On Friday, March 31, over 200 attendees converged on the 2019 Texas Biomaterials Day symposium at the BioScience Research Collaborative. Located in the Texas Medical Center, the event was a salute to the field and showcased innovations in biomaterials research—from industry leaders and from student researchers eager to present their work. Organized by Rice bioengineers Jordan Miller and Omid Veiseh, the day was created by the Society for Biomaterials and is held annually in six regions throughout the U.S.
The day kicked off with an energizing talk from Johnson & Johnson Innovations CEO Billy Cohn. Invited speakers included organizers Miller and Veiseh, as well as Texas A&M University bioengineer Akhilesh Gaharwar, University of Houston bioengineer Renita Horton, Rice neuroengineer Jacob Robinson and Rachael Sirianni of UTHealth Medical School. Adam Feinberg of Carnegie Mellon and Regen Bio was the keynote speaker and he discussed his team’s research on 3D printing collagen to rebuild a human heart.
Rice chemistry graduate student Tania Lopez Silva won the poster presentation competition and Texas A&M's biomedical engineering graduate student Shangjing Xin took home the prize for best rapid-fire talk. In addition to a certificate and monetary award, Miller—whose recent breakthrough in 3D bioprinting has received national attention—surprised the winners with 3D printed models of the organ he and his colleagues created.
It's an exciting time for the field of biomaterials and it was great to learn about all the outstanding science being done across the state of Texas.
“I was impressed by the large turn out. It's an exciting time for the field of biomaterials and it was great to learn about all the outstanding science being done across the state of Texas. We are so appreciative for the hard work of all the student organizers and our department staff and we could not have pulled this off without their support,” Veiseh said after the event.
Texas Biomaterials Day 2019 was made possible with generous support from the Rice University Department of Bioengineering, Volumetric and the Society for Biomaterials.
View more photos from the event on our Facebook page.