2026 Distinguished Seminar Series: Alyssa Panitch, Ph.D.

Join the Department of Biomedical Engineering on Monday, August 17 for a Distinguished Seminar Series featuring Alyssa Panitch, Chair of Biomedical Engineering at Georgia Institute of Technology and Emory University. Dr. Panitch will discuss how glycosaminoglycans regulate inflammation and highlight new peptide-based therapies designed to restore vascular barrier function, reduce clotting and inflammation, and improve outcomes in conditions