We are pleased to announce that Dr. Jamal Lewis, graduate of the UF BME program and current post doctoral fellow in the Keselowsky lab, will join the Biomedical Engineering department at the University of California, Davis, as an assistant professor this fall.

Dr. Lewis’ efforts at UF have centered on the development of biomaterial-based platforms for immuno-therapy applications, particularly focusing on Type 1 Diabetes. More specifically, Dr. Lewis has developed an anti-vaccine, composed of multifunctional, dendritic cell-targeting, controlled release microparticles, to abrogate and reverse auto-inflammation seen in type 1 diabetes. The full impact of this research remains to be seen.

In September 2013, Dr. Lewis was awarded a NIH Small Business Innovation Research grant to begin the commercialization of this microparticle-based vaccine formulation through a start-up company – OneVax, LLC.

Dr. Lewis received his B.S. in Chemical Engineering from Florida A&M University in 2004, M.S. in Biomedical Engineering in 2007 from North Carolina State University and Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Florida in 2012. His research, educational and entrepreneurial efforts have been supported by NSF, NIH, and the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. He is the recipient numerous awards including the Society for Biomaterials STAR Award. His future research endeavors will focus on immuno-modulatory biomaterials, stimuli-responsive biomaterials and opto-genetic engineering.

 

Congratulations, Dr. Lewis!