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About TERC: TERC Personnel
Gordana Vunjak-Novakovic
Associate Director, TERC - Columbia University
 Contact info:
Dr. Gordana Vunjak-Novakovic, Ph.D.
Columbia University
351 Engineering Terrace
Department of Biomedical Engineering
1210 Amsterdam Avenue
New York NY 10027
Phone 212-854-5459
Email: gv2131@columbia.edu
Research Interests:
Biochemical and biomedical engineering, including:
Metabolic engineering, tissue engineering, bioinformatics, systems biology
Research Areas:
Advances in technologies to grow, maintain, and manipulate cells and bio-molecules in vitro have opened new possibilities for supporting or even replacing a variety of in vivo tissue functions with extra-corporeal or implantable bio-hybrid device systems. Moreover, these developments have led to the development of tools for designing increasingly sophisticated, physiologically relevant model systems for detailed investigations of cell and tissue functions.
Our research is aimed at better understanding the systems level metabolic regulation in cells and tissues in vivo and in vitro in order to optimize the performance of tissue engineered therapeutic devices as well as elucidate mechanisms of disease. A paradigm central to these efforts is the notion that cellular metabolism is accomplished by the concerted activities of a network of biochemical reactions that are interconnected through shared intermediates and co-factors. Thus, an improved understanding of cellular metabolism is obtained by considering these reactions together using principles and tools drawn from biochemistry, physiology, and engineering. Our approach is systematic, and analyses are based on comprehensive, multivariate experimental observations on metabolic parameters:
Quantitative analysis of cell and tissue phenotype using tools such as metabolic flux analysis and metabolic profiling
Systematic analysis of biochemical control and regulation by observing and modeling the responses of tissue gene and protein expression and flux distribution profiles to targeted stimuli
Design of therapeutic tissue devices, (e.g. bioartificial liver and transplantable skin), optimized for in vivo efficacy through the application of cell property modulation techniques.
Current projects include:
Metabolic Control of Adipose Tissue Expansion
Optimization of Stem Cell Differentiation on Nano-crystalline Ceramics
Evolution of Physiological States During Disease Progression
Development of Novel Biosensors for Real-time Metabolite Detection.
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