Erin Lavik

Last updated
Erin B. Lavik
Erin Lavik (cropped).jpg
Born1973 (age 5051)
Alma mater Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Scientific career
Institutions Yale University
University of Maryland, Baltimore County
National Cancer Institute

Erin Baker Lavik (born 1973) is an American bioengineer serving as the deputy director and chief technology officer of the National Cancer Institute's Division of Cancer Prevention (DCP) since 2023. She was previously a professor of chemical, biochemical, and environmental engineering at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. Lavik develops polymers and nanoparticles that can protect the nervous system. She is a fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering.

Contents

Early life and education

Lavik's father was a lawyer and her mother was an accountant. [1] She was given a catapult as a teenager and broke her parents' windshield. [1] She attended National Cathedral School, and had to take advanced placement physics courses at the nearby boys' school St. Albans School. [1] Lavik was unsure whether to become a veterinarian or high school teacher, but her mother sat next to Martha Gray on an aeroplane and realised that she had a career Lavik would enjoy. [1] She completed her bachelor's degree in materials science at Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1995. [2] She minored in theatre and is still a playwright. [3] [4] Her master's PhD looked at the electrical properties of cerium(IV) oxide. [5] She stayed at MIT for her graduate studies, completing her master's degree and PhD in 2001. [2]

Lavik created polymer scaffolds were seeded with neural stem cells, and implanted them in to paralysed rats. [6] [7] These spinal implants were developed whilst Lavik was a graduate student at MIT, mimicking the anatomy of the spine by binding a porous piece of polymer fabric and a plastic cylinder and including narrow channels for axons. [1] Lavik conducted the experiment on 50 female paraplegic rats, and 7 out of 10 rats fitted with Lavik's scaffold-stem cell design could walk again. [8] She was awarded the John Wuff Award for Excellence in Teaching. [9] In 2003, two years after graduating her PhD, she was nominated to the TR100 list. [6] Lavik was an assistant professor at Yale University, where she developed polymer scaffolds that imitate the spinal cord. [10] She was nominated for a 2004 WIRED RAVE Award. [1] In 2004 Lavik wrote the play Galileo Walking among the Stars, a play where Galileo, Kepler and Gene Kelly build a spaceship. [11] [12] She was selected as one of the Connecticut Technology Council's top women in innovation in 2008. [13]

Career

Lavik was made an assistant professor at Case Western Reserve University where she worked on nanotechnology and biodegradable polymers. [14] Today she is a member of the College of Engineering and Information Technology at University of Maryland, Baltimore County. [15] She is interested in translatable approaches to treat injuries and disease. [2] She works on tissue engineering and diseases of the central nervous system, including glaucoma and retinal degeneration. [2] [16]

Lavik has explored ways that nanoparticles can help reduce internal bleeding. [17] [18] The nanoparticles attach to activated platelets, forming clots and stopping bleeding. [17] The nanoparticles are delivered intravenously and include a molecule that binds to a glycoprotein. [19] They are based on poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid), polyethylene glycol and Arginine-Glycine-Aspartic acid. [20] Lavik developed the nanoparticles using pig's blood, identifying which had the appropriate immune response. [19] [21] The nanoparticles could half the bleeding time in femoral artery models. Lavik and her team hoped that medics and emergency responders would carry the nanoparticles to treat traumatic injuries. [22] In 2010 she was awarded the National Institutes of Health Director's New Innovator Award for the discovery. [23] The NIH grant allows Lavik to explore the nanoparticles traumatic injuries of the central nervous system. [24] The work underwent clinical tests at Case Western Reserve University. [25] She found that the length of the polyethylene glycol arms and choice of peptide impacts the efficacy and clearance of the nanoparticles. [20] She has also looked at spinal cord injury, exploring the optimal time to deliver nanoparticles after traumatic injury. [24] Alongside her work on nanoparticles, Lavik engineers solutions for retinal degeneration, including screen printing human eye tissues. [26] [27] Her technique, which layers adult stem cells, was selected by the National Eye Institute's 3-D Retina Organoid Challenge. [26] [28] [29] [30] She contributed to the 2013 Elsevier book Retina, talking about drug delivery. [31]

Lavik is a member of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County Women in Science and Engineering group. [32] She is an advocate for improving diversity in the sciences. [33] She was made a Fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering in 2014. [25] In 2016 she delivered a TEDx Broadway talk on theatre and engineering. [34] She discussed the importance of collaboration in scientific research and teamwork in theatre. [34]

Lavik became the second deputy director and first chief technology officer of the National Cancer Institute's Division of Cancer Prevention (DCP) in August 2023. [35] In this capacity, she provides leadership in how best to apply promising emerging technologies to the prevention and control of cancer and its consequences. [35] In 2024, she was elected a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. [36]

