| Manu Platt’s career has
come full circle. Dr. Platt received his Bachelor of Science Degree
from Morehouse College in 2001. While he was an undergraduate he
was invited to carry out research at the joint Georgia Tech/Emory Center
for the Engineering of Living Tissues (GTEC), as a part of the GTEC team.
This experience changed his career path and he decided to pursue a Ph.D.
in biological engineering at Georgia Tech. He completed his doctoral
degree at GTEC, an NSF Engineering Research Center, in 2001 and was subsequently
employed as a postdoctoral fellow in Dr. Linda Griffith’s laboratory at
MIT’s Biotechnology Process Engineering Center (BPEC), a graduated ERC.
In early 2009, Dr. Platt
returned to Georgia Tech to join the Biomedical Engineering faculty, where
he is affiliated with GTEC. There, he will continue his research
and his activities in mentoring the next generation of biomedical engineers.
Dr. Platt is currently
investigating methods for improving the growth, differentiation, and survival
of adult stem cells using specially treated biological scaffolds.
This project is aimed at understanding how extracellular matrix and growth
factors combine to generate the signaling network activities that govern
mesenchymal stem cell (MSC) behaviors. His experimental technique
employs a cue-signal-response paradigm based on modulating the environment
of MSCs. Cells are cultured on a polymer containing both epidermal
growth factor (EGF) and adsorbed extracellular matrix proteins to improve
the differentiation, proliferation, and survival of adult stem cells. |
