John Slater, an assistant professor of biomedical engineering at the University of Delaware, won a Rising Star award from the Biomedical Engineering Society (BMES) Cellular and Molecular Bioengineering (CMBE) group earlier this month. He received the award at the organization’s annual conference, where he also gave an invited talk.

Slater is one of eight Rising Star award winners selected from early-career researchers nationwide who focus on engineering molecules and cells to enhance the understanding of biology and practice of medicine. Slater’s research interests include biomaterials, cell and tissue engineering, microfluidics (the study of fluids confined to a tiny space) and mechanotransduction (the process by which cells convert mechanical energy into electrochemical energy).

This is the second year in a row in which a UD professor earned the Rising Star honor from BMES CMBE. Jason Gleghorn, an assistant professor of biomedical engineering at UD, received this award in 2017. Gleghorn uses microfluidics and microfabrication, the process of making tiny structures, to determine how cells form into complex tissues such as organs.   

Gleghorn’s lab also took home an honor last week. Rachel Gilbert, a doctoral student in biomedical engineering, received a student award for her work studying lung airway development.  

At the conference, Dawn Elliott, chair of the biomedical engineering department at UD, also gave an invited talk about small-scale mechanics and structures of damaged tendons.