History

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Member for

2 years 2 weeks

My profile

Full name

Philip LeDuc

Role in iMechanica

Moderator

URL of homepage

http://www.me.cmu.edu/default.aspx?id=leduc

Job function

Faculty

Job sector

University

Company or institution

Carnegie Mellon University

Doctoral thesis advisor

Gang Bao

Additional information

Associate Professor Mechanical Engineering

Courtesy Appointments: Biological Sciences, Biomedical Engineering

AREAS: Molecular and Cellular Biomechanics, Biological/Medical Micro- and Nano-technology, Computational Biology.

DEGREES:

B.S. 1993, M.S. 1995, Vanderbilt University, North Carolina State University; Ph.D. 1999, Johns Hopkins University

Post-doc, Children's Hospital/Harvard Medical School.

Philip's research focuses on linking mechanics to biochemistry through exploring the science of molecular to cellular biomechanics through nano- and micro-technology, control theory approaches, and computational biology.

The link between mechanics and biochemistry has been implicated in a myriad of scientific and medical problems, from orthopedics and cardiovascular medicine, to cell motility and division, to signal transduction and gene expression. Most of these studies have been focused on organ-level issues, yet cellular and molecular level research has become essential over the last decade in this field thanks to the revolutionary developments in genetics, molecular biology, microelectronics, and biotechnology. Developing molecular and cellular biomechanics with relation to biochemistry promises for a bright future with potential impacts on genomics, proteomics, tissue engineering, and medical diagnostics. By examining these issues in novel manners including utilizing nanotechnology, BioMEMS, and computational biology, he explores the linkages among these disciplines. Also, through focusing on nature inspired design principles at the molecular and cellular levels, novel approaches to technology development will be enabled.

In the LeDuc lab, he investigates the link between mechanics and biochemistry with respect to the structural regulation in living cells. Specifically, he is interested in the question of how cells sense and respond to mechanical signals and convert them into biochemical processes. The research involves direct mechanical excitation as well as structural regulation of cells since biochemical signaling may be modulated though the dynamics of cell cytoskeleton. The LeDuc lab consists of researchers trained in a wide variety of fields including engineering, genetics, physics, and chemistry as combining a diversity of viewpoints and talents will continue to lead to exciting breakthroughs. Philip has previously conducted, and will continue to conduct research in probing DNA conformational dynamics, exploring global cell resonance, and utilizing microfluidics, BioMEMS, molecular patterning, and laser modulation to study biological processes including apoptosis, glucocorticoid receptor transport, and cell motility. By combining novel approaches through engineering and biotechnology as well as translating this exciting technology to entrepreneurial products, this multidisciplinary research can make a huge impact to the studies of human health and diseases.

Philip has also been invited to be part of many efforts that are poised to have an impact in the future. He was invited and attended the National Academies Keck Futures Initiative on "Designing Nanostructures at the Interface between Biomedical and Physical Systems". He also served on a panel requested by the US Senate and House of Representatives for Research, which resulted in the report "Rising Above the Gathering Storm" (his 12 person panel included 2 Nobel Prize winners, a University President, and many members of the National Academies). Furthermore, he was invited and attended the National Academy of Sciences Frontiers of Science Symposium (he is the 1st person from CIT to attend this) as well as being invited and will be attending the National Academy of Engineering Frontiers of Engineering Symposium. He is a member of the Sloan Foundation Minority PhD program as well as being award a MARC (Minority) Faculty Mentor Award. He has also been involved with mission trips in Africa and Armenia.

The LeDuc lab would like to thank the following organizations for funding: the National Science Foundation-CAREER, Department of Energy-Genome to Life Program, National Institute of Health, Pennsylvania Infrastructure Technology Alliance, Merck Computational Biology and Chemistry, Sloan Foundation, National Academies Keck Futures Initiative, and Beckman Young Investigators Program (he is the 2nd person ever at Carnegie Mellon to receive this).

Selected Publications

LeDuc PR, Haber C, Bao G, Wirtz D. 1999, "Dynamics of Individual Flexible Polymers in a Shear Flow." Nature 399:564.

Takayama S, Ostuni E, LeDuc PR, Naruse K, Ingber D, Whitesides GM. 2001 "Laminar flows - Subcellular Positioning of Small Molecules." Nature 411:1016.

LeDuc PR, Ostuni E, Whitesides G, Ingber D. 2002 "Use of Micropatterned Adhesive Substrates for Control of Cell Behavior." Methods in Cell Biology 69:385.

Kubicek J, Brelsford S, Ahluwalia P, LeDuc PR. 2004 “Three-Dimensional Cellular Stimulation Using Networked and Constrained Membranes with Differential Elasticity.” Langmuir 20:11552.

Cheng C-M, Li B, LeDuc PR. 2005 “Optical Fabrication of Three-Dimensional Polymeric Microstructures” Applied Physics Letters 87:164104.

Puskar K, Ta’asan S, Schwartz R, LeDuc P. 2006 “Spatial Constraints in Polymer Assembly Systems through Coarse Grained Modeling” Cell Biochemistry and Biophysics 45:195.

Cheng C-M, Kubicek J, LeDuc PR. 2006 “Novel Polymeric Microlenses for Real-Time Aqueous and Non-aqueous Organic Imaging” Applied Physics Letters 88: 053902.

Cheng C-M, LeDuc PR. 2006 “Force-Controlled Inorganic Crystallization Lithography” Journal of the American Chemical Society (accepted)