Scientific Advisory Board

Buddy D. Ratner, Ph.D. Chairman, Scientific Advisory Board
Buddy D. Ratner is the co-inventor of STAR biomaterial. Dr. Ratner is the Michael L. and Myrna Darland Endowed Chair in Technology Commercialization, Professor of Bioengineering and Professor of Chemical Engineering at the University of Washington. He received his Ph.D. (1972) in polymer chemistry from the Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn. Professor Ratner is a past president of the Society for Biomaterials, a fellow of the American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE), a fellow of AVS The Science and Technology Society and a Fellow, Biomaterials Science and Engineering (FBSE). He served as president of AIMBE, 2002-2003. He was vice president of the Tissue Engineering Society International (TESI) 2003-2005. In 2002 he was elected a member of the National Academy of Engineering, USA. Ratner is the author of more than 400 scholarly works. His research interests include biomaterials, tissue engineering, polymers, biocompatibility, surface analysis of organic materials, self-assembly, nanobiotechnology and RF-plasma thin film deposition. He has won the Clemson Award for Contributions to the Biomaterials Literature, the C.M.A. Stine Award in Materials Science (AIChE), the Medard W. Welch Award (AVS) and the 2005-6 C. William Hall Award of the Society for Biomaterials. Dr. Ratner was most recently elected a Fellow of the American Association For the Advancement of Science (AAAS).

Paul Bornstein, MD. UW Professor Biochemistry and Medicine
Paul Bornstein received a BA with Honors in all Subjects from Cornell University in 1954 and an MD from New York University in 1958. After residency training in Surgery and Medicine at Yale, he spent a year as an Arthritis Foundation fellow at the Pasteur Institute before joining The National Institutes of Health as a Research Investigator. Dr. Bornstein is an authority on connective tissues and their disorders in humans and animals, matrix biology and cell-matrix interactions, and he originated the concept of 'matricellular' proteins. He is the author of nearly 300 research papers, reviews and book chapters. Dr. Bornstein has been elected to the American Society for Clinical Investigation and the Association of American Physicians. He is the Past-President of the International Society for Matrix Biology and the founder and Past-President of the American Society for Matrix Biology. He served as Chairman of two Gordon Conferences, and the Pathobiology Study Section at NIH, as Associate Editor of the Journals Arteriosclerosis, and Collagen and Related Research, and has been a member of many Editorial Boards, including the Journal of Cell Biology and the Journal of Biological Chemistry. He has been the recipient of many awards, including a NY State Regents Scholarship in Medicine, Lederle and Josiah Macy Faculty Scholar Awards, a Guggenheim Memorial Fellowship, a MERIT award from the NIH, and the Berson Alumni Achievement Award in Basic Science from NYU. Dr. Bornstein has served as Chairman of the Board of Scientific Advisors of Matrigen, Inc., and as a member of the Boards of Collagen Corporation and Selective Genetics..

Andrew Branca, Ph.D. UWEB Director Industry Relations
Andrew (Andy) Branca received his Ph.D. in 1980 from the University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH. Currently, he is the Director of Industry Relations for the University of Washington Engineered Biomaterials and the Project Director for the Wallace H. Coulter Foundation Partnership for Translational Research at the UW Department of Bioengineering. He also holds the title of Acting Instructor at UW Bioengineering. Dr. Branca held several positions at the ProCyte Corporation, Redmond, WA-including Principal Scientist and Program Manager for the Inflammatory Bowel Disease and Antiviral drug development programs. Prior to joining the ProCyte Corp, he was an Assistant Professor of Biochemistry at Albany Medical College, Albany NY where he developed an independently funded research program based on interferon receptors. He authored and/or co-authored more than 30 peer reviewed articles, book chapters and published abstracts and taught MD, Ph.D. and MS students in molecular genetics and receptor biochemistry. Prior to joining AMC, he was a Fellow of the National Cancer Institute while conducting post-doctoral studies at the State University of New York, Albany in the Molecular Biology Program under the Public Health Service.

