Almodovar Honored for Cell Manufacturing Work

Photo Submitted

A faculty member in the Ralph E. Martin Department of Chemical Engineering has been recognized for his work in cell manufacturing by Oak Ridge Associated Universities, a national consortium of universities.

Jorge Almodovar, assistant professor and Ray C. Adam Chair in Chemical Engineering, was awarded the ORAU Ralph E. Powe Junior Faculty Enhancement Award. The award provides seed money for junior faculty members' research and often results in additional funding opportunities from other sources.

Almodovar is working on engineering novel strategies for therapeutic cell culture by developing coatings that will support the growth of mesenchymal stromal cells in suspension-based bioreactors. Mesenchymal stromal cell therapies have been proposed to treat a number of diseases including musculoskeletal diseases, neurological diseases and cancer. Having a platform that generates more therapeutically relevant mesenchymal stromal cells could lead to improved therapies and reduced patient costs, Almodovar said.

"I'm honored to receive this award. This award will help me obtain key preliminary data that will be used to secure funding from external sources," Almodovar said. "Moreover, this award will support the education of one of my current graduate students."

Almodovar will use the award funds to help cover the costs of materials, reagents and conference registration fees for one of his graduate students.

"I am delighted that Dr. Almodovar has been recognized with the highly competitive Powe Award," said David Ford, department head of the Ralph E. Martin Department of Chemical Engineering. "I look forward to seeing the further impact of his creative approaches to cell manufacturing."

To learn more about the research conducted in Almodovar's lab visit, wordpressua.uark.edu/biomaterials.