{"295031":{"#nid":"295031","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Global Biomedical Engineering Program Graduates First Atlanta Triple-Degree Doctorate","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EThis May, Warren Gray will be the first Atlanta student to graduate from the Global Biomedical Engineering (BME) joint Ph.D. program, a partnership of Emory University, Georgia Institute of Technology and Peking University (PKU). To honor this milestone, Emory invited Gray to serve as the Marshall in their commencement, carrying the banner for the school and leading the line of soon-to-be graduates to convocation. \u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EBy participating in two different commencement ceremonies this month, Gray knows that he\u2019s \u201ca bit of an anomaly\u201d \u2014 usually Emory and Georgia Tech BME students pick one ceremony to attend, \u201cbut I\u2019ve worked at both institutions, so I\u2019ll walk at both institutions,\u201d he says. \u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003ECreated by the Emory School of Medicine and Georgia Tech College of Engineering, the interdisciplinary BME program represents a collaboration between public and private universities that is both highly unusual and highly acclaimed \u2014 since its founding in 1997, the BME program has been ranked second in the nation by U.S. News \u0026amp; World Report. Warren is the first to graduate from the Emory \/ Georgia Tech side; Three students from the PKU side of the program have also graduated.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EDuring the first two years of his program, Gray attended classes at both Emory and Georgia Tech, co-advised by professors in labs at both schools. His third year was spent in China, fulfilling a desire \u201cto interface with people scientifically and culturally.\u201d \u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EGray\u2019s first year of research was spent exploring how microscopic nanoparticles could be used as a vehicle to deliver therapeutic drug molecules directly to heart muscle cells to aid cardiac function. \u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EWhile in China, his focus expanded to enhancing the heart\u2019s regenerative potential, specifically by improving blood vessel formation to help increase blood flow to the heart. His research was built upon employing \u201ca new type of architecture\u201d for cell-based drug delivery, using bow-tie dendrimers \u2014 a class of radially symmetric, branched polymers. \u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003ESince returning to Emory, Gray\u2019s work has centered on an emerging realm of stem cell therapy, specifically the regenerative potential of exosomes \u2014 small molecules which signal cells to help form blood vessels and mitigate scar formation in damaged heart tissue. It\u2019s possible that someday, a pharmaceutical company could \u201cfarm\u201d and concentrate those secreted exosomes, which might then be injected directly into damaged heart tissue, Gray notes. \u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EHe\u2019s already working with Emory on filing a provisional patent surrounding his research. Gray says. \u201cThis is something that could actually be helping patients within the next decade.\u201d \u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EGray defended his doctoral work in March, but has remained at Emory to continue collaborating with his research adviser Michael Davis, associate professor and director of the Pediatric Center for Cardiovascular Biology at Emory School of Medicine.\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":[{"value":"Warren Gray to be first Atlanta graduate of the joint PhD program at Georgia Tech, Emory and Peking University"}],"field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EWarren Gray to be first graduate of the joint PhD program at Georgia Tech, Emory and Peking University\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Warren Gray to be first graduate of the joint PhD program at Georgia Tech, Emory and Peking University"}],"uid":"27195","created_gmt":"2014-05-05 11:03:35","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 03:16:22","author":"Colly Mitchell","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2014-05-05T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2014-05-05T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"295021":{"id":"295021","type":"image","title":"Warren Gray - first student to receive triple-degree doctorate from Georgia Tech, Emory University and Peking University","body":null,"created":"1449244514","gmt_created":"2015-12-04 15:55:14","changed":"1475894993","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:49:53","alt":"Warren Gray - first student to receive triple-degree doctorate from Georgia Tech, Emory University and Peking University","file":{"fid":"199368","name":"graywarren2014.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/graywarren2014_0.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/graywarren2014_0.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":968295,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/graywarren2014_0.jpg?itok=_ipCq5tj"}}},"media_ids":["295021"],"related_links":[{"url":"http:\/\/groups.bme.gatech.edu\/groups\/davislab\/davislab\/HOME.html","title":"Davis lab website"},{"url":"https:\/\/pku.bme.gatech.edu\/","title":"Global Biomedical Engineering Program"}],"groups":[{"id":"1254","name":"Wallace H. Coulter Dept. of Biomedical Engineering"}],"categories":[{"id":"134","name":"Student and Faculty"},{"id":"8862","name":"Student Research"},{"id":"135","name":"Research"}],"keywords":[],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"39441","name":"Bioengineering and Bioscience"}],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:adrianne.proeller@bme.gatech.edu\u0022\u003EAdrianne Proeller\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/a\u003EWriter, Wallace H. Coulter \u003Cbr \/\u003EDepartment of Biomedical Engineering\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["adrianne.proeller@bme.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}