Antonios G. Mikos

Louis Calder Professor of Bioengineering, Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
Director of the Center for Excellence in Tissue Engineering
Director of the J.W. Cox Laboratory for Biomedical Engineering

Postdoctoral Fellow Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard Medical School (1990-1991)
Ph.D., Chemical Engineering, Purdue University (1988)
M.S.Ch.E., Chemical Engineering, Purdue University (1985)
Dipl.Ch.E., Chemical Engineering, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece (1983)

Bio Sketch

Antonios G. Mikos is the Louis Calder Professor of Bioengineering and Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at Rice University. He is the director of the J.W. Cox Laboratory for Biomedical Engineering and the director of the Center for Excellence in Tissue Engineering at Rice University. He received his Dipl.Eng. (1983) from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece, and his Ph.D. (1988) in chemical engineering from Purdue University. He was a postdoctoral researcher at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Harvard Medical School before joining the Rice Faculty in 1992 as an assistant professor.

Mikos’ research focuses on the synthesis, processing, and evaluation of new biomaterials for use as scaffolds for tissue engineering, as carriers for controlled drug delivery, and as non-viral vectors for gene therapy. His work has led to the development of novel orthopaedic, dental, cardiovascular, neurologic, and ophthalmologic biomaterials. He is the author of over 380 publications and 24 patents. He is the editor of 10 books and the author of one textbook (Biomaterials: The Intersection of Biology and Materials Science, Pearson Prentice Hall, 2008). He has been cited over 14,000 times and has an h-index of 62.

Mikos is a Fellow of the International Union of Societies for Biomaterials Science and Engineering, the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering, and the Biomedical Engineering Society. He has been recognized by various awards including the Alpha Chi Sigma Award for Chemical Engineering Research of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers, the Robert A. Pritzker Distinguished Lecturer Award of the Biomedical Engineering Society, the Chemstations Lectureship Award of the American Society for Engineering Education, the Edith and Peter O’Donnell Award in Engineering of The Academy of Medicine, Engineering and Science of Texas, the Marshall R. Urist Award for Excellence in Tissue Regeneration Research of the Orthopaedic Research Society, the Clemson Award for Contributions to the Literature of the Society for Biomaterials, and the Outstanding Chemical Engineer Award of Purdue University.

Mikos is a founding editor of the journals Tissue Engineering Part A, Tissue Engineering Part B: Reviews, and Tissue Engineering Part C: Methods and a member of the editorial boards of the journals Advanced Drug Delivery Reviews, Cell Transplantation, Journal of Biomaterials Science Polymer Edition, Journal of Biomedical Materials Research (Part A and B), and Journal of Controlled Release. He is currently president of the North American Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine International Society. He is the organizer of the continuing education course Advances in Tissue Engineering offered annually at Rice University since 1993.

Research Statement

Current projects in the Mikos Lab include:

• Investigating bone regeneration and repair using a biodegradable polymer scaffold, either by inducing post-implantation bone tissue growth or by seeding the scaffold with bone cells prior to implantation;
  
  
• Developing new rapid prototyping processing methods for manufacturing 3-D biodegradable polymer scaffolds of anatomical shapes with precise architecture;
  
  
• Fabricating injectable, in situ polymerizable, biodegradable composite scaffolds as carriers for bone and cartilage cells to improve the quality of tissue formed in localized areas after injury; 
  
  
• Developing new flow perfusion bioreactors and examining the effects of mechanical forces and flow on three-dimensional cultures of bone cells and the production of extracellular matrix; 
  
  
• Synthesizing new biomimetic materials that exhibit the mechanical responsiveness and biochemical processing capabilities of living cells and tissues; 
  
  
• Investigating the controlled release of growth factors from polymeric scaffolds to induce regeneration cascades in bone and cartilage; and
  
  
• Fabricating novel nanocomposites using nanoparticles and single-walled carbon nanotubes as reinforcing agents to improve mechanical properties of scaffolds for bone tissue engineering.