microscope image of muscle tissue from Bursac lab

Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine

Research in tissue engineering and regenerative medicine seeks to replace or regenerate diseased or damaged tissues, organs, and cells – a challenging endeavor, but one that has tremendous potential for the practice of medicine.

Technologies under investigation range from biomaterial/cell constructs for repairing various tissues and organs, to stem cell therapies, to immune therapies. Our work in this area is highly multidisciplinary, combining materials science, cell biology, clinical science, immunology, stem cell biology, genome science, and others.

Accordingly, researchers in this area within Duke BME are broadly interactive with departments throughout the university including Duke University Medical Center clinical departments, the Duke University School of Medicine departments of Cell Biology and Immunology, the Duke Department of Chemistry, and others. This community is also supported by centers and programs such as Regeneration Next and the Center for Biomolecular and Tissue Engineering (CBTE).

Primary Faculty

Nenad Bursac

Professor of Biomedical Engineering

Research Interests: Embryonic and adult stem cell therapies for heart and muscle disease; cardiac and skeletal muscle tissue engineering; cardiac electrophysiology and arrhythmias; genetic modifications of stem and somatic cells; micropatterning of proteins and hydrogels.

Pranam D. Chatterjee

Assistant Professor of Biomedical Engineering

Research Interests: Integration of computational and experimental methodologies to design novel proteins for applications in genome editing, targeted protein modulation, and reproductive bioengineering

Joel Collier

Theodore Kennedy Professor of Biomedical Engineering

Research Interests: The design of biomaterials for a range of biomedical applications, with a focus on understanding and controlling adaptive immune responses. Most materials investigated are created from molecular assemblies- proteins, peptides or bioconjugates that self-organize into useful…

Sharon Gerecht

Paul M. Gross Distinguished Professor of Biomedical Engineering

Research Interests: stem cells, biomaterials, hypoxia, blood vessels, physics of cancer, regenerative medicine

Charles Gersbach

John W. Strohbehn Distinguished Professor of Biomedical Engineering

Research Interests: Gene therapy, genomics and epigenomics, biomolecular and cellular engineering, regenerative medicine, and synthetic biology.

Samira Musah

Assistant Professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering

Research Interests: Induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS cells), disease mechanisms, regenerative medicine, molecular and cellular basis of human kidney development and disease, organ engineering, patient-specific disease models, biomarkers, therapeutic discovery, tissue and organ transplantation,…

Tatiana Segura

Professor of Biomedical Engineering

Research Interests: The design of biomaterials to promote endogenous repair and reducing inflammation through the design of the geometry of the material, and delivering genes, proteins and drugs.

George A. Truskey

R. Eugene and Susie E. Goodson Distinguished Professor of Biomedical Engineering

Research Interests: Cardiovascular tissue engineering, mechanisms of atherogenesis, cell adhesion, and cell biomechanics.

Shyni Varghese

Professor of Biomedical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering & Materials Science and Orthopaedics

Research Interests: Musculoskeletal tissue repair, disease biophysics and organ-on-a-chip technology

Secondary Faculty

Geoffrey Steven Ginsburg

Adjunct Professor in the Department of Medicine

Cynthia Ann Toth

Joseph A.C. Wadsworth Distinguished Professor of Ophthalmology

Stefan Zauscher

Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science

Research Interests: Nano-mechanical and nano-tribological characterization (elasticity, friction, adhesion) of materials including organic thin films; self-assembled monolayers, polymeric gels, and cellulosics; Fabrication of polymeric nanostructures by scanning probe lithography; Colloidal probe…

Research Faculty

Bruce Klitzman

Associate Research Professor of Biomedical Engineering

Adjunct Faculty

Jennifer L West

Fitzpatrick Family University Distinguished Professor of Engineering

Research Interests: Biomaterials, nanotechnology and tissue engineering that involves the synthesis, development, and application of novel biofunctional materials, and the use of biomaterials and engineering approaches to study biological problems.

Faculty Emeritus

William M. Reichert

Professor Emeritus of Biomedical Engineering

Research Interests: Biosensors, protein mediated cell adhesion, and wound healing.