Brendon Baker, PhD
Associate Professor
Biomedical Engineering, University of Michigan
bambren (at) umich (dot) edu
Hometown: Bedford, Massachusetts
Education: BS in Biomedical Engineering, Columbia University;
PhD in Bioengineering, University of Pennsylvania
Research interests: I'm fascinated with the complex interplay between a tissue's microenvironment and its constituent cells. How do cells receive and interpret a wide array of dynamic external cues to make fundamental decisions to spread, migrate, divide, or make and remodel extracellular matrix? Each of these actions changes the cell's future interpretation of its microenvironment. This reciprocal relationship is in part what makes this process both difficult and exciting to study. My group develops novel biomaterials and in vitro microsystems to understand these interactions, with the belief that sufficient understanding ultimately will provide engineering control over cellular decision-making in disease or regenerative contexts.
Outside of lab interests: When not working on a grant, I'm either fixing broken equipment in lab, playing squash, doting on my derpy cat, Gigi (aka. Lady Cat), cutting up the back roads of Ann Arbor on a CBR600RR, or enjoying a tasty Michigan brew at Rappourt.
Awards and honors:
2006-2007, Graduate Assistance in Areas of National Need Fellowship in Bioengineering
2007-2010, National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship
2012-2014, Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award
2015-2016, NIH Pathway to Independence Award
2020 University of Michigan Endowment of Basic Sciences Accelerator Award
2021 University of Michigan Biomedical Engineering Department Mentoring Award
2021 Biomedical Engineering Society Cellular and Molecular Bioengineering Rising Star Award
2021 Boehringer Ingelheim Discovery Award
2021 Biomedical Engineering Society Cellular and Molecular Bioengineering Young Innovator Award
2021 University of Michigan Endowment of Basic Sciences Teaching Award