Dr. Michael R. King

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J. Lawrence Wilson Professor of Engineering

Chair, Department of Biomedical Engineering

Professor of Biomedical Engineering

Professor  of Radiology and Radiological Sciences

Ph. D. in Chemical Engineering from University of Notre Dame

B.S. in Chemical Engineering from University of Rochester

Michael R. King is the J. Lawrence Wilson Professor and Department Chair of Biomedical Engineering at Vanderbilt University. Previously he was the Daljit S. and Elaine Sarkaria Professor at Cornell 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 a Fellow of 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 the 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. The King Lab 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 of 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, Cornelius Vanderbilt Professor of Engineering, since 2002, and together they have two sons: Simon (age 13) and Julian (age 6), and a 15 year old cockapoo named Lady Mix-a-Lot King. They live in Brentwood, in a home last owned by CJ2K.

Outside of work and family interests, Mike is 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 live over the air on Radio Free Nashville. Other interests include: being a fanatical lacrosse dad, keeping fit, and wheeling around town in a Jeep Wrangler with no doors.

•  Editor-in-Chief, Cellular and Molecular Bioengineering
• Fellow, Biomedical Engineering Society (BMES)
• Fellow, American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE)
• Outstanding Speaker Award, American Association of Clinical Chemistry
• Fiona Ip Li ‘78 and Donald Li ’75 Award for Teaching Excellence, Cornell University
• Professor of the Year in Engineering, University of Rochester
• National Science Foundation CAREER Award
• James D. Watson Investigator Award, New York State Office for Science, Technology and Academic Research (NYSTAR)
• Whitaker Investigator, The Whitaker Foundation

Email: Mike.King@vanderbilt.edu

Office Phone: +1 (615) – 322 – 3521

Office: 5824 Stevenson Center

Lab: 442 Engineering and Science Building (ESB)

VU Mailbox: PMB 351631, Nashville TN 351631-1631 USA

Research Assistant Professor

Email: Zhenjiang.Zhang@vanderbilt.edu

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! 

6th Year Ph.D. Student

National Science Foundation Graduate Student Fellow

Email: Joshua.D.Greenlee@vanderbilt.edu 

Josh, an Athens Ohio native, graduated from Ohio University in 2017 with a BS in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering and a minor in Chemistry (OU OH YEAH!). He is currently researching chemoresistant colorectal cancer and TRAIL applications as an adjuvant for these patients who have exhausted traditional treatment modalities. Josh also is utilizing drug delivery strategies to prevent lymph node metastasis using microfluidic devices and in vivo orthotopic mouse models. In his spare time, Josh enjoys playing basketball, golfing, being outdoors and spending time with his chunky cats. 

http://www.JoshuaGreenlee.com

5th Year Ph.D. Student

National Science Foundation Graduate Student Fellow 

Email: Jenna.Dombroski@vanderbilt.edu

Coming from frosty Rochester, NY, Jenna studied Biomedical Engineering at University at Buffalo with a minor in Mathematics (wow!). Her research focuses on breast cancer immunotherapy and establishing a 4T1 breast cancer model for TRAIL immunotherapy studies. She is also developing a cancer vaccine to prevent the growth of breast cancer tumors. After Vanderbilt, she plans to have a research career in industry or government. When she is not in the lab, she enjoys traveling, biking, baking, and listening to live music (especially country) in Nashville! 

5th Year Ph.D. Student

SEC Emering Scholars Fellowship

Email: Maria.Lopez.Cavestany@vanderbilt.edu

Hola! Originally from Madrid, Spain, María has also lived in Canada, Texas, and NY. She graduated from Stevens Institute of Technology with a B. Eng. in Biomedical Engineering and a minor in Social Sciences (Psychology and Sociology). In the King Lab, María is working on fabricating TRAIL-coated liposomes which target the cell surface vimentin on circulating tumor cells. Additionally, she is studying how matrix stiffness affects the expression of mechanosensitive ion channels and EMT progression in metastatic cancer cells. María has many hobbies, including: cooking, rock climbing, figure skating, and hanging out with her dog Kika!

http://www.LopezCavestany.com

2nd Year Ph.D. Student

National Science Foundation Graduate Student Fellow

Email:  Nicole.S.Sarna@vanderbilt.edu 

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 developing a novel cancer immunotherapy using CAR T cells. 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! 

 http://www.nicolesarna.com 

2nd 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 the 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. 

2nd Year Ph.D. Student

National Science Foundation Graduate Student Fellow

Email:  Natalie.M.Curry@vanderbilt.edu

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!

 2nd Year M.S. Student

Email: Olivia.A.Wright@vanderbilt.edu 

Coming from Athens, GA, Olivia received her BS in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Georgia (Go Dawgs!). She is helping Maria and Noah synthesize ZnO nanostructured surfaces to grow tumor spheroids. She hopes to use this surface to better characterize and understand cancer cell spheroids. Outside of the lab, Olivia enjoys hiking, camping, playing guitar, cooking, and exploring all Nashville has to offer!