{"605688":{"#nid":"605688","#data":{"type":"event","title":"Petit Institute Executive Director Candidate Town Hall","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EAndr\u0026eacute;s Garc\u0026iacute;a, Ph.D.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nRae S. and Frank H. Neely Chair and Regents\u0026#39; Professor of Mechanical Engineering\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nGeorge W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nDirector, Interdisciplinary Bioengineering Graduate Program\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nGeorgia Tech\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nBackground:\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nAndr\u0026eacute;s Garc\u0026iacute;a, Ph.D. began at Georgia Tech in 1998 as an Assistant Professor. Prior, he was a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Department of Microbiology at the School of Medicine of the University of Pennsylvania.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EResearch:\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nGarc\u0026iacute;a\u0026#39;s research centers on cellular and tissue engineering, areas which integrate engineering and biological principles to control cell function in order to restore and\/or enhance function in injured or diseased organs. Specifically, his research focuses on fundamental structure-function relationships governing cell-biomaterials interactions for bone and muscle applications. Current projects involve the analysis and manipulation of cell adhesion receptors and their extracellular matrix ligands. For example, a mechanochemical system has been developed to analyze the contributions of receptor binding, clustering, and interactions with other cellular structural proteins to cell adhesion strength.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EIn another research thrust, bio-inspired surfaces, including micropatterned substrates, are engineered to control cell adhesion in order to direct signaling and cell function. For instance, biomolecular surfaces have been engineered to target specific adhesion receptors to modulate cell signaling and differentiation. These biomolecular strategies are applicable to the development of 3D hybrid scaffolds for enhanced tissue reconstruction,\u0026quot;smart\u0026quot; biomaterials, and cell growth supports. Finally, genetic engineering approaches have been applied to engineer cells that form bone tissue for use in the development of mineralized templates for enhanced bone repair.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\n\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":"","field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Andr\u00e9s Garc\u00eda, Ph.D. - Georgia Tech"}],"uid":"27195","created_gmt":"2018-04-30 16:10:08","changed_gmt":"2018-04-30 17:07:32","author":"Colly Mitchell","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","field_event_time":{"event_time_start":"2018-05-21T12:00:00-04:00","event_time_end":"2018-05-21T13:00:00-04:00","event_time_end_last":"2018-05-21T13:00:00-04:00","gmt_time_start":"2018-05-21 16:00:00","gmt_time_end":"2018-05-21 17:00:00","gmt_time_end_last":"2018-05-21 17:00:00","rrule":null,"timezone":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"605687":{"id":"605687","type":"image","title":"Andr\u00e9s Garc\u00eda, Ph.D. - Georgia Tech","body":null,"created":"1525103896","gmt_created":"2018-04-30 15:58:16","changed":"1525103896","gmt_changed":"2018-04-30 15:58:16","alt":"","file":{"fid":"230958","name":"Andres Garcia-headshot 2013small.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Andres%20Garcia-headshot%202013small.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Andres%20Garcia-headshot%202013small.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":5695,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/Andres%20Garcia-headshot%202013small.jpg?itok=Eg1q3THt"}}},"media_ids":["605687"],"related_links":[{"url":"http:\/\/garcialab.gatech.edu\/","title":"Garc\u00eda lab website"}],"groups":[{"id":"1292","name":"Parker H. Petit Institute for Bioengineering and Bioscience (IBB)"},{"id":"1254","name":"Wallace H. Coulter Dept. of Biomedical Engineering"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[{"id":"248","name":"IBB"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[{"id":"1795","name":"Seminar\/Lecture\/Colloquium"}],"invited_audience":[{"id":"78761","name":"Faculty\/Staff"},{"id":"177814","name":"Postdoc"},{"id":"78771","name":"Public"},{"id":"174045","name":"Graduate students"},{"id":"78751","name":"Undergraduate students"}],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:ltuttle@gatech.edu\u0022\u003ELisa Tuttle\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nOffice of Stephen Cross\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nExecutive Vice President for Research\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nGeorgia Tech\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}