Related Research Articles

Nanomedicine is the medical application of nanotechnology. Nanomedicine ranges from the medical applications of nanomaterials and biological devices, to nanoelectronic biosensors, and even possible future applications of molecular nanotechnology such as biological machines. Current problems for nanomedicine involve understanding the issues related to toxicity and environmental impact of nanoscale materials.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert S. Langer</span> American scientist

Robert Samuel Langer Jr. FREng is an American biotechnologist, businessman, chemical engineer, chemist, and inventor. He is one of the nine Institute Professors at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Neural engineering is a discipline within biomedical engineering that uses engineering techniques to understand, repair, replace, or enhance neural systems. Neural engineers are uniquely qualified to solve design problems at the interface of living neural tissue and non-living constructs.

Neural tissue engineering is a specific sub-field of tissue engineering. Neural tissue engineering is primarily a search for strategies to eliminate inflammation and fibrosis upon implantation of foreign substances. Often foreign substances in the form of grafts and scaffolds are implanted to promote nerve regeneration and to repair damage caused to nerves of both the central nervous system (CNS) and peripheral nervous system (PNS) by an injury.

Nano-scaffolding or nanoscaffolding is a medical process used to regrow tissue and bone, including limbs and organs. The nano-scaffold is a three-dimensional structure composed of polymer fibers very small that are scaled from a Nanometer scale. Developed by the American military, the medical technology uses a microscopic apparatus made of fine polymer fibers called a scaffold. Damaged cells grip to the scaffold and begin to rebuild missing bone and tissue through tiny holes in the scaffold. As tissue grows, the scaffold is absorbed into the body and disappears completely.

A fibrin scaffold is a network of protein that holds together and supports a variety of living tissues. It is produced naturally by the body after injury, but also can be engineered as a tissue substitute to speed healing. The scaffold consists of naturally occurring biomaterials composed of a cross-linked fibrin network and has a broad use in biomedical applications.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sangeeta Bhatia</span> American nanotechnologist

Sangeeta N. Bhatia is an American biological engineer and the John J. and Dorothy Wilson Professor at MIT’s Institute for Medical Engineering and Science and Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS) at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Bhatia's research investigates applications of micro- and nano-technology for tissue repair and regeneration. She applies ideas from computer technology and engineering to the design of miniaturized biomedical tools for the study and treatment of diseases, in particular liver disease, hepatitis, malaria and cancer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gordana Vunjak-Novakovic</span> Serbian American engineer

Gordana Vunjak-NovakovicFRSC is a Serbian American biomedical engineer and university professor. She is a University Professor at Columbia University, as well as the Mikati Foundation Professor of Biomedical Engineering and Medical Sciences. She also heads the laboratory for Stem Cells and Tissue Engineering at Columbia University. She is part of the faculty at the Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center and the Center for Human Development, both found at Columbia University. She is also an honorary professor at the Faculty of Technology and Metallurgy at the University of Belgrade, an honorary professor at the University of Novi Sad, and an adjunct professor at the Department of Biomedical Engineering at Tufts University.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Donald E. Ingber</span> American cell biologist and bioengineer (born 1956)

Donald E. Ingber is an American cell biologist and bioengineer. He is the founding director of the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University, the Judah Folkman Professor of Vascular Biology at Harvard Medical School and Boston Children's Hospital, and Professor of Bioengineering at the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences. He is also a member of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering, the National Academy of Engineering, the National Academy of Medicine, the National Academy of Inventors, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Heart nanotechnology is the "Engineering of functional systems at the molecular scale".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paula T. Hammond</span> American chemical engineer (born 1963)

Paula Therese Hammond is an Institute Professor and the Vice Provost for Faculty at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). She was the first woman and person of color appointed as head of the Chemical Engineering department. Her laboratory designs polymers and nanoparticles for drug delivery and energy-related applications including batteries and fuel cells.

Molly S. Shoichet, is a Canadian science professor, specializing in chemistry, biomaterials and biomedical engineering. She was Ontario's first Chief Scientist. Shoichet is a biomedical engineer known for her work in tissue engineering, and is the only person to be a fellow of the three National Academies in Canada.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jennifer Elisseeff</span> Professor of biomedical engineering

Jennifer Hartt Elisseeff is an American biomedical engineer, ophthalmologist and academic. She is the Morton Goldberg Professor and Director of the Translational Tissue Engineering Center at Johns Hopkins Department of Biomedical Engineering and the Wilmer Eye Institute with appointments in Chemical Engineering, Biomedical Engineering, Materials Science and Orthopedic Surgery. Elisseeff's research is in the fields of regenerative medicine and immunoengineering.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Andrea Armani</span> American chemical engineer

