Congratulations to BME Ph.D. candidate, Shaheen Farhadi, who received a Student Travel Achievement Recognition (STAR) Award from the Society for Biomaterials for his abstract titled, “Locally Anchoring Proteins to Target Tissues via Fusion to Galectin-3.”

Farhadi, under the guidance of Drs. Gregory A. Hudalla and Benjamin G. Keselowsky, has developed a strategy to anchor biotherapeutic proteins to injection sites via fusion to the carbohydrate-binding protein known as galectin-3. His ongoing research is aimed at elucidating the relationship between the natural oligomerization of galectin-3 and its extracellular bioactivity and developing synthetic galectin-3 oligomers into modular and multifunctional nanomedicines.

The Society for Biomaterials is a multidisciplinary society of academic, healthcare, governmental and business professionals dedicated to promoting advancements in all aspects of biomaterial science, education and professional standards to enhance human health and quality of life. Farhadi will present his research, nominated as an outstanding contribution, at the 2019 Society for Biomaterials Annual Meeting & Exposition in April.