Professor Jeanne Stachowiak has received a Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Award from the National Science Foundation (NSF).
Jeanne Stachowiak
The $500,000 award will fund research that has the potential to more effectively eliminate cancer cells and treat damaged tissues. Professor Stachowiak is designing biomaterials that are capable of precisely recognizing diseased cells and efficiently delivering therapeutics to them.
This process has the potential to spare healthy cells from exposure, which in turn decreases patient side effects. The membrane biomaterials work by undergoing a dramatic transformation when they recognize specific markers on the surfaces of diseased cells, allowing for highly specific therapeutic delivery.
Stachowiak will also incorporate a minority outreach component to her research with the goal of generating interest in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) careers. She will invite high school freshman students to contribute original ideas for the design of minimal "Cell-like" systems. Students with promising ideas will be able to try them out in her lab, providing an opportunity to share in scientific innovation while many of them are in the process of considering their future academic majors and career paths.
"I am delighted that Jeanne Stachowiak was selected for the NSF CAREER Award," said Nicholas Peppas, Chair of the Department of Biomedical Engineering. "Jeanne has contributed exceptional new work on membrane structure and recognition processes in biomaterials."
The award is among the most prestigious offered by NSF's CAREER Program, providing up to five years of funding to junior faculty members who exemplify the role of teacher-scholars through outstanding research, excellent education and the integration of education and research within the context of their organizations' missions.
