Shopping Cart (0)
My Account

Shopping Cart
SELECTBIO Conferences The Space Summit 2021

Gordana Vunjak-Novakovic's Biography



Gordana Vunjak-Novakovic, University Professor, Columbia University

Gordana Vunjak-Novakovic is University Professor, the highest academic rank at Columbia University and the first ever engineer at Columbia to receive this distinction. The focus of her lab is on engineering functional human tissues for use in regenerative medicine and in patient-specific “organs-on-a-chip” for studies of human pathophysiology. She is well published and highly cited, and has had over 150 trainees. Her lab has launched four biotech companies. She is serving on the Council of the NIBIB, the HHMI Scientific Review Board, and on numerous editorial and scientific advisory boards. She was inducted into the Women in Technology International Hall of Fame, received the Clemson Award of the Biomaterials Society, Pritzker Award of the Biomedical Engineering Society, Shu Chien Award of the AIChE, Pierre Galletti award of the AIMBE, and was elected Fellow of several professional societies. She was decorated by the Order of Karadjordje Star - Serbia’s highest honor, and elected to the Academia Europaea, Serbian Academy of Arts and Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, National Academy of Medicine, National Academy of Inventors, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the International Academy for Medical and Biological Engineering.

Gordana Vunjak-Novakovic Image

Human Multi-Tissue Platform to Study Effects of Space Radiation and Countermeasures

Thursday, 30 September 2021 at 14:30

Add to Calendar ▼2021-09-30 14:30:002021-09-30 15:30:00Europe/LondonHuman Multi-Tissue Platform to Study Effects of Space Radiation and CountermeasuresThe Space Summit 2021 in BostonBostonSELECTBIOenquiries@selectbiosciences.com

Cosmic radiation is the most serious risk encountered during long missions to the Moon and Mars. There is a compelling need to understand the exact effects of cosmic radiation, safety thresholds, and mechanisms of various types of tissue damage, in order to develop measures for radiation protection during extended space travel. As animal models fail to recapitulate the exact mutational changes expected for astronauts, engineered human tissues and “organs-on-a-chip” are valuable tools for studying effects of radiation in vitro. We have developed bioengineered tissue platforms in which we can study radiation damage in a patient-specific setting. All tissues are derived from induced pluripotent stem cells cultured for a period of 4-6 weeks and matured to match some aspects of human physiology. We describe here the studies of radiation effects on bone marrow (a site of acute radiation damage) and cardiac muscle (a site of chronic radiation damage). To this end, we investigated the effects of simulated high-LET cosmic ray exposures, both acute and protracted, on human tissues connected by vascular perfusion. We propose that the engineered human tissue systems can provide test beds for radioprotective therapeutics to mitigate radiation damage during space exploration.


Add to Calendar ▼2021-09-30 00:00:002021-10-01 00:00:00Europe/LondonThe Space Summit 2021The Space Summit 2021 in BostonBostonSELECTBIOenquiries@selectbiosciences.com