
4:00 pm - 6:00 pm	Poster Session
6:00 pm - 7:00 pm	Dinner
7:30 pm - 9:30 pm	Biomaterials in Emerging Stem Cell Technologies Discussion Leader: Andrew Putnam (University of Michigan, USA)
7:30 pm - 7:40 pm	Introduction by Discussion Leader
7:40 pm - 8:20 pm	Milica Radisic (University of Toronto, Canada) "Towards Human-on-a-Plate and Injectable Functional Tissues"
8:20 pm - 8:35 pm	Discussion
8:35 pm - 9:15 pm	Young-Sup Yoon (Emory University, USA) "Peptide Amphiphile-Mediated Stem Cell Therapy for Cardiovascular Disease"
9:15 pm - 9:30 pm	Discussion
Tuesday
7:30 am - 8:30 am	Breakfast
9:00 am - 12:30 pm	Novel Biomaterials for Delivery Discussion Leader: Omolola Eniola-Adefeso (University of Michigan, USA)
9:00 am - 9:10 am	Introduction by Discussion Leader
9:10 am - 9:50 am	Craig Duvall (Vanderbilt University, USA) "Precision Polymer Architectures and Molecular Conjugates to Enable Therapeutics Against Undruggable Targets"
9:50 am - 10:05 am	Discussion
10:05 am - 10:40 am	Coffee Break
10:40 am - 11:20 am	Theresa Reineke (University of Minnesota, USA) "Tunable Multifunctional Macromolecules for Drug Delivery and Genome Editing"
11:20 am - 11:35 am	Discussion
11:35 am - 12:15 pm	Alexander M. Cruickshank Lecture: Sangeeta Bhatia (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA) "Biomaterials to Query, Model, and Expand Hepatic Tissue Microenvironments"
12:15 pm - 12:30 pm	Discussion
12:30 pm - 1:30 pm	Lunch
1:30 pm - 4:00 pm	Free Time
4:00 pm - 6:00 pm	Poster Session
6:00 pm - 7:00 pm	Dinner
7:30 pm - 9:30 pm	Systems and Computational Approaches Exploitable by Biomaterials Discussion Leader: Gregory Underhill (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA)
7:30 pm - 7:35 pm	Introduction by Discussion Leader
7:35 pm - 8:10 pm	Karl Deisseroth (Stanford University, USA) "Building New Structures and Functions Within Intact Biological Tissues"
8:10 pm - 8:20 pm	Discussion
8:20 pm - 8:45 pm	Princess Imoukhuede (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA) "…But PDGFs Are Supposed to Bind to PDGFRs! Merging Experiment and Computation to Understand Cross-Axis Binding and Signaling"
8:45 pm - 8:55 pm	Discussion
8:55 pm - 9:20 pm	Pam Kreeger (University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA) "Engineering the Microenvironments of Ovarian Cancer"
9:20 pm - 9:30 pm	Discussion
Wednesday
7:30 am - 8:30 am	Breakfast
9:00 am - 12:30 pm	Integrative Engineering of Cell/Scaffold Composites Discussion Leader: Sam Senyo (Case Western Reserve University, USA)
9:00 am - 9:10 am	Introduction by Discussion Leader
9:10 am - 9:50 am	Shelly Peyton (University of Massachusetts Amherst, USA) "Tissue-Guided Hydrogel Design"
9:50 am - 10:05 am	Discussion
10:05 am - 10:40 am	Coffee Break
10:40 am - 11:20 am	Shyni Varghese (Duke University, USA) "Biomineralized Scaffolds: From Fundamental Understandings to Therapy for Bone Diseases"
11:20 am - 11:35 am	Discussion
11:35 am - 12:15 pm	Katja Schenke-Layland (Fraunhofer Institute for Interfacial Engineering and Biotechnology IGB, Germany) "ECM as a Biomaterial for Regenerative Medicine Applications"
12:15 pm - 12:30 pm	Discussion
12:30 pm - 1:30 pm	Lunch
