About

Georgia Papavasiliou

Professor of Biomedical Engineering
Education

  • Post-Doctoral Internship, Johnson Polymer, 2003

  • Ph.D., Chemical Engineering, Illinois Institute of Technology, 2003

  • B.S., Chemical Engineering, Illinois Institute of Technology, 1996



Research Interests

Our research focuses on the coupling of computational modeling of polymerization and experimental design for the synthesis of hydrogel nanoparticle delivery vehicles and the synthetic hydrogel scaffolds for guiding cell behavior and tissue regeneration.


Current Research Projects

  • Development of hydrogel scaffolds with spatiotemporal biochemical and physical gradients for guided neovascularization

  • Design of proteolytically degradable hydrogel scaffolds with tunable degradation kinetics for tissue engineering applications

  • Fabrication of hydrogel nanoparticles for sustained delivery of angiogenic factors, therapeutic antimicrobial agents and small molecules for the treatment of disease

  • Sustained delivery of proangiogenic and vessel stabilizing peptide mimetic sequences for spatial and temporal delivery within scaffolds

  • Development of computational models of hydrogel formation for prediction and optimization of spatiotemporal biomaterial properties and biochemical composition


Awards

  • IIT Research Fellow, 1996

  • AIChE Chicago Section McCormick Award Recipient, 1996

  • University Excellence in Teaching Award, IIT, 1998

  • W.M. Langdon Excellence in Chemical Engineering Teaching Award, IIT, 1998

  • University Excellence in Teaching Award-Illinois Institute of Technology, 2012

  • Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine Society, 2nd Place Graduate Student Research Poster Competition, Houston Texas, December 2012


Expertise

Design, synthesis & characterization of hydrogel biomaterials; Cell biomaterial interactions; Polymer Reaction Engineering; Computational modeling of branched and crosslinked polymer systems; Tissue Engineering; Regenerative Medicine; Drug Delivery

Students

Rayan Abdulhadi

PhD Candidate, Department of Biomedical Engineering

Research Interest: Gradient Hydrogel Scaffolds for MSC Osteochondral Differentiation

Jessica Park

Research Assistant, Department of Biomedical Engineering

Research Interest: Nanocomposite hydrogels for Neovascularization of Engineered Tissues


Tejaswini Ramakrishn

Masters Candidate, Department of Chemical & Biological Engineering

Research Interest: Peptide Functionalized Hydrogel Scaffolds