Title
Julia Babensee
(she/her)Headshot Placeholder
Title/Position
Associate Professor
Areas of Research
Biography
Biography
- Bulondo, F., Babensee, J.E., Optimization of Interleukin-10 Incorporation for Dendritic cells Embedded in Poly(ethylene glycol) Hydrogels, J. Biomed. Mater. Res., 1-20, (2024).
- Beskid, N.M., Kolewole, E., Coronel, M.M., Nguyen, B., Evavold, B., Garcia, A.J., Babensee, J.E., IL-10-Functionalized Hydrogels Support Immunosuppressive Dendritic Cell Phenotype and Function, ACS Biomaterials Science and Engineering, 8: 4341–4353 (2022).
- Srinivasan, S., Babensee, J.E., Dendritic Cells in the Presence of PLGA Support a Proliferative Antigen-Specific T-Cell Response, J Biomed Mater Res, 109: 2269–2279 (2021).
- Thomas, A.M., Beskid, N.M., Blanchfield, J.L., Rosado, A.M., García, A.J. Evavold, B.D., Babensee, J.E., Dendritic Cell-Delivering in situ Hydrogel for Attenuation of a Multiple Sclerosis Model, J Biomed Mat Res, 109: 1247–1255 (2021).
- Srinivasan, S., Babensee, J.E., Temporally Controlled Delivery of Multiple Immunomodulators from a Scaffold Niche to Induce Tolerogenic Functionality of Human Dendritic Cells, ACS Biomaterials Science and Engineering, 6: 4062-4076 (2020).
Education
Education
- • 1986-1990, B.A.Sc., Chemical Engineering and Applied Chemistry University of Toronto
- • 1990-1996, Ph.D, Chemical Engineering and Applied Chemistry, University of Toronto
- • 1996-1999, Postdoctoral Fellow Department of Bioengineering, Rice University Section of Leukocyte Biology, Baylor College of Medicine
Academic Appointments
Academic Appointments
• 2005-present Associate Professor Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering Georgia Institute of Technology and Emory University • 1999-2005 Assistant Professor Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering Georgia Institute of
Research Interests
Research Interests
Dr. Babensee’s research program is in the area of immunoengineering using biomaterial-based strategies to direct immune responses for applications in regenerative medicine, autoimmunity, transplantation and vaccines. As such, her research is directed at understanding biomaterial-based effects on the phenotype of key regulators of immune responses, the professional antigen presenting cells, dendritic cells (DCs) and developing biomaterial-based strategies for directed DC-dependent immunomodulation for control of immune outcomes. She uses an in situ gelling hydrogel material to deliver DCs to disease relevant locations to alleviate the symptoms of autoimmunity in mice. Clinical translation of the approach is being investigated.
Teaching Interests
Teaching Interests
I teach the biomedical engineering (BMED) undergraduate courses: BMED1000 Intro to Biomedical Engineering; BMED2110 Conservation Principles in Biomedical Engineering; BMED3310 Biotransport; BMED4500 Cell and Tissue Engineering Laboratory. I teach the BMED graduate courses: BMED/ChBE, ME, MSE Advanced Biomaterials and BMED6794 Tissue Engineering. I foster an environment for discussion of research advances by focusing on key current or historically relevant peer reviewed journal articles. I focus on learning the engineering fundamentals associated with core topics such as transport phenomena but also demonstrate the application of these to real-world biomedical engineering problems. I include a hands’ on biomedical engineering laboratory in which the fundamentals of cell and tissue engineering are presented along with student performance of a exemplary experiment in Cell or Tissue Engineering. I support doctoral Immunoengineering research and education as the director of an NIH T32 “Research Training Program in Immunoengineering”.