James Bryers, Ph.D. UW Professor Bioengineering and Chemical Engineering
James D. Bryers, holds a Ph.D. degree in Chemical Engineering from W.M. Rice University and has carried out basic and applied bacterial biofilm research since his Ph.D. in 1980. Prof. Bryers was a post-doctoral fellow (1979-1980) in microbiology at the University of Calgary prior to a Research Professorship at the Institut für Biotechnologie, Eidgenössische Technische Hochschulen (ETH)-Zürich, Switzerland from 1980-1985. Prof. Bryers then re-located to the Biomedical Engineering Department at Duke University, where he helped establish and lead the graduate program of Biochemical Engineering (now the Center for Biomolecular and Tissue Engineering). Upon the untimely death of its founding director, Dr. Bryers assumed the role of Co-Director of the National Science Foundation-sponsored Engineering Research Center (ERC) for Biofilm Engineering at Montana State University. In 2004, Prof. Bryers was appointed Full Professor in the Bioengineering Department at the University of Washington. He is also Adjunct Professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering. In addition to his own research program, Dr. Bryers serves as a Thrust Leader in the NSF-sponsored ERC, the University of Washington Engineered Biomaterials Center (UWEB). Prof. Bryers has served as expert reviewer for federal research support agencies such as the National Science Foundation, National Institutes of Health, Department of Energy, and NASA. Current activities in Dr. Bryers research group include: engineering biomaterials to prevent microbial contamination and infection, processes governing bacterial adhesion and biofilm formation, and biofilm effects on inflammation and host immune response at biomaterial interfaces.

Henri Gaboriau, MD. Facial Cosmetic Surgery Expert
Dr. Henri P. Gaboriau obtained medical degrees at the School of Medicine in Paris and Tulane University School of Medicine in New Orleans, LA. Following his residency at Tulane Medical Center, Dr. Gaboriau moved to Seattle to do a Fellowship in Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery at the University of Washington. In 2000, he opened the Sammamish Center for Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery and is currently the director of this facility. Dr. Gaboriau is Board Certified and a diplomat of both the American Board of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery and the American Board of Otolaryngology/Head and Neck Surgery. He is also a member of the American Academy of Otolaryngology/Head and Neck Surgery, the American Academy of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery and the American College of Surgeons. Dr. Gaboriau is expert in all aspects of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, and has over 12 years of experience and expertise that ranges from the traditional face-lift, eyelid surgery, and nose surgery to the advanced endoscopic forehead lift. He has also had extensive training and experience in the treatment of head, neck and skin cancer. Dr. Gaboriau is the author of numerous, well-respected peer review articles as well as many feature articles to help educate consumers and to build awareness among the general public. Dr. Gaboriau is the co-founder of the non-profit organization “Face, Heart and Mind Foundation,” formerly known as Heart 2 Heart, dedicated to helping disfigured, battered children, and he provides facial plastic surgery to injured children at no charge.

Sam Naficy, MD. Facial Plastic Surgeon
Dr. Sam Naficy is a double board certified Facial Plastic Surgeon, and has been performing facial plastic surgery and non-surgical skin rejuvenation for over 15 years. Dr. Naficy has been on the teaching faculty at the University of Washington, and is the author of numerous publications in the field of facial plastic surgery - including a textbook on plastic surgery currently being used to teach surgeons around the world. Currently, Dr. Naficy is on the national teaching faculty for Allergan teaching advanced techniques in facial rejuvenation, and serves as a consultant on the scientific advisory boards of a number of biomedical companies. Dr. Naficy is also a frequent presenter at national and international meetings on plastic and reconstructive surgery. Dr. Naficy graduated #1 in his medical school class at the University of Washington, and was featured as a "Top Doctor" in Seattle Magazine. He has been featured on KOMO-4 News, NPR and UWTV - and has been quoted as an expert in several news publications including The Seattle Times and The Tablet.

Miqin Zhang, Ph.D. UW Associate Professor Materials Science and Engineering
Dr. Zhang is an Associate Professor in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering in University of Washington, and an adjunct professor in Departments of Radiology, Neurological Surgery, and Orthopedics & Sports Medicine, UW School of Medicine. Dr. Miqin Zhang received a Master's degree in Mechanical Engineering from University of Victoria and a Ph.D. in Materials Science and Engineering from UC Berkeley. She joined University of Washington as an assistant professor after her graduation from UC Berkeley in 1999. Dr. Zhang’s research focuses on the several aspects of biomaterials and biodevice development, including biocompatible and biodegradable composite scaffolds for tissue engineering, magnetic nanoparticles and nanoconjugates for drug delivery, and cancer diagnosis and therapy, and protein and cell patterning for biosensor applications. Her research on nanomedicine has been highlighted in The Wall Street Journal, MIT Technology Reviews, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, NanoBioNews, Nature Nanotechnology, and other commercial news. She is a member of Editorial Board of Journal of Biomedical Microdevices and Biomedical Nanotechnology. She serves on grant review panels for a number of funding agencies including National Institutes of Health and National Science Foundation.