William J Polacheck, PhD
Associate Professor of Biomedical Engineering
Member, Cell Biology and Physiology Curriculum, UNC Medicine
Member, McAllister Heart Institute, UNC Medicine
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Bill was born in the Harrisburg area of Pennsylvania and first learned about Microfluidics while in Brian Kirby's lab at Cornell. He moved to Cambridge, MA to study Mechanical Engineering at M.I.T. as an NSF graduate research fellow under the guidance of Roger D. Kamm, then moved across the river to Boston to work as an NIH postdoctoral fellow at The Wyss Institute at Harvard University and at The Biological Design Center at Boston University in Christopher S. Chen's laboratory.
In 2018, Bill moved to Chapel Hill begin his appointment in the UNC/NC State Joint Department of Biomedical Engineering where his group focuses on developing microphysiological and organ-on-chip models for disease modeling, drug screening, and for understanding how cells turn mechanical forces into biological signals.
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Honors & Awards:
2024 - Cell and Molecular Bioengineering New Innovator Award
2023 - Biomedical Engineering Teaching and Mentorship Award
2021 - NIGMS Maximizing Investigator's Research Award
2021 - American Heart Association Career Development Award
2018 - Wallace H. Coulter Translational Partnership Award for translational research
2016-2018 - Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award
2015-2016 - NIBIB T32 Fellowship, Organ Design and Engineering
2008-2011 - National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship
Office
9004B Mary Ellen Jones
116 Manning Drive
Chapel Hill, NC 27514-7575