Tyrone Porter, Ph.D. is changing the future of precision medicine and modalities for brain health, while leading the way for people of color to climb the career ladder in a blossoming sector of academia.
He joined the UT Austin Department of Biomedical Engineering as a full professor in August of 2020 and was appointed Chair in 2022. Previously, he was an Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering, Biomedical Engineering, and Materials Science and Engineering at Boston University.
Porter is the first Black chair in the UT Austin Department of Biomedical Engineering, the second Black chair in the Cockrell School of Engineering, and the second Black chair in biomedical engineering for a research-intense R1 public university nationwide.
Anytime you take part in something historic, you have an opportunity to write a new chapter and to have an impact. Biomedical engineering is such a young field and major in academia, relatively speaking, that few persons of color have chosen academic careers in the field. Consequently, few have risen through the ranks to administrative positions. I’m grateful that Cockrell and UT leadership placed their trust in me to lead this department to new heights but also for the opportunity to serve as role model in a new capacity for young students and faculty.
The primary focus of his research is to integrate ultrasound technologies with chemical and biomolecular engineered vesicles for diagnostic and therapeutic applications. Porter’s overall goal is to push the application of ultrasound technology in new directions, including immunomodulation and reversible opening of the blood-brain barrier.
“Ultrasound is a very versatile energy source with respect to medical applications. Low-amplitude ultrasound can be used for imaging organs and blood flow while high-amplitude ultrasound can ablate solid tumors—releasing factors that recruit immune cells to clear residual cancer cells. More recently, we began employing ultrasound to open the blood-brain barrier safely and temporarily with millimeter precision. This provides circulating therapeutic agents access to diseased sites in the brain. The future of ultrasound in precision medicine and brain therapies is bright and I am excited to be leading projects that could save lives,” said Porter.
In July of 2023, Porter spoke at the 2023 Rising Scholars Conference hosted by the University of Minnesota Biomedical Engineering Department about his life and academic career as an underrepresented minority. In his talk as a plenary speaker, he shared his perspective as a Black scientist and the journey from graduate student to tenured faculty member.
Porter earned his B.S. in electrical engineering from Prairie View A&M University and his Ph.D. in bioengineering from the University of Washington. He was awarded the prestigious Hunt Postdoctoral Fellowship from the Acoustical Society of America and completed his training at the University of Cincinnati on the development of ultrasound-responsive lipid-based vesicles.
WRITTEN BY JOSHUA KLEINSTREUER
