Title
Coulter BME Seminar Series
Sections
The Coulter BME Seminar Series brings leading voices in biomedical engineering to Georgia Tech and Emory University for thought-provoking talks that spark collaboration and inspire innovation. Featuring renowned researchers, clinicians, and industry experts, these seminars explore emerging trends, groundbreaking discoveries, and interdisciplinary approaches to advancing human health.
Open to students, faculty, and the broader research community, the series fosters dialogue across institutions and disciplines—connecting people and ideas that drive the future of biomedical engineering.
2025-2026 Series
Li Qian, Ph.D.
Professor and Associate Director of the McAllister Heart Institute
University of North Carolina School of Medicine
Altering Cell Fate for Heart Repair
Abstract:
The incidence of myocardial infarction is the leading cause of morbidity and mortality around the world. The underlying pathology is typically loss of cardiomyocytes that leads to heart failure. Over the years, we have worked on the direct reprogramming approach that converts endogenous cardiac fibroblasts into cardiomyocyte-like cells (called iCMs) to replenish the lost cardiomyocytes in damaged hearts. By leveraging the knowledge that faithful cell fate conversion requires a precise dosage of transcriptional factors, we identified the optimal ratio of reprogramming factors for more complete and efficient iCM generation. Hypothesizing that reprogramming involves significant chromatin reorganization, we profiled the epigenetic repatterning events during early iCM induction and identified epigenetic barriers to iCM conversion. Furthermore, we applied the latest single-cell omics approach to overcome the difficulties of studying reprogramming due to the inherent nature of its heterogeneity and asynchrony. Through these efforts, we have obtained novel insights into the transcriptional, posttranscriptional and epigenetic regulation of iCM reprogramming, and concomitantly improved the quality and yield of iCMs for future clinical application. We also anticipate that the experimental and analytical methods presented here, when applied in additional contexts, will yield crucial insights about cell fate determination and the nature of cell type identity.
Bio:
Li Qian is a professor in the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she also serves as associate director of the McAllister Heart Institute. Her research focuses on innovative strategies to regenerate or repair injured hearts, with an emphasis on understanding cardiomyocyte specification and maturation to enhance cellular reprogramming for heart disease treatment. Dr. Qian’s lab employs advanced techniques including in vivo mouse models, molecular biology, and reprogramming technologies such as iPSC and iCM. She earned her Ph.D. from the University of Michigan and completed postdoctoral training at the Gladstone Institute for Cardiovascular Disease. Her work has been recognized with numerous honors, including the Jefferson Pilot Award, the Boyalife Science and STM Award, and the Ellison New Scholar in Aging designation.
Fikri Avci Ph.D.
Associate Professor, Department of Biochemistry
Emory University
Friday, Sept. 19, 2025
1 p.m.
Emory University HSRB II, N100
Immune Interactions of Carbohydrate Antigens in Health and Disease
Abstract:
The Avci Lab is an interdisciplinary research group addressing problems at the interface of immunology and glycobiology. Our objective is to explore treatment of and protection from human diseases by understanding key molecular and cellular interactions between the immune system and carbohydrate antigens. Our research program elucidates the immune mechanisms involved in carbohydrate-mediated effector and regulatory immune responses, and designs and tests prophylactic and therapeutic agents for infectious diseases, autoimmune diseases, and cancer.
Bio:
Fikri Avci is an associate professor in the Department of Biochemistry at Emory University School of Medicine. Prior to joining the faculty at Emory in 2022, Dr. Avci was an associate professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at University of Georgia. Dr. Avci is a member of the Cancer Immunology Research Program at Winship Cancer Institute and a member of the Emory Vaccine Center.
Kathryn A. Whitehead Ph.D.
Professor, Department of Chemical Engineering and Department of Biomedical Engineering
Carnegie Mellon University
Lipid nanoparticles for RNA delivery: Enablers of a new wave of genetic medicine
Abstract:
Messenger RNA (mRNA) therapeutics have taken center stage thanks to the successful deployment of the SARS-CoV2 mRNA vaccines in hundreds of millions of people worldwide. These vaccines were made possible by a herculean effort to overcome the most significant barriers that have hindered translational efforts. Arguably, the largest challenge has been that RNA molecules do not readily enter their cellular targets within the body. This is because they are large (104 – 106 g/mol) and negatively charged; they do not have favorable biodistribution properties nor an ability to cross the cell membrane of target cells. In response to these issues, industrial and academic laboratories, including my own, have created lipid nanoparticles that spontaneously package RNA and deliver the RNA to key cellular targets in vivo. Here, I will describe biodegradable, ionizable lipid-like materials called ‘lipidoids’ that my lab has used to create RNA-loaded lipid nanoparticles that induce protein expression in a variety of tissues. This talk will describe how simple changes in nanoparticle chemistry and route of administration cause dramatic shifts in efficacy and tropism, allowing the targeting of organs such as the lungs, pancreas, and brain. Together, these data advance our understanding of lipid nanoparticle chemistry and are expected to contribute to the successful formulation of next-generation mRNA therapies.
Bio:
Kathryn (Katie) Whitehead is a Professor in the Departments of Chemical Engineering and Biomedical Engineering (courtesy) at Carnegie Mellon University. Her lab develops drug delivery systems for RNA, proteins, and applications in maternal and infant health. She obtained bachelor and doctoral degrees in chemical engineering (Univ. of Delaware; Univ. of California, Santa Barbara) before an NIH Postdoctoral Fellowship at MIT. Prof. Whitehead is the recipient of numerous awards, including the NIH Director’s New Innovator Award, the DARPA Director’s Fellowship, and the ASEE Curtis W. McGraw Research Award. She has also received the Controlled Release Society’s Young Investigator Award and served on its Board of Directors. Prof. Whitehead is an elected Fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering and the Controlled Release Society. In 2021, she gave a TED talk on the lipid nanoparticles (i.e., “fat balls”) used in the in the COVID-19 mRNA vaccines. Her publications have been cited ~15,000 times, and her patents have been licensed and sublicensed for reagent and therapeutic use.