1:30 pm - 4:00 pm	Free Time
4:00 pm - 6:00 pm	Poster Session
6:00 pm - 7:00 pm	Dinner
7:30 pm - 9:30 pm	Inflammation and Infection in the Context of Biomaterials Discussion Leader: Tatiana Segura (University of California, Los Angeles, USA)
7:30 pm - 7:40 pm	Introduction by Discussion Leader
7:40 pm - 8:20 pm	Andres Garcia (Georgia Institute of Technology, USA) "Infection-Fighting Materials"
8:20 pm - 8:35 pm	Discussion
8:35 pm - 9:15 pm	Evan Scott (Northwestern University, USA) "Modulation of Atherosclerotic Inflammation with Immunotheranostic Nanobiomaterials"
9:15 pm - 9:30 pm	Discussion
Thursday
7:30 am - 8:30 am	Breakfast
8:30 am - 9:00 am	Business Meeting Nominations for the Next Vice Chair; Fill in Conference Evaluation Forms; Discuss Future Site and Scheduling Preferences; Election of the Next Vice Chair
9:00 am - 12:30 pm	Strategies for the Commercial Success of Biomaterials Discussion Leader: Marisha Godek (Medtronic, USA)
9:00 am - 9:10 am	Introduction by Discussion Leader
9:10 am - 9:50 am	Darrel Untereker (Medtronic, USA) "How Well Can We Predict the Properties of Materials Implanted in the Human Body for 15 Years?"
9:50 am - 10:05 am	Discussion
10:05 am - 10:40 am	Coffee Break
10:40 am - 11:20 am	Muthiah Manoharan (Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, USA) "Making Drugs out of siRNAs: From Principles to Patients"
11:20 am - 11:35 am	Discussion
11:35 am - 12:15 pm	Hallie Brinkerhuff (Zimmer Biomet, USA) "How to Create the Future: Designing the Next Generation Medical Innovations"
12:15 pm - 12:30 pm	Discussion
12:30 pm - 1:30 pm	Lunch
1:30 pm - 4:00 pm	Free Time
4:00 pm - 6:00 pm	Poster Session
6:00 pm - 7:00 pm	Dinner
7:30 pm - 9:30 pm	Young Investigator Presentations Discussion Leader: Jennifer West (Duke University, USA)
7:30 pm - 7:40 pm	Introduction by Discussion Leader
7:40 pm - 7:50 pm	Eric Appel (Stanford University, USA) "Supramolecular Biomaterials: From Fundamentals to Advanced Healthcare Solutions"
7:50 pm - 7:55 pm	Discussion
7:55 pm - 8:05 pm	Ashley Brown (North Carolina State University / University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, USA) "Wound Interfacing Microgels Enhance Cell Migration and Promote Healing"
8:05 pm - 8:10 pm	Discussion
8:10 pm - 8:20 pm	Cole DeForest (University of Washington, USA) "Engineered Modular Biomaterial Logic Gates for Environmentally Triggered Therapeutic Delivery"
8:20 pm - 8:25 pm	Discussion
8:25 pm - 8:35 pm	John Wilson (Vanderbilt University, USA) "'Smart' Nanoparticles for Immunotherapeutic Targeting of the STING Pathway"
8:35 pm - 8:40 pm	Discussion
8:40 pm - 8:50 pm	Paolo Contessotto (CURAM, National University of Ireland Galway, Ireland) "Elastin-Like Recombinamers-Based Hydrogel Modulates Infarcted Myocardium Glycoprofile Towards a Regenerative State"
8:50 pm - 8:55 pm	Discussion
8:55 pm - 9:05 pm	Jessica Weaver (Georgia Institute of Technology, USA) "Vasculogenic Degradable Hydrogel to Enhance Islet Engraftment, Function, and Survival Within Extrahepatic Transplant Sites"
9:05 pm - 9:10 pm	Discussion
9:10 pm - 9:20 pm	General Discussion
9:20 pm - 9:30 pm	Closing Remarks
Friday
7:30 am - 8:30 am	Breakfast
9:00 am	Departure