Andrea Martin Armani is Sr Director of Engineering and Physical Sciences at the Ellison Institute of Technology, the Ray Irani Chair in Engineering and Materials Science, and a professor of chemical engineering and materials science at the USC Viterbi School of Engineering. She was awarded the 2010 Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers from Barack Obama and is a World Economic Forum Young Global Leader.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joyce Wong</span> American engineer and professor

Joyce Y. Wong is an American engineer who is Professor of Biomedical Engineering and Materials Science and Engineering at Boston University. Her research develops novel biomaterials for the early detection treatment of disease. Wong is the Inaugural Director of the Provost's Initiative to promote gender equality and inclusion in STEM at all levels: Advance, Recruit, Retain and Organize Women in STEM. She is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering and Biomedical Engineering Society.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Celeste Nelson</span> Professor of Chemical and Biological Engineering

Celeste M. Nelson is a Professor of Chemical and Biological Engineering and the Director of the Program in Engineering Biology at Princeton University. She is a Fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE) and was a finalist in the 2017 and 2018 Blavatnik Awards for Young Scientists.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Milica Radisic</span> Serbian Canadian tissue engineer

Milica Radisic is a Serbian Canadian tissue engineer, academic and researcher. She is a professor at the University of Toronto’s Institute of Biomaterials and Biomedical Engineering, and the Department of Chemical Engineering and Applied Chemistry. She co-founded TARA Biosystems and is a senior scientist at the Toronto General Hospital Research Institute.

Jennifer L. West is an American bioengineer. She is the current Dean of Engineering and Applied Science at the University of Virginia. She was the Fitzpatrick University Professor of Biomedical Engineering at Duke University from 2012-2021. In 2000, West cofounded Nanospectra Biosciences in Houston to develop a cancer therapy based on gold nanoparticles that destroy tumor cells and has been listed by MIT Technology Review as one of the 100 most innovative young scientists and engineers world wide.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Integra LifeSciences</span> Device manufacturing company

Integra LifeSciences Holdings Corporation is a global medical device manufacturing company headquartered in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1989, the company manufactures products for skin regeneration, neurosurgery, reconstructive and general surgery. Integra artificial skin became the first commercially reproducible skin tissue used to treat severe burns and other skin wounds.

