Alumni Spotlight: Waleed Abdel-Naby, Ph.D. 2015

While studying under Dr. Mark Rosenblatt at Cornell, Waleed Abdel-Naby‘s graduate research focused on the development of novel technologies utilizing silk-derived biomaterials for regenerative medicine and biomedical applications. Specifically, his dissertation described bio-engineered, silk-based biopolymers for use in reconstruction of the ocular surface. Excelling in both the academic and laboratory settings garnered him multiple awards; he received the 2013 Clinical and Translational Science Center Novel Technology Team Award from Weill Cornell Medical College for his dissertation, as well as a prestigious NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program Award. He is also the inventor on two Cornell-owned patents for his promising silk technology.

Realizing the potential translatability of his technology, Abdel-Naby has made significant contributions to the development of novel technologies utilizing silk-derived biomaterials since graduating from Cornell. He co-founded Novyx Technologies, LLC, to focus on the commercialization of novel, silk-based therapeutics for epithelial tissue regeneration and wound repair. Currently he is collaborating with Dr. Jason Spector and Dr. Enrique Rodriguez-Boulan at Weill Cornell Medicine to develop novel, silk-based dressings for the treatment of chronic diabetic wounds. As CEO of Novyx, he is also raising seed funding to support the commercialization of this promising technology.