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The mid-career award, established earlier this year, will be given annually to a BMES member to recognize meritorious achievements and leadership in biomedical engineering and significant involvement and sustained contributions to the BMES.

Inaugural BMES Mid-Career Award

 National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine Inaugural New Voices Fellow

Editorial Board Member, Biophysical Journal

Standing Member, Cellular and Molecular Technologies (CMT) Study Section, NIH

Energetic regulation of coordinated leader–follower dynamics during collective invasion of breast cancer cells

Matrix stiffness regulates microvesicle-induced fibroblast activation

Fiber alignment drives changes in architectural and mechanical features in collagen matrices

"This book presents an Assessment of Physical Sciences and Engineering Advances in Life Sciences and Oncology (APHELION) by a panel of experts. It covers the status and trends of applying physical sciences and engineering principles to oncology research in leading laboratories and organizations in Europe and Asia..."

Physical Sciences and Engineering Advances in Life Sciences and Oncology: A WTEC Global Assessment

'A worthy addition to Springer’s series of Studies in Mechanobiology, Tissue Engineering and Biomaterials, this volume focuses on the latest techniques, with contributions from angiogenesis experts in engineering, cell and developmental biology, and chemistry..."

Mechanical and Chemical Signaling in Angiogenesis

The central mission of the Reinhart-King lab is to understand the mechanisms that drive tissue formation and tissue disruption during diseases such as atherosclerosis and cancer. Specifically, they focus on how physical and chemical cues within the extracellular environment drive fundamental cellular processes including cell-matrix adhesion, cell-cell adhesion and cell migration. They employ multidisciplinary methodologies involving principles from cell biology, biophysics, biomaterials and biomechanics. Of particular interest are the pathophysiology of angiogenesis and atherosclerosis and the extracellular cues driving metastatic cell migration.

They use a multi-scale approach to understand how cells integrate physical and chemical cues within their environment. At the tissue level, they characterize the structural, mechanical and compositional changes occurring in tissues during disease progression using advanced imaging techniques, mechanical measurements, histology, and biochemical assays. They use this knowledge to build models of healthy and diseased tissues using tissue engineering approaches and microfabrication. At the cellular level, they use these models to understand how physical and chemical features within the extracellular matrix alter cell behaviors such as adhesion, migration and proliferation. At the molecular level, they use various cellular and molecular biology tools to uncover the intracellular pathways being affected by the microenvironment. This multi-scale, integrated approach has the power to uncover novel therapeutic targets to slow and/or prevent diseases such as atherosclerosis and metastasis.

Metastasis

Cancer

Cell-Based Movement

Arthrosclerosis

Reinhart-King Laboratory 

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Vanderbilt University News Profile

Tumors' mechanical properties affect protein production

Ionizing radiation found to soften tumor cell microenvironment

Like geese, cancer cells play follow the leader

Cornelius Vanderbilt Professor of Engineering; Professor of Biomedical Engineering; Director of Graduate Studies in Biomedical Engineering

Over the past decade, Cornell has recruited a new generation of life scientists who are using recently discovered technologies to answer fundamental questions about organisms and their responses to environmental challenges.

Cornell's "Next-Gen" junior faculty discuss their research that is emblematic of our efforts to address a wide spectrum of rapidly changing challenges to global health.

Cynthia Reinhart-King | Cornell's Next-Gen Leaders in the Life Sciences

Cynthia Reinhart-King explains how substrates play a large role in cell connectivity. The effects on cell assembly are also examined.

Endothelial Cell Network Assembly on Soft Subtrates

A discussion with presenters from Session VI: Rumi De, Cynthia Reinhart-King, Paul Janmey, Lisa Manning, Thomas Angelini, and Torsten Wöllert.

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