Dipanjan Pan is an Indian American academic who is the Dorothy Foehr Huck & J. Lloyd Huck Chair Professor in Nanomedicine at Pennsylvania State University.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Yale Alumni Magazine: biomedical engineer Erin Lavik (Jan/Feb 2005)". archives.yalealumnimagazine.com. Retrieved 2019-01-24.
  2. 1 2 3 4 "Erin B. Lavik - Chemical, Biochemical and Environmental Engineering - UMBC". cbee.umbc.edu. Retrieved 2019-01-24.
  3. "Yale Alumni Magazine: biomedical engineer Erin Lavik (Jan/Feb 2005)". archives.yalealumnimagazine.com. Retrieved 2019-01-24.
  4. "Student playwright talks about her work, readies for world premiere". MIT News. 15 September 1999. Retrieved 2019-01-24.
  5. Lavik, Erin Baker (1997). The electrical properties of pure and doped nanocyrstalline cerium oxide (Thesis thesis). Massachusetts Institute of Technology. hdl:1721.1/46096.
  6. 1 2 "Innovator Under 35: Erin Lavik, 30". MIT Technology Review. Retrieved 2019-01-24.
  7. "MIT engineers report new approach to tissue engineering". MIT News. 14 October 2003. Retrieved 2019-01-24.
  8. Snyder, Evan Y.; Langer, Robert; Zurakowski, David; Ourednik, Jitka; Park, Kook I.; Qu, Xianlu; Lavik, Erin B.; Teng, Yang D. (2002-03-05). "Functional recovery following traumatic spinal cord injury mediated by a unique polymer scaffold seeded with neural stem cells". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 99 (5): 3024–3029. Bibcode:2002PNAS...99.3024T. doi: 10.1073/pnas.052678899 . ISSN   0027-8424. PMC   122466 . PMID   11867737.
  9. "11 in materials science honored". MIT News. 31 May 2000. Retrieved 2019-01-24.
  10. Snyder, Evan Y.; Langer, Robert; Zurakowski, David; Ourednik, Jitka; Park, Kook I.; Qu, Xianlu; Lavik, Erin B.; Teng, Yang D. (2002-03-05). "Functional recovery following traumatic spinal cord injury mediated by a unique polymer scaffold seeded with neural stem cells". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 99 (5): 3024–3029. Bibcode:2002PNAS...99.3024T. doi: 10.1073/pnas.052678899 . ISSN   0027-8424. PMC   122466 . PMID   11867737.
  11. Shepherd-Barr, Kirsten (2012-08-19). Science on Stage: From Doctor Faustus to Copenhagen. Princeton University Press. ISBN   9780691155449.
  12. "GALILEO WALKING AMONG THE STARS" (PDF). Lavik Lab. Retrieved 2019-01-24.
  13. "Yale scientist honored for academic innovation and leadership". EurekAlert!. Retrieved 2019-01-24.
  14. "Saving Lives With Biomedical Engineering | ScienceBlogs". scienceblogs.com. Retrieved 2019-01-24.
  15. "Erin Lavik - COEIT Directory - COEIT Dean's Office - UMBC". coeit.umbc.edu. Retrieved 2019-01-24.
  16. Lavik, E.; Langer, R. (2004-07-01). "Tissue engineering: current state and perspectives". Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology. 65 (1): 1–8. doi:10.1007/s00253-004-1580-z. hdl: 11603/21195 . ISSN   1432-0614. PMID   15221227. S2CID   28484381.
  17. 1 2 "Erin Lavik: Nanoparticles will promote blood clotting - Research at UMBC - UMBC". research.umbc.edu. Retrieved 2019-01-24.
  18. American Chemical Society (23 August 2016), Nanoparticles that speed blood clotting may someday save lives , retrieved 2019-01-24
  19. 1 2 "Nanoparticles that speed blood clotting may someday save lives". American Chemical Society. Retrieved 2019-01-24.
  20. 1 2 "Abstract: Engineering Hemostatic Nanoparticles to Stop Internal Bleeding (2016 Annual Meeting)". aiche.confex.com. Retrieved 2019-01-24.
  21. "Nanoparticles Help Platelets Stick Together to Stop Bleeding |". Medgadget. 2016-08-24. Retrieved 2019-01-24.
  22. "Buzz Blog: In Combat and Car Accidents, Nanoparticles Could Fight Internal Bleeding". www.physicscentral.com. Retrieved 2019-01-24.
  23. STM. "Erin Lavik". STM Test Site. Retrieved 2019-01-24.
  24. 1 2 Lavik, Erin. "Clinically Translatable Nanotechnology: Hemostasis and Neuroprotection".{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  25. 1 2 "Erin Lavik, Ph.D. COF-1734 - AIMBE" . Retrieved 2019-01-24.
  26. 1 2 Hanks, Megan (2017-10-25). "UMBC's Erin Lavik receives National Eye Institute funding to create "living model of the human retina"". UMBC NEWS. Retrieved 2019-01-24.
  27. Sides Media, www sidesmedia com. "Retina Today - Retina News". Retina Today. Retrieved 2019-01-24.
  28. "Erin Lavik Team Awarded $90k "Ideation" Prize - Chemical, Biochemical and Environmental Engineering - UMBC". cbee.umbc.edu. Retrieved 2019-01-24.
  29. "National Eye Institute awards prize for 'Retina in a dish' competition". National Institutes of Health (NIH). 2017-09-28. Retrieved 2019-01-24.
  30. Goldberg, Jeffrey L.; Andreopoulos, Fotios M.; Muller, Kenneth J.; Lavik, Erin B.; Uddin, Mohammed S.; Valenzuela, Daniel A.; Zindell, Allison N.; Hertz, Jonathan; Venugopalan, Praseeda (2013-06-01). "Tissue engineering the retinal ganglion cell nerve fiber layer". Biomaterials. 34 (17): 4242–4250. doi:10.1016/j.biomaterials.2013.02.027. ISSN   0142-9612. PMC   3608715 . PMID   23489919.
  31. Lavik, Erin B.; Kuppermann, Baruch D.; Humayun, Mark S. (2013-01-01), Ryan, Stephen J.; Sadda, SriniVas R.; Hinton, David R.; Schachat, Andrew P. (eds.), "Chapter 38 - Drug Delivery", Retina (Fifth Edition), W.B. Saunders, pp. 734–745, doi:10.1016/B978-1-4557-0737-9.00038-2, ISBN   9781455707379
  32. "WISE Women - ADVANCE - UMBC". advance.umbc.edu. Retrieved 2019-01-24.
  33. "Women in Bioconjugate Chemistry: Celebrating Women Scientists". ACS Axial. 2018-09-20. Retrieved 2019-01-24.
  34. 1 2 Hanks, Megan (2016-05-25). "Erin Lavik's dynamic TEDxBroadway talk connects theatre and engineering". UMBC NEWS. Retrieved 2019-01-24.
  35. 1 2 "Erin Lavik, Sc.D." prevention.cancer.gov. Retrieved 2024-10-12.PD-icon.svg This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain .
  36. "Six NIHer's Among Newly Elected AAAS Fellows". NIH Record (in Spanish). 2024-05-24. Retrieved 2024-10-12.
PD-icon.svg This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the National Institutes of Health.