Dr. Sachs received his Ph.D. from the Medical College of Virginia in the Department of Human and Molecular Genetics, where he studied adult and pluripotent stem cell biology specifically related to the regulation of the enzyme telomerase. In his post-doctoral work, he studied the heterotypic interactions of breast cancer cells with adult stem cells in a mouse model. As a scientist for LifeNet Health, Patrick led efforts to generate pluripotent stem cells from normal and diseased donor cells and expanded LifeNet’s tissue engineering capabilities to include cell-centric grafts and therapies. At ODU Dr. Sachs studies the biology of stem cells, regenerative medicine, tissue engineering, cancer biology and neurobiology

Robert Bruno earned a Ph.D. in Molecular Medicine from the University of Maryland School of Medicine in 2009 for his work on a novel prostate cancer therapeutic (galeterone) which is now in Phase III clinical trials. He then completed a post-doctoral fellowship at the National Cancer Institute in the Mammary Stem Cell Section of the Basic Research Laboratory at the Center for Cancer Research. He came to Old Dominion University in 2013 as an Assistant Professor in the School of Medical Diagnostic & Translational Sciences within the College of Health Sciences. His current work applies biomedical engineering principles including 3D bioprinting to study mechanisms of cellular fate determination in development, cancer, and neurodegeneration.

Julie is a PhD student in the Department of Biomedical Sciences.  She is interested in 3D models of breast cancer.

Yara is a PhD student currently researching neural stem cell microenvironment.

Emilee

Arielle is an Ph.D. student of Biomedical Sciences with a concentration in Stem cells and Regenerative Medicine at ODU. She received her Masters of Science in Genomics and Personalized medicine from Johns Hopkins University in 2023. Her research interests include age induced disease states and regenerative medicine through cellular regeneration using stem cell and tissue engineering modalities.