E.D. Butcher Chair of Bioengineering & CPRIT Scholar
Special Advisor to the Provost on Life Science Collaborations with the Texas Medical Center
Professor of Bioengineering
Ph. D. in Chemical Engineering from University of Notre Dame
B.S. in Chemical Engineering from University of Rochester
Michael R. King is the E.D. Butcher Chair of Bioengineering at Rice University. Previously, he was a J. Lawrence Wilson Professor of engineering and chair of Biomedical Engineering at Vanderbilt University. He completed a PhD in chemical engineering at the University of Notre Dame and postdoctoral training in bioengineering at the University of Pennsylvania. He has written textbooks on the subjects of statistical methods and microchannel flows and has received several awards including the NSF CAREER Award, Outstanding Research Awards from the American Society of Mechanical Engineers and the American Society of Clinical Chemistry, and was a James D. Watson Investigator of New York State. King is additionally a Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors, the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering, the Biomedical Engineering Society, and the International Academy of Medical and Biological Engineering, and serves as Vice President of the International Society of Bionic Engineering. He is the Editor-in-Chief of Cellular and Molecular Bioengineering, an official journal of the Biomedical Engineering Society, and serves as the Chair-Elect of the Biomedical Engineering Council of Chairs.
The King Lab works at the interface between Cellular Engineering, Drug Delivery, and Nanotechnology. They employ tools and concepts from engineering to understand biomedically important processes that occur in the bloodstream including cancer metastasis, inflammation, and thrombosis. They have found that tumor cells in circulation can mimic the physical mechanisms used by white blood cells to traffic through the body and adhere to the blood vessel wall and have explored strategies to interrupt this metastasis process by targeting specific adhesion receptors. The selectin adhesion receptors important in leukocyte, stem cell, and CTC trafficking have unique biophysics that make them ideal for targeted drug delivery. This group has pioneered the use of selectin proteins to deliver apoptosis death signals to tumor cells in flowing blood and to deliver therapeutic cargo (e.g., siRNA, chemotherapeutics) encapsulated in nanoscale liposomes. The King lab is currently testing these novel cancer therapies in mouse models containing metastatic breast and prostate cancer through the use of whole body luminescence imaging and in blood samples collected from human volunteers diagnosed with cancer at various stages.
Michael King has been married to Cynthia Reinhart-King, Chair and Professor of Rice Biongineering, since 2002, and together they have two sons: Simon (age 13) and Julian (age 6). They will arrive to Rice University being Nashville residents the last 7 years, residing previously in Brentwood, TN.
Outside of work and family interests include being the founder of VIBE: the Vanderbilt Initiative of Biofunky Engineers, a musical group of biomedical engineering faculty and graduate students who have performed since 2017 on and off the Vanderbilt campus and have performed live over the air on Radio Free Nashville. Other interests include: being a fanatical lacrosse dad, smoking various meats, discoveries new capabilities of ChatGPT, and wheeling around town in a Jeep Wrangler with no doors.
Research Assistant Professor
Having come from China where he recieved his Ph.D. in Chemical Biology from Peking University at Beijung in 2011, Jason is now a research assistant professor in the king lab. His work focuses on developing nanomaterials for the delivery of a wide variety of drugs (TRAIL, curcumin, piperlongemine, doxorubicin, and many many more!) to metastatic cancer cells in the circulation. On the weekends, Jason enjoys all kinds of outdoors activities, including: fishing, hiking, kayaking, and more! He is a man of the forrest!
3rd Year Ph.D. Student
National Science Foundation Graduate Student Fellow
Originally from Orlando, FL, Nicole received her BS in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Florida. She started in the King lab in Fall 2021 and her research focuses on leveraging T cell mechanobiology to develop optimized methods of CAR T cell production for cancer immunotherapy. Outside of the lab, Nicole enjoys hanging out with her friends (and her cat!), going to concerts/music festivals, and finding new coffee shops to study at!
3rd Year Ph.D. Student
National Science Foundation Graduate Student Fellow
Email: Abigail.Fabiano@vanderbilt.edu
Abby grew up in New Jersey, where she received her bachelor’s in Chemical Engineering at Rutgers University with a minor in Human Resource Management. She joined the King Lab in 2021, and is working on characterizing cancer cells in shear flow to further investigate cancer metastasis. Ultimately, Abby hopes to obtain a research career in industry. She enjoys running marathons and drinking excessive amounts of caffeine, as well as traveling to Nepal often to provide to communities and orphanages in need.
3rd Year Ph.D. Student
National Science Foundation Graduate Student Fellow
From Fort Smith AR, Natalie studied Biomedical Engineering and minored in Mathematics at the University of Arkansas-Fayetteville. Her research focuses on cancer metastasis, especially looking at prostate cancer. She is currently looking at the blood of prostate cancer patients in order to isolate the circulating cancer cells. When she is not in lab, she loves to read, embroidery, and knitting!
1st Year Ph.D. Student
Previously at University of Florida, Ben studied Biomedical Engineering and worked in the Sharma laboratory having had the opportunity to gain experience with cellular biology before entering the King Lab. His research focuses on T-cell activation for use in novel therapies through new mechxnosensitive pathways such as through ultrasound . When he is not in lab, he loves to play volleyball, hang with friends trying new places to explore or eat, and make the most of Nashville before exploring that new Texas scenery!
1st Year Ph.D. Student
Email: ac272@rice.edu
From Knoxville, TN, Alex attended the University of Tennessee Knoxville studying a combination of Materials Science and Biomedical Engineering. Her research focuses on cancer metastasis, especially looking at prostate cancer. She is currently looking at the blood of prostate cancer patients in order to isolate the circulating cancer cells in circulation in hopes to 1:1 model such clusters in vitro using novel, King lab-derived microwell array devices capable of making THOUSANDS of model CTC aggregated at a time. When she is not hanging around the lab, she loves investing time in gaining entrepreneurial experience and, less academically, making music, playing with her corgi, baking, and running.
Schyler is studying biomedical engineering with a minor in chemistry at Vanderbilt. She joined the King lab in January 2021 to work with Jenna on testing the activation of immune cells under shear conditions. She plans to to apply to graduate school after graduation. She writes and produces music and does theater outside of lab!
Sammy joined the King lab in summer 2021 as a sophmore Neuroscience undergraduate student at Vanderbilt. She is currently working with Jenna understanding how calcium ion channels affect glioblastoma apoptosis. After graduation, Sammy plans to apply to medical school. She loves to run and try new restaurants around town in her free time!
Shanay is a Neuroscience student at Vanderbilt from Mississippi! He is working with Nicole on discovering new cancer immunotherapy techniques. After graduation, he hopes to attend medical school. Outside the lab, he enjoys discovering new restaurants in Nashville and going on late-night runs!
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