Events Calendar

Biomedical Engineering Speakers

Speaker: Melissa L. Knothe Tate, Ph.D, Paul Trainor Chair of Biomedical Engineering, University of New South Wales

Talk Title: Novel Biotech Approaches to Engineer Cell Mediated Tissue Genesis and Next Generation Materials

Abstract: Cells, tissues and organs show remarkable smart properties including the capacity not only to sense but also to adapt to environmental stimuli by changing their own structure1-4. For instance, the periosteum is a pre-stressed but also hyperelastic, soft sleeve bounding all nonarticular bony surfaces2. The periosteum confers "super strength" to bones under impact loads2,5. It also serves as a quiescent niche for stem cells that appears to trigger stem cell egression via mechanical cues intrinsic to its structure6. Smart material properties, inherent to biological materials such as periosteal tissue, emerge from the manufacture of raw materials and the building of complex architectures by cells4. Recent advances in coupled multimodel imaging, computational modeling and experimental mechanics are unraveling the multiscale mechanobiology underpinning such emergent functional behavior. Here we discuss three examples, including stem cell mechanomics (the mechanics equivalent of the genome)7 and weaving of novel functional textiles inspired by the architecture and scaled up patterns of the natural structural protein fibers of the periosteum8.


Biography: Professor Knothe Tate was recruited in July 2013 to become the inaugural Paul Trainor Chair of Biomedical Engineering at UNSW. Paul Trainor was the founder of the med tech industry in Australia, and the Trainor Chair was endowed to follow that legacy and to stimulate innovation and commercialisation in Australia's biomedical technology sector. Professor Knothe Tate has led a number of international biotech initiatives, integrating next generation implants with stem cell, orthopaedics and systems biology initiatives, through the U.S. National Science Foundation, National Institutes of Health, and the National Academy of Engineering's Consortium with the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation in Germany. She has a track record of leadership in strategic planning, innovation, R&D translation and educational program quality assessment for federal agencies (Australian Research Council's Excellence for Research in Australia), medical associations (American Association of Orthopaedic Surgery), private foundations (AO and Coulter Foundations), clinics (Cleveland Clinic), universities (Trinity College Dublin Innovation and Next Generation Medical Devices Theme), and industry (e.g. Harvard Apparatus, Leica Microsystems, Zeiss Microscopy). She is a Fellow of the American Institute of Medical and Biomedical Engineering (AIMBE), American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME), the Biomedical Engineering Society (BMES), and Engineers Australia, all fellow-elected roles denoting the top tier of the profession.


Professor Knothe Tate has been awarded a number of prizes and honors related to the clinical translation and innovation including the Walter H. Coulter Award for Innovation and Entrepreneurship for a novel composition and method for inducing bone growth and healing (Semifinalist). She also earned the Cleveland Clinic Innovator Award for an R&D technology that she invented and later commercialized in partnership with Harvard Apparatus. In addition, she was awarded the AO Foundation Research Fund Prize Award for her studies of periosteum and engineering of novel surgical implants, as well as the Christopher Columbus Foundation -“ U.S. Chamber of Commerce Life Sciences Award (2011) for commercialisation of the same, disruptive technology for which a U.S. patent was issued and international patents are pending. She has been awarded 3 international utility patents and has 2 patents pending, all for disruptive technologies and has published more than 75 peer reviewed journal articles, 7 book chapters as well as over 200 peer reviewed conference proceedings. She has given over 150 invited talks worldwide, including 18 keynote and plenary talks at leading technology and R&D conferences.


Host: Ellis Meng, PhD

Location: 217

Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

Contact: Mischalgrace Diasanta