Program Director / Faculty Sponsor
Shuichi (Shu) Takayama, PhD
Professor, GRA Eminent Scholar
Price Gilbert, Jr. Chair in Regenerative Engineering and Medicine
Dr. Shu Takayama earned his BS and MS in Agricultural Chemistry at the University of Tokyo. He earned a PhD in Chemistry at The Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, California studying bio-organic synthesis with Dr. Chi‐Huey Wong. He then worked as a postdoc with Dr. George Whitesides at Harvard University where he focused on applying microfluidics to studying cell and molecular biology.
Dr. Takayama began his career at the University of Michigan, where he led his lab in the Department of Biomedical Engineering and Macromolecular Science & Engineering for over 17 years. In 2017, the lab moved to Georgia Tech where Shu became the Georgia Research Alliance Price Gilbert Chair Professor of Biomedical Engineering in the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering.
Dr. Takayama’s research interests are diverse and motivated by clinical and biotechnology needs. He is always interested in hearing from stakeholders in these areas who are seeking engineering collaboration.
Program Manager
Soojung Lee, PhD
Research Scientist II, Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering
Dr. Soojung Lee earned BS/MS/PhD in Food Science and Technology from Kyungsung University in South Korea, developing a chiral epoxide hydrolase biocatalyst for biofilters. Dr. Lee then worked as a postdoc at Emory University, focusing on the structural and functional analysis of acid-base transporters in human disease. In 2011, Dr. Lee moved to Denmark, where she worked as a postdoc and assistant professor at Aarhus University, where she focused on the study of acid-base regulation mechanisms in human and murine breast cancer. In 2018, Dr. Lee moved to Georgia Tech as a research scientist II in the Biomedical Engineering Department. Dr. Lee’s research focuses on mammary organoid & microtissue model development and cancer research.
Brian Woodall, PhD
Professor Emeritus, Sam Nunn School of International Affairs
Brian Woodall received his PhD from UC-Berkeley and held positions at the University of California at Irvine and Harvard University prior to joining Georgia Tech’s faculty. He has held visiting appointments at the University of Tokyo, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Tohoku University, and Kobe University. His research and teaching utilize the tools of comparative institutional analysis to issues that include including disaster governance, megaregion sustainability, and sustainable energy security. Dr. Woodall’s recent work has appeared in Progress in Disaster Science, International Journal of Urban Sciences, Transportation Research Interdisciplinary Perspectives,
Journal of Urban Planning and Development, and Resilient Cities and Structures. Dr. Woodall has received funding from the Fulbright Commission, U.S.-Japan Friendship Commission, the Abe Fellowship Program of the Social Science Research Council, and the Japan Foundation, among others. In addition, he serves on Kobe University’s Board of Advisors. Dr. Woodall was decorated by the Government of Japan with The Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays with Rosette for his contributions to academic exchange and mutual understanding between the U.S. and Japan.