{"297491":{"#nid":"297491","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Heroic Endeavor","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EGeorgia Tech\/Emory University biomedical engineering grad student is Health-Care Heroes finalist.\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EA Ph.D. student at the Georgia Institute of Technology is a finalist for the Rising Star Award in the \u003Cem\u003EAtlanta Business Chronicle\u2019s\u003C\/em\u003E Health-Care Heroes Awards program, Thursday, May 15, 6-9 p.m., at the Cobb Energy Centre. And in a way, it\u2019s something he\u2019s been preparing for his entire life. \u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003ERobert Mannino was diagnosed at six-months-old with beta thalassemia major, a rare blood disorder that reduces the production of hemoglobin, the iron-rich protein in red blood cells that carries oxygen to cells throughout the body. One of his little brothers also has the disease. So, at 16 Mannino started thinking about what he wanted to do with his future. \u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u201cI\u2019d been in and out of hospitals every three weeks getting blood transfusions since I was a baby, and that exposure to the medical field influenced my college choice,\u201d says Mannino.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u201cAfter dealing with this struggle, and seeing my little brother go through it, I decided that I\u2019d like to try my hand at doing biomedical research, and commit myself to finding ways to overcome this disease.\u201d \u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003ESo, he began his research endeavor as a\u0026nbsp;Petit Undergraduate Research Scholar in 2012 and went on to\u0026nbsp;earn his B.S. in the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering at Georgia Tech and Emory University, and now is a first-year grad student working in Wilbur Lam\u2019s lab, which is dedicated to applying and developing micro\/nanotechnologies to study, diagnose, and treat blood disorders, cancer, and childhood diseases. \u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EFor Mannino, who grew up in Atlanta, making regular visits to Children\u2019s Healthcare of Atlanta (Children\u2019s) for treatments, this is a happy convergence. \u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u201cI\u2019ve been going to Children\u2019s my whole life, and I\u2019ve lived close to one of the best biomedical research institutions in the country, Georgia Tech, my whole life.\u201d \u201cAt some point, I decided that I\u2019d like to try my hand at doing biomedical research,\u201d says Mannino, one of 37 Georgia Tech students to be awarded an National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship in April. \u201cSo it all kind of worked out.\u201d \u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EAs a curious teen, Mannino asked his primary care physician, Jeanne Boudreaux, if she knew of anyone working on blood diseases like his. \u201cShe referred me to this new guy who\u2019d just come over from the University of California-San Francisco, who was starting a lab here and doing some cool stuff,\u201d Mannino says. \u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EShe was referring him to Lam, who offered Mannino a post as an undergraduate researcher. \u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u201cRob is the complete package: Smart but humble, motivated but low key, thoughtful but also fun to be around. In a nutshell, he\u2019s a star,\u201d says Lam, Mannino\u2019s Ph.D. advisor, and also a pediatric hematologist at Children\u2019s. \u201cHe\u2019s won an NSF fellowship developing novel diagnostics for his disease. He\u2019s co-authored papers and given national presentations on blood diseases similar to what he has. \u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u201cIt\u2019s been a real pleasure watching him grow from an undergraduate with barely any research experience into a bona fide bioengineer and scientist. His drive to develop new technologies to help others with his disease is truly inspirational.\u201d \u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EThe 17th annual Health-Care Heroes Awards honors individuals and organizations demonstrating excellence and deserving recognition in the health-care community. Thursday night\u2019s event will include a panel discussion from past winners, the awards ceremony and a buffet dinner. \u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EAwards will be given in several categories: Lifetime Achievement, Physician, Healthcare Innovation, Allied Health Professional, Community Outreach, Military Service, and Rising Star. Regardless of who gets the nod, Mannino is glad for the recognition. \u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u201cThis is great exposure for the lab and what we\u2019re doing,\u201d says Mannino, who is working on the development of microfluidic devices to study a range of hematologic diseases, with the goal of developing point-of-care diagnostic tools to be used to treat diseases like his, especially in resource poor settings.\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":[{"value":"Georgia Tech\/Emory University biomedical engineering grad student is Health-Care Heroes finalist."}],"field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EGeorgia Tech\/Emory University biomedical engineering grad student is Health-Care Heroes finalist.\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Georgia Tech\/Emory University biomedical engineering grad student is Health-Care Heroes finalist."}],"uid":"27195","created_gmt":"2014-05-14 14:53:30","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 03:16:26","author":"Colly Mitchell","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2014-05-14T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2014-05-14T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"297481":{"id":"297481","type":"image","title":"Robert Mannino - PhD student in the lab of Wilbur Lam, MD, PhD, at Georgia Tech \u0026 Emory","body":null,"created":"1449244530","gmt_created":"2015-12-04 15:55:30","changed":"1475894998","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:49:58","alt":"Robert Mannino - PhD student in the lab of Wilbur Lam, MD, PhD, at Georgia Tech \u0026 Emory","file":{"fid":"199445","name":"mannino_robert_0010.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/mannino_robert_0010_0.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/mannino_robert_0010_0.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":4911500,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/mannino_robert_0010_0.jpg?itok=TJ4t6GHz"}}},"media_ids":["297481"],"related_links":[{"url":"http:\/\/lamlab.gatech.edu\/","title":"Lam lab"}],"groups":[{"id":"1292","name":"Parker H. Petit Institute for Bioengineering and Bioscience (IBB)"}],"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:jerry.grillo@ibb.gatech.edu\u0022\u003EJerry Grillo\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003ECommunications Officer II\u003Cbr \/\u003EParker H. Petit Institute\u003Cbr \/\u003Efor Bioengineering \u0026amp; Bioscience\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["jerry.grillo@ibb.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}