Date/Time
Date(s) - 01/29/2024
3:00 pm - 4:00 pm
Location
Communicore, C1-11
When I first started studying biomedical engineering, my career plan was to lead a bioinstrumentation R&D team at a major medical device company. So, how did I end up as a professor developing new biomaterials? Come hear my story about how I fell in love with polymers and became a professor. In my lab, we use hierarchical design of polymers to improve clinical outcomes. We integrate fundamental polymer science and tissue engineering to synthesize new materials and tailor fabrication methods to achieve structural and architectural complexity. By balancing material properties across different length scales, we are able to improve device function and address medical device failure mechanisms. We utilize these material approaches to work with clinicians from a variety of different specialties to develop cardiovascular, orthopedic, wound healing, and gynecological devices. I will share two research stories about how working with clinicians has led to breakthroughs in medical devices to address urgent patient needs (self-fitting vaginal stents and injectable hydrogel electrodes for cardiac rhythm management). Beyond research, my faculty career has also focused on building community and broadening participation in biomedical engineering.
Bio:
Elizabeth Cosgriff-Hernandez is a Professor of Biomedical Engineering at The University of Texas at Austin and holder of the Cullen Trust for Higher Education Endowed Professorship in Engineering. She received a B.S. in Biomedical Engineering and Ph.D. in Macromolecular Science and Engineering from Case Western Reserve University under the guidance of Professors Anne Hiltner and Jim Anderson. She then completed a UT-TORCH Postdoctoral Fellowship with Professor Tony Mikos at Rice University with a focus in orthopaedic tissue engineering. Dr. Cosgriff-Hernandez joined the faculty of the Biomedical Engineering Department at Texas A&M University in 2007 prior to moving to The University of Texas at Austin in 2017. Her laboratory specializes in the development of polymeric biomaterials to improve clinical outcomes of medical devices and regeneration strategies. She is a co-founder of Rhythio Medical, on the scientific advisory board of ECM Biosurgery, and a consultant to several companies on biostability evaluation of medical devices. Dr. Cosgriff-Hernandez is an Associate Editor of the Journal of Materials Chemistry B and Fellow of the International Union of Societies for Biomaterials Science and Engineering, Biomedical Engineering Society, Royal Society of Chemistry, and the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering. She has previously served as an Associate Editor of the Journal of Biomedical Materials Research, Part B and chair of the NIH study section on Musculoskeletal Tissue Engineering.