Dr. Michael R. King

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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.

• 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
• National Academy of Inventors Fellow

Email: Mike.King@rice.edu

Office: 4th floor, BioScience Research Collaborative

Lab: 440, BioScience Research Collaborative

Lab Manager

Email: cd150@rice.edu

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Administrative Assistant

Email: noemi.gavia@rice.edu

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Research Assistant Professor

Email: zz32@rice.edu

Having come from China where he received his Ph.D. in Chemical Biology from Peking University at Beijing 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 to metastatic cancer cells in the circulation. One such therapeutic Jason interfaces with is Tumor necrosis factor-Related Apoptosis-Inducing Ligand (TRAIL), and he works to package soluble TRAIL in a variety of nano carriers as well as work on fusogenic liposomes with TRAIL as the delivered drug to avoid endocytosis and endosomal encapsulation.

 On the weekends, Jason enjoys all kinds of outdoors activities, including: fishing, hiking, kayaking, and more! He is a man of the forest! He also enjoys taking a chill day with his Poodle who's been his buddy since 2020!

Postdoctoral Researcher

Email:  lr68@rice.edu

Previously a researcher at the University of Texas at Arlington, we are excited to welcome the newest member of King Lab.  Her research previously focused on multi-modal imaging utilizing ultrasound a fluorescence after a long stint working on ultrasound-responsive fluorescent nanoparticle synthesis and characterization.  Her skills are being put to good use, as her current research now focuses on ultrasound implications on combined therapeutic treatments and the ability to image, again, in combination with fluorescence both in vitro and in our mouse friends.  Her interests outside of lab include sharing cultural knowledge via her up and coming YouTube channel, FengShuiLy, and joining friends for new experiences during her short stint in Tennessee!

Postdoctoral Researcher

Email:  dg150@rice.edu

Previously a researcher at Harvard University, Davoud is joining us with  expertise in immunology on many fronts.  His most recent work focused on therapeutic, immune-based targets for COVID-19 and Long COVID, promoting the growing field of minimizing the lasting effects of the COVID virus in its various mutations.  Taking his extensive knowledge in immunology, he has been tasked with taking the King Lab focus of mechanotransduction and applying it to none other than macrophages.  Macrophages polarize and depolarize under different conditions related to cancer, and preliminary findings have revealed that mechanical stressors can revert macrophages to alternate states that might help macrophages fight instead of assist cancer.... stay tuned!

4th Year Ph.D. Student

National Science Foundation Graduate Student Fellow

Email:  Nicole.Sarna@rice.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 leveraging mechanosensitivity of T-cells to activate and promote their killer properties for immunotherapeutic applications. She has additionally continued to become an expert on the field of functional immune cells and their mechanical response to external stimuli, especially fluid shear stress, as exhibited in her newest IEEE review paper! 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 

4th 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 had a successful PhD career publishing on her work regarding multiplex analysis of cancer and immune cell mechanotransduction and continues her work on mechanical resistance of cancer and in vivo understanding of prostate metastasis under differently cellular-based mechanical sensitivities. Abby looks forward to continuing a research career in industry but has even more excitement going on outside the lab. 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. 

4th 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 macrophage polarization and depolarization and signaling occurrence when these cells change states and sometimes dangerously become cancer-assisting fiends. Her future research goals involve understanding macrophage infiltration during cancer metastasis and utilizing in vitro models of clustered metastasis to understand the effects of different types and subtypes of macrophages on cancer progression.  When she is not in lab, she loves to read, embroider, and knit!

3rd Year Ph.D. Student

Email:  ea53@rice.edu

Coming from University of Washington in Seattle, Ehsan has an incredible background to the research we do here at King Lab.  He started as a mechanical engineer, slowly working his way to becoming an expert via multitudes of certification in things such as immunology and cancer biology.  His passion lies in experience, as Ehsan has survived the disease we study everyday and lives to not only tell about but help find a cure alongside other King Lab members.  His research focuses on entrapment of circulating tumor cells and clusters and the characterization of such from primary cancer patient as well as inoculated mouse samples to up the ante on clinical detection. Outside of the lab, Ehsan loves capturing the beauty of candid life happening around us with his unmatched photography skills and continues to impress with an ever-growing collection of musical equipment to supplement his guitar skills.

2nd Year Ph.D. Student

Email:  Benjamin.kaufman@vanderbilt.edu

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 through new means such as via ultrasound . He aims to understand how mechanically sensitive ion channels, their regulation, and their downstream effects play a crucial role in noninvasive activation of T-cells for potential use in immunotherapy applications. When he is not in lab, he loves to play volleyball, hang with friends, try the newest food spot, and take advantage of any cold weather he can! Ben will walk any distance with friends to get the best coffee too.

2nd 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 circulating cancer cells in hopes of 1:1 modeling 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.

1st Year Ph.D. Student

Email:  mcantu@rice.edu

 Melissa is one of the newest additions to the King Lab and joined us Fall of 2024. She grew up in Monterrey, Mexico and Rio Grande Valley towards southern Texas and ended up getting her B.S. in Bioengineering at non other than Rice University in May 2024. Melissa's research will be at the intersection of synthetic biology and T cell mechanobiology to develop optimized methods of CAR T cell production for cancer immunotherapy. She will continue pushing the bill on revolutionizing immunotherapy to yield the best patient outcomes and we are so excited she is joining the team! Outside of lab, she loves to be physically active and frequents walks in Hermann park, running, yoga, pickleball, rowing, and strength training. She also loves diving into new cuisine around Houston, watching live music performances, and loves non-fiction podcasts, books, and more.

Website:  http://www.linkedin.com/in/melissascantu