Tatiana Segura - 2021 Acta Biomaterialia Silver Medal Recipient

The recipient of the 2021 Acta Biomaterialia Silver Medal is Prof. Tatiana Segura, Professor of Biomedical Engineering, Neurology and Dermatology at Duke University. Prof. Segura received her B.S. degree in Bioengineering from the University of California Berkeley and her doctorate in Chemical Engineering from Northwestern University. In 2006 she joined the Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering Department at the University of California Los Angeles as a tenure track Assistant Professor, a position she secured in 2004 before beginning her postdoctoral appointment. In 2012 she received tenure and was promoted to Associate Professor. In 2016 she was promoted to the title of Professor. She joined the Duke faculty in 2018.

Professor Segura’s laboratory is highly multidisciplinary, with researchers from backgrounds in basic and applied sciences and medicine, working on cutting edge approaches to promote endogenous repair with biomaterials. She balances the investigation of basic cell-material interactions with the design of translatable biomaterials strategies to promote endogenous repair. Prof. Segura’s work has been instrumental in our understanding of how biomaterial design impacts the repair of new blood vessels and axonal sprouting in the brain after stroke and how our immune system can be leveraged to promote the regeneration of skin wounds. Her research in porous scaffolds led to the co-discovery of the microporous annealed particle (MAP) scaffolds, which are injectable porous materials that promote rapid cellular infiltration. MAP scaffolds have been widely adopted in the biomaterials field and are being pursued for translation and FDA approval. Prof. Segura is a co-founder of Tempo Therapeutics, which seeks to commercialize MAP technology.  

Professor Segura has received numerous awards and distinctions during her career, including a CAREER Award from the National Science Foundation, an Outstanding Young Investigator Award from the American Society of Gene and Cell Therapy and a National Scientist Development Grant from the American Heart Association. She was also named a Fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineers in 2017. Her laboratory has been continuously funded with several grants from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) since 2008. She currently serves as a permanent member of the Gene and Drug Delivery Study section at NIH.

Professor Segura will receive the Acta Biomaterialia Silver Medal at the annual meeting of SFB, to be held in Chicago, USA in April 2021.