Gaharwar joins Biomedical Engineering

COLLEGE STATION, Texas, Aug. 7, 2013 – Akhilesh K. Gaharwar, a postdoctoral associate at the David H. Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), has joined the Department of Biomedical Engineering at Texas A&M University at the rank of assistant professor.

Gaharwar, who received his Ph.D. in biomedical engineering from Purdue University in 2011, has worked with Robert Langer at MIT and Ali Khademhosseini at Harvard University as a postdoctoral associate.

His research spans diverse fields, including materials science, chemistry, biology and microfabrication of polymeric biomaterials and nanocomposites.

Gaharwar’s primary research goal is to develop novel biomaterials to engineer tissues. More specifically, he is developing advanced biomimetic nanostructures for functional tissue engineering. He is also developing degradable nanomaterials for control release of macromolecules with tunable physicochemical, mechanical and biological properties. He aims to create a research program that integrates nanomaterials and stem cells for the development of functional tissue that have potential for clinical translation.