Ethan Lippmann

Company: University of Vanderbilt

Job title: Associate Professor, Department of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering

Bio:

Dr. Lippmann graduated from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign with a bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering in 2006. He next trained as a Dahlke/Hougen graduate fellow in the Department of Chemical Engineering at the University of Wisconsin-Madison under the supervision of Dr. Eric Shusta. During this time, he pioneered the use of human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs) for constructing in vitro models of the blood-brain barrier. After defending his thesis in 2012, he transitioned to the Wisconsin Institute for Discovery (WID) to conduct research on spinal cord tissue engineering in the laboratory of Dr. Randolph Ashton. He spent three years in the WID establishing novel paradigms for generating neural cells from hPSCs using both traditional differentiation routes and surface engineering strategies, and during this time he was supported by a postdoctoral fellowship from the Wisconsin Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine Center and a National Research Service Award from the NIH. In 2015, Dr. Lippmann joined the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at Vanderbilt University to continue his efforts in the fields of neurovascular modeling and therapeutic discovery. His current honors include a NARSAD Young Investigator Award (Brain and Behavior Research Foundation), a Ben Barres Early Career Acceleration Award (Chan Zuckerberg Initiative), a CAREER Award (NSF), a CMBE Young Innovator Award (BMES), and a Chancellor’s Faculty Fellowship (Vanderbilt). He has also received the Excellence in Teaching Award from both his department and the School of Engineering, as well as the university-wide Excellence in Graduate Mentoring Award, for his role in undergraduate and graduate student education and training. When not in the lab, he is an avid volleyball player and enjoys spending time with his wife Krupa Patel-Lippmann, who is a faculty member in the Department of Radiology at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, and their children Evan and Kira.

Seminars:

Addressing Cell Source & Model Complexity in In Vitro BBB Systems to Enable Physiologically Relevant Models that Accelerate CNS Delivery & Drug Screening 1:30 pm

Evaluate limitations of current cell sources and strategies toimprove BBB model fidelity Explore how multi-cellular enhances physiological relevance Highlight emerging assays and engineering tools that improvedrug delivery assessment across in vitro BBB modelsRead more

day: Day Two - Afternoon - Track A

Roundtable Discussion: Advancing In Vitro Models to Better Recapitulate the Blood-Brain Barrier: Future Directions & Innovations to Ensure Translatability 2:00 pm

What are the critical gaps in current in vitro BBB models that hinder their predictive accuracy? How can we better integrate multiple cell types, including fibroblasts and immune components, to replicate the BBB’s immune environment? How can in vitro models better reflect intracellular trafficking and sorting processes critical to BBB transcytosis? When and how should…Read more

day: Day Two - Afternoon - Track A