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Daniel Harrington
Assistant Professor at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth)
Daniel Harrington is an Adjunct Assistant Professor at Rice University, affiliated with the Department of Bioengineering and the Department of Biosciences. He also holds a position as a faculty member at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, specifically within the MD Anderson Cancer Center and the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences.
Academic Background and Research
Dr. Harrington earned his PhD in Materials Science & Engineering from Northwestern University, where he also completed his undergraduate studies in the same field. His research focuses on the molecular design, synthesis, and evaluation of polymeric and supramolecular biomaterials, particularly in tissue engineering applications. He employs an interdisciplinary approach that includes nanoscale features to enhance cell interactions within engineered tissues.
His active research projects include:
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3-D Hydrogel Models of Epithelial Cancers: Utilizing ECM-derived hyaluronan polymers to study cancer interactions in three-dimensional environments, which allows for more accurate modeling of multicellular interactions compared to traditional two-dimensional cultures.
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Salivary Gland Tissue Engineering: Developing methods to regenerate salivary glands affected by radiotherapy in head-and-neck cancer patients, focusing on the culture of human salivary-derived stem cells in hydrogel matrices to restore gland function.
Dr. Harrington has directed numerous undergraduate and graduate students and has extensive collaborations across the Texas Medical Center.123
Highlights
We’re diving deep into regeneration and repair today with Gulf Coast Consortia - Research. It’s a great program so far, and we’ll be chairing today’s final session on Engineering Tools & Methods. Thanks to the GCC and its member institutions for supporting this conference!
It is such a pleasure to share this NSF CAREER award with the The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth Houston) community. We are a university that can and should be competitive for this kind of grant. The hard work of several students contributed to this funding: Yu YIN, Ephraim Vázquez-Rosado, Ndeye K., and Andrea S. Flores Pérez were central to establishing both the bioprinting paradigm and the connections to our partners at University of Puerto Rico-Mayaguez and their RISE program. Many thanks to National Science Foundation (NSF) CBET for sharing our vision for student training in new and exciting directions!
