Luo Gu, assistant professor in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering and INBT associate researcher, has been selected by the Biomedical Engineering Society to receive the 2023 Cellular and Molecular Bioengineering (CMBE) Rising Star Award. This award recognizes junior faculty members who are at their early independent career stage and have made an outstanding impact on the field of cellular and molecular bioengineering.

Gu’s research is focused on addressing how cells sense and respond to the mechanical and biochemical cues from their microenvironment in order to create new biomaterials to direct cell behavior and function. His current projects include developing tissue-like viscoelastic biomaterials to investigate the role of matrix mechanics in stem cell biology and tissue regeneration; engineering immune niches with biomaterials for cancer immunotherapy; and creating new nanomaterials for gene editing.

Story by Jack Darrell from the Department of Materials Science and Engineering.