SCI - ENG Symposium Speakers
Keynote Speaker
University of Texas - Austin, Biomedical Engineering
Elizabeth Cosgriff-Hernandez, Ph.D. is a Professor of Biomedical Engineering at The University of Texas at Austin and holder of the L.B. (Preach) Meaders Professorship in Engineering. She received a B.S. in Biomedical Engineering and Ph.D. in Macromolecular Science and Engineering from Case Western Reserve University under the guidance of Professors Anne Hiltner and Jim Anderson. She then completed a UT-TORCH Postdoctoral Fellowship with Professor Tony Mikos at Rice University with a focus in orthopaedic tissue engineering. Dr. Cosgriff-Hernandez joined the faculty of the Biomedical Engineering Department at Texas A&M University in 2007 prior to moving to The University of Texas at Austin in 2017. Her laboratory specializes in the synthesis of hybrid biomaterials with targeted integrin interactions and scaffold fabrication strategies (e.g. injectable foams, 3D printing emulsion inks, reactive, in-line blending electrospinning). She also serves on the scientific advisory board of ECM Technologies and as a consultant to several companies on biostability evaluation of medical devices. Dr. Cosgriff-Hernandez is an Associate Editor of the Journal of Materials Chemistry B and Fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering. She has previously served as an Associate Editor of the Journal of Biomedical Materials Research, Part B and chair of the NIH study section on Musculoskeletal Tissue Engineering.
Elizabeth Komosa
PhD Candidate, Biomedial Engineering
Elizabeth is in her 4th year in the Biomedical Engineering PhD program. She graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering from Iowa State University, and is now applying her engineering experience to tissue engineering. Her current research combines stem cell biology, 3D bioprinting, and fluid dynamics to further develop a 3D cardiac model.
University of Minnesota, College of Science and Engineering
Casim Sarkar is an Associate Professor of Biomedical Engineering at the University of Minnesota. He received his B.S. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Texas at Austin (1997) and his Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (2002). He then conducted postdoctoral research in Biochemistry at the University of Zurich. Dr. Sarkar started his faculty career at the University of Pennsylvania and, in 2013, moved to his present position at the University of Minnesota, where he is also affiliated with the Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, the Institute for Engineering in Medicine, the BioTechnology Institute, the Stem Cell Institute, and the Masonic Cancer Center. His research interests lie in the area of molecular cell engineering, with efforts to understand and control cellular decision making and to engineer new biomolecular and cellular therapeutics. Dr. Sarkar’s honors include a Fannie & John Hertz Foundation Graduate Fellowship, an NIH NRSA Postdoctoral Fellowship, and an NSF CAREER Award.
Kelsie L. Becklin
PhD Candidate, Comparative & Molecular Biosciences
Kelsie Becklin is in her fourth year of her PhD program. She is in the Comparative and Molecular Biosciences Program (CMB) offered through the University of Minnesota's College of Veterinary Medicine. She works for Drs. Branden Moriarity and Beau Weber, making "bottom-up" iPSC based sarcoma models using genetic engineering strategies.
University of Minnesota, Department of Neurosurgery
Dr. Parr received both her undergraduate degree and medical degree from Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario. She then completed her PhD studies in neural stem cell transplantation for spinal cord injury during neurosurgical residency at the University of Toronto. During this time she was affiliated with the Institute of Medical Science and the Clinical Investigator Program. She then received further training in complex spine at the University of Miami/Jackson Memorial Hospital, Miami, FL. After her training Dr. Parr came to University of Minnesota where she is currently an Associate Professor in the Department of Neurosurgery, as well as the Medical Director for Spine and Principal Investigator of the Parr Lab at the Stem Cell Institute. She is Past-Chair of both the Minnesota Neurosurgical Society and the Section for Women in Neurosurgery, a Joint Section of the American Association of Neurological Surgeons.
Dr. Parr is a Board Certified Neurosurgeon and interested in finding new therapies for spinal cord injury. She is also a faculty member in the Graduate Program in Neuroscience and the Stem Cell Institute. Dr. Parr's research centers on transplanting neural stem cells grown from a patient's own skin into the injured spinal cord. She has an active translational research laboratory, and is interested in examining mechanisms of functional recovery using techniques such as histology and immunohistochemistry, cell culture, optogenetics and animal modeling.
Mayuresh Vernekar
Undergraduate Student, UMN College of Biological Sciences
Mayuresh Vernekar is a sophomore undergraduate student at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities College of Biological Sciences, where he is pursuing a degree in Neuroscience (B.S.) and a minor in Spanish Studies.
He is the recipient of a URS research scholarship grant, which has allowed him to work with his lab and engage in research on stem cell-based therapies in stroke models.
In his studies, he is focusing on neurodegenerative disease, while furthering his knowledge in preventative medicine, stemming from his outreach work with underserved communities. Upon completing his undergraduate studies, he intends to apply to medical school to further his knowledge of neurological disease progression and pursue a career in Neurology based in clinical experience and research.