Alumnus Adam Ekenseair Joins Northeastern University Faculty

Adam Ekenseair, Ph.D. ChE ‘10 recently accepted a position as an assistant professor of chemical engineering at Northeastern University in Boston, Massachusetts.

Ekenseair is a former Ph.D. student of Nicholas Peppas, the Fletcher Stuckey Pratt Chair in Engineering, Chairman of the Biomedical Engineering Department, and Professor of Chemical Engineering, Biomedical Engineering and Pharmacy at UT Austin.

His research focuses on developing polymer-based therapies for the treatment of disease and tissue engineering. He has been working toward the development of a new class of injectable two-component, in situ dual-hardening hydrogels that are degradable and serve as attractive biomaterials for tissue engineering and cellular delivery applications. The research is delivering viable alternatives to treat large, bony defects often resulting from traumatic injury, tumor resection, degenerative diseases or congenital deformities.

Ekenseair’s laboratory at Northeastern University will seek to leverage and expand the rapidly evolving capabilities of 3-D bioprinters to regenerate complex tissue defects by guiding the repair process in a spatiotemporal manner.

While at UT Austin, Ekenseair was both a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow and a National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate Fellow.  He completed his postdoctoral training at Rice University with Antonios G. Mikos developing injectable, in situ forming hydrogels for the regeneration of craniofacial bone defects.  He graduated summa cum laude with a B.S. in chemical engineering from the University of Arkansas in 2005, where he was also a Chancellor’s Scholar.  He is from Fayetteville, Arkansas.

 

Tags: 3-D bioprinters, Adam Ekenseair, Biomedical Engineering, bone, cellular delivery, chemical engineering, Nicholas Peppas, regeneration of tissue, research, tissue engineering, UT Austin