News

• April 2013 - The laboratory welcomes Cooper Josiah Bowles, born to Rachel and Robby Bowles on April 30th! Weighing in at 5 lbs 1 oz, Cooper is doing great and already the new subject of his parents' photographic interests.


• April 2013 - Tim Mwangi won this year's BEST POSTER AWARD in the Center for Cellular and Tissue Engineering Kewaunee Symposium. His poster, entitled, "Silk Near-Infrared Dye Particles For The Study Of Intra-articular Drug Delivery In Vivo" won in the Senior Student category. You make us proud, Tim!


• April 2013 - Pricilla Hwang successfully presented her preliminary proposal and is on her way to the doctorate!


• April 2013 - We had many presenters at this year's 2013 Osteoarthritis Research Society International Meeting in Philadelphia this month. David Tainter presented on the posterior tibial tendon in his collaboration with Dr. Adams, Michael Sinclair on his ELP-curcumin for attenuating neuroinflammation, Aubrey Francisco on her novel 3D hydrogels for injectable cell delivery, and Robby Bowles on his work with bioluminescence imaging of neuroinflammation in models of knee arthritis and sciatic nerve injury. It was a great meeting!


• March 2013 - Dr. Setton was featured in the Biomedical Engineering Society Member Highlights! Go Dr. Setton!


• March 2013 - Congratulations to Michael Sinclair on the successful defense of his thesis today! His doctoral work, entitled, "Development of Depot Forming Elastin-Like Polypeptide-Curcumin Drug Conjugates for Sustained Drug Delivery to Treat Neuroinflammatory Pathologies," was very well received by his committee! Now on to graduation in May!"


• March 2013 - We're excited to learn that David Tainter, 3rd year medical student, has successfully and impressively passed his USMLE Step 1 examinations on his way to becoming a practicing clinician.


• January 2013 - Laboratory members, Robert Bowles and Michael Sinclair, presented their research at the 2013 Annual Meeting of the Orthopaedic Research Society in San Antonio, TX.


• January 2013 - Congratulations to Robert Bowles, post-doctoral associate in BME, for being awarded a prestigious NIH NRSA Postdoctoral Fellowship for his project entitled, "Imaging NFkB Activity in Relation to Animal Behavior and Peripheral Neuropathy."


• October 2012 - We are delighted to join Kyle and Stephanie Allen in welcoming Reese Avery Allen (4lbs 7oz) and Kaitlin Elyse Allen (4lbs 13oz) born October 9th at 8:50AM and 8:51AM! Congratulations to the whole family!


• September 2012 - Laboratory members, Robert Bowles, Xinyan Tang, and Michael Sinclair, presented their research at the 2012 Annual Meeting of the North Carolina Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine Society in Raleigh. Michael Sinclair won a Best Poster Award for his work on "A Thermally Responsive Curcumin Conjugate for Treating Intervertebral Disc Pathologies."

• August 2012 - Kudos to Timothy Mwangi, doctoral student in BME, for being awarded an F31 Predoctoral Fellowship from the NIH for his project entitled, "Silk Fibroin Small-Molecule Drug Carriers for the Treatment of Osteoarthritis." Go forth and do great science!

• July 2012 - Congratulations to Devin Bridgen on the successful presentation of his preliminary proposal on biomaterials for IVD tissue regeneration.

• May 2012 - Congratulations to Aubrey Francisco for being accepted to a summer internship at LifeCell! Best of luck, and we'll see you when you return.

• May 2012 - Congratulations to Esther Lee on completing her Master's degree and to Dovina Qu on completing her undergraduate degree. Good luck at Rice and Columbia!

• March 2012 - Congratulations to new parents Michael and Jill Sinclair, on the birth of their daughter Evelyn Marie Sinclair, 8 lbs. 15.7 oz., and growing. We wish you all many happy days together!

• March 2012 - We are proud to announce that two of our students are recipients of prestigious and competitive NSF Graduate Research Fellowships! Priscilla Hwang and Esther Lee will be supported by the NSF for their doctoral studies. Great work!

• March 2012 - Congratulations to Priscilla Hwang, on the successful defense of her Master's thesis entitled, "Response of Midbrain Pain Receptors in a Rodent Model of Radiculopathy."

• February 2012 - Kudos to Timothy Mwangi, doctoral student in BME, for receiving an outstanding score on his predoctoral fellowship application to the NIH. Tim has proposed a project entitled, "Silk Fibroin Small-Molecule Drug Carriers for the Treatment of Osteoarthritis." We wish Tim the best for a successful outcome.

