Minglin Ma, assistant professor of biological and environmental engineering, was recently named a Young Innovator award winner by Cellular and Molecular Bioengineering. Ma was one of only ten researchers from across the country to receive the honor.
Ma’s research focuses on developing novel biomaterials for life science and agricultural application. His work explores issues at the frontier of health and sustainability, including research into cancer cell growth, type 1 diabetes treatment and food security.
In September 2016, Ma’s research will be released in the journal Cellular and Molecular Bioengineering as part of a special issue on the Young Innovators. The Biomedical Engineering Society lauded Ma and his colleagues for an innovative approach that coats individual cells conformally with drug-eluting dextran nanoparticles, which may have many applications in drug delivery and cell therapies.
Ma will present his research at the 2016 Annual Biomedical Engineering Society Meeting in Minneapolis from Oct. 5-8 in a special two-part platform session, where each Young Innovator will be recognized.
After completing his postdoctoral training at MIT, Ma joined Cornell in 2013, where he began developing advanced biomaterials for “cell packaging” for life science and agricultural applications. His cell packaging lab researches microtissue analysis and engineering, cell therapies and bacteria encapsulation.
Since his start at Cornell, Ma has won several awards including an American Diabetes Association Junior Faculty Award in 2013, a 3M Non-tenured Faculty Award in 2014 and a Hartwell Individual Biomedical Research Award earlier this year. The Hartwell award was given for his work developing an implantable device for the treatment of juvenile diabetes. The award is given to scientists pursuing biomedical research to advance children’s health.
Max J. Pfeffer, CALS senior associate dean, said “CALS is delighted to have Minglin Ma as a faculty member and to have him recognized with the Young Innovator Award. This honor acknowledges his work at the nexus between the life sciences and engineering, and his work on cell packaging with its applications in agriculture and the life sciences is an excellent contribution to the CALS mission of creating knowledge with public purpose.”
Melanie Cordova is communications coordinator for the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.
