Georgia Papavasiliou

  • Professor of Biomedical Engineering
  • Professor of Chemical Engineering
  • Associate Dean for Undergraduate Affairs, Armour College of Engineering
  • Visiting Professor, Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology, Rush Medical College

Education

Post-Doctoral Intern, Johnson Polymer, 2003-2004

Ph.D. Chemical Engineering, Illinois Institute of Technology, 2003

B.S. Chemical Engineering, Illinois Institute of Technology, 1996

Research Interests

  1. Design of synthetic hydrogel scaffolds with tunable mechanical properties, material degradation and biochemical composition for guided cell behavior, and vascularized tissue regeneration
  2. Fabrication of cell-laden gradient-based scaffolds for regeneration of complex tissue interfaces 
  3. Development of nanoparticle emulsions for tissue targeted drug-delivery
  4. Development of polymerization models for estimation of hydrogel mesh dimensions and diffusivity of therapeutic compounds

Professional Affiliations & Memberships

Awards

IAspire Leadership Academy Fellow, Cohort 3, 2021 - 2023

Department of Biomedical Engineering Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching Award, 2018

Department of Biomedical Engineering Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching Award, 2016

Invited Participant of the 1st AHA/ASA Research Leadership Academy, 2016

University Excellence in Teaching Award-Illinois Institute of Technology, 2012

W. M. Langdon Excellence in Teaching Award for Chemical Engineering, Illinois Institute of Technology, 1998

AIChE Chicago Section Harry McCormack Award Recipient, 1996

Doctoral Graduate Research Fellowship, Illinois Institute of Technology, 1996

Publications

For a list of publications, see Georgia Papavasiliou’s bibliography:

Selected peer-reviewed publications

  1. He Y, Santana MF, Staneviciute A, Pimentel MB, Yang F, Goes J, Kawaji K, Vaicik M, Abdulhadi R, Hibino N, Papavasiliou G. Cell-laden Gradient Hydrogel Scaffolds for Neovascularization of Engineered Tissues. Advanced Health Care Materials. 10(7): 2001706, 2021 (Featured in Cover).
  2. He YJ, Santana M, Moucka M, Quirk J, Shuaibi A, Pimentel MB, Wexler S, Georgiadis J, Kawaji K, Rashid, MM, Cinar A, Vaicik M, Venerus D and Papavasiliou G. Immobilized RGD concentration and Proteolytic Degradation Synergistically Enhance Vascular Sprouting within tunable Synthetic scaffolds of varying modulus. Journal of Biomaterials Science, Polymer Edition. 31(3): 324-349, 2020 (Featured in Cover)
  3. Borges FTP, Papavasiliou G, and Teymour F*. Characterizing the Molecular Architecture of Hydrogels and Crosslinked Polymer Networks beyond Flory–Rehner—I. Theory. Biomacromolecules 21(12): 5104-5118, 2020.
  4. Pimentel MB, Borges FTP, Teymour F, Zaborina OY, Alverdy JC, Kuili F, Hong SH, Staneviciute A, He Y, Papavasiliou G. In vitro screening of phosphate-based therapeutic attenuation of pathogen-induced matrix degradation using hydrogel nanocomposite platforms. Journal of Materials Chemistry B. 8(2): 2454-2465, 2020.
  5. Nichols D, Pimentel MB, Borges FTP, Hyojuh SK, Teymour F, Hong SH, Zaborina OY, Alverdy JC, Papavasiliou G. Sustained Release of Polyphosphate from Hydrogel Nanoparticles Suppresses Bacterial Collagenase and Biofilm Formation In Vitro. Frontiers in Bioengineering and Biotechnology. 7(153): DOI: 10.3389/fbioe.2019.00153, 2019.
  6. He YJ, Young DA, Mededovic M, Li K, Li C, Tichauer K, Venerus D, Papavasiliou G. Protease-Sensitive Hydrogel Biomaterials with Tunable Modulus and Adhesion Ligand Gradients for 3D Vascular Sprouting. Biomacromolecules. 18(11): 4168-4181, 2018.
  7. Young DA, Pimentel MB, Lima DL, Chen S, Lo WC, Custodio AF, Teymour F, and Papavasiliou G. Design and Characterization of Hydrogel Nanoparticles with Tunable Network Characteristics for Sustained Release of a VEFG mimetic Peptide. Biomaterials Science. 5(10): 2079-2092, 2017.
  8. Yin Y, Papavasiliou G¥, Zaborina O, Alverdy J, Teymour F. De Novo Synthesis and Functional Analysis of Polyphosphate-Loaded Poly(ethylene) Glycol Hydrogel Nanoparticles Targeting Pyocyanin and Pyoverdin Production in Pseudomonas aeruginosa as a Model Intestinal Pathogen. Annals of Biomedical Engineering. 45(4): 1058-1068, 2016. (¥ equal contribution as first author)

Books

  1. Papavasiliou G, Teymour F. “Nonlinear Dynamics in Continuous Stirred Tank Reactor Polymerization.” In: Nonlinear Dynamics in Polymeric Systems. John A. Pojman and Qui Tran-Cong-Miyata (Editors), American Chemical Society, 2004, pp 309-323
  2. Papavasiliou G, Sokic S, Turturro MV. Synthetic PEG Hydrogels as Extracellular Matrix Mimics for Tissue Engineering Applications. In: Biotechnology. Molecular Studies and Novel Applications for Improved Quality of Human Life,  Reda Sammour (Editor). InTech, ISBN: 979-953-307-738-2, 2012. doi: 10.5772/31695

Expertise

Design, synthesis & characterization of hydrogel biomaterials; cell biomaterial interactions; polymer reaction engineering; computational modeling of branched and crosslinked polymer systems; tissue engineering; regenerative medicine; drug delivery