Alumni Spotlight: Jason Gleghorn, Ph.D. 2008

After graduating in 2008, Jason Gleghorn worked as a postdoctoral fellow with Prof. Brian Kirby in the Sibley School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at Cornell.  During that time, he developed the GEDI microfluidic platform for the capture, enumeration, and analysis of circulating tumor cells. He then transitioned to Princeton to work with Prof. Celeste Nelson in the department of Chemical and Biological Engineering. His second postdoctoral fellowship in molecular and developmental biology combined his expertise in microfluidics from his Ph.D. work with Prof. Larry Bonassar in soft tissue mechanics to investigate the mechanical regulators of lung development.  Jason joined the Biomedical Engineering faculty at the University of Delaware in the fall of 2014. His lab uses microfluidic and microfabrication technologies to determine how cells behave and communicate within multicellular populations to form complex 3D tissues and organs.  He was recently awarded the Ralph E. Powe Junior Faculty Enhancement Award for his work in understanding the biophysical and molecular regulators of organ morphogenesis in the mouse embryo. Overall, he seeks to combine the powerful 3D culture tools he has developed with his morphodynamic studies in the embryo to define new therapeutic approaches for regenerative medicine and cancer.