© 2009 The International Eye Trust.
Bryan J. Pfister, PhD, Assistant Professor, Department of Biomedical Engineering, New Jersey Institute of Technology.
Dr. Pfister is a specialist in neural tissue engineering. In 2007,Dr. Pfister received a prestigious Faculty Early Career Development Award from the National Science Foundation to support and expand his research into rapid axon stretch growth, a technique for regenerating damaged or diseased nerve cells.
In collaboration with a team of physicians at the University of Pennsylvania, Dr. Pfister has recreated in the laboratory a natural form of axon growth that occurs through stretching as an individual grows from embryo through early adulthood. By studying the tissue grown through the stretching technique, he hopes to find clues to repairing traumatic injuries to the spinal cord and other nerve tissue. Pfister also hopes to develop a nerve-tissue interface that would allow for a thought-controlled prosthesis that would behave like a natural limb.
Dr. Pfister received his PhD in materials science engineering and his MS degree in mechanical engineering, both from Johns Hopkins University, and his BS degree in interdisciplinary engineering and management from Clarkson University.