• November 2011 - The Laboratory presented a broad array of papers at this year's meeting of the North Carolina Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine Society. Congratulations go to Timothy Mwangi, who won Best Poster Presentation for his work entitled, "Silk Fibroin Microparticles for Intra-articular Drug Delivery of Curcumin."

• October 2011 - Laboratory members, Dovina Qu and Esther Lee, presented their research at the 2011 Annual Meeting of the BMES in Hartford this week. Dr. Robby Bowles presented work on engineering education that he studied while at Cornell, and Dr. Kyle Allen (Florida) presented on his work studying rodent gait in animal models performed while he was at Duke. Go to the Photos tab to see BMES 2011 photos.

• September 2011 - Congratulations to Michael on the successful presentation of his preliminary proposal on sustained release strategies for the delivery of curcumin.

• September 2011 - Priscilla Hwang has learned that she was awarded the Mort Friedman Departmental Fellowship from the Biomedical Engineering Department at Duke. A much deserved honor for Priscilla!

• August 2011 - Dr. Jun Chen and Dana Nettles are excited to receive a grant from the North Carolina Biotechnology Center to study translational applications of modified silks for cartilage repair. They will work with a broad set of collaborators to achieve their goals. Good luck!

• July 2011 - The laboratory sends best wishes to Kyle Allen as he moves to accept his new position as an Assistant Professor at University of Florida.  Congratulations and good luck!

• June 2011 - We are happy to present our data on stem cell differentiation, intervertebral disc cell attachment to substrates, pain and mobility in the neuropathy model, and more at the Annual Meeting of the International Society for the Study of the Lumbar Spine in Goteburg Sweden!

• May 2011 - Michael Sinclair was married this month to Jill Meinrath in a beautiful ceremony at the Duke Gardens. We wish them a full life of love and happiness!

• May 2011 - Congratulations to Esther Lee on graduating from Duke with her Bachelor's Degree in Biomedical Engineering!

• April 2011 - The laboratory sends best wishes to Mostafa Gabr, a great asset to our laboratory and many projects over the past 2 years.  We wish you all the best!

• March 2011 - Graduate student Priscilla Hwang and Postdoctoral Associates Chris Gilchrist and Isaac Karikari attend the Chordoma Research Conference and present their novel work on chordoma.  Look for the photos!

• March 2011 - Congratulations to Aubrey for successfully presenting her preliminary thesis proposal.

• December 2010 - Congratulations to Michael Sinclair, Anna Wilhelm and Donna Phu on the awarding of their Master's Degrees in Biomedical Engineering!

• Novermber 2010 - Duke hosted the Annual Conference of the North Carolina Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine Society (NCTERMS) at NCBC in Research Triangle Park. Congratulations to Michael Sinclair for winning 3rd place for Best Poster on his research, entitled "Synthesis of Thermally Responsive Curcumin Conjugate for Treating Intervertebral Disc Pathologies."

• August 2010 - Congratulations to Dr. Sam B. Adams, Jr. on the birth of his new daughter, Elsie Anne Adams.  We are happy to learn that the entire family is doing well in their new home!

• August 2010 -  We are pleased to announce that 2nd year doctoral student, Tim Mwangi, is the recipient of a fellowship through the Center for Biomolecular and Tissue Engineering.  Tim will be supported for his studies of microspheres for release of anti-inflammatory drugs.

• August 2010 - Congratulations to 2nd year doctoral student, Devin Bridgen, for his receipt of a competitive James McElhaney pre-doctoral fellowship from the Department of Biomedical Engineering. Dr. McElhaney is a founding member of BME at Duke with major contributions to biomechanics research. Congratulations again!

• July 2010 - Baby Ryan Nettles was born right on time, weighing in at 7 lbs, 4 oz. We welcome Ryan and congratulate parents Dana and Robert, and sister Natalie!

• May 2010 - Our very own Aubrey Francisco is the recipient of an Outstanding TA award for her service to undergraduates in BME110. We are proud of you Aubrey and know you'll be a great professor one day.

• May 2010 - Much fun was had celebrating the Ph.D. hooding of Dr. Chris Gilchrist on the occasion of his graduation! Congratulations Chris!

• February 2010 - Great news: Samuel Mata was born to our long-time collaborator, Dr. Brian Mata on 2/16/2010. Samuel weighed in at 7 lbs, 6 oz and a length of 20.5". We're happy to hear that the entire family is doing great. There are at least 4 more lab and alumni babies coming up! Stay tuned....

• January 2010 - We are pleased to learn of the promotion of Dr. Jun Chen to Associate Professor! Dr. Chen is most deserving of this promotion and we are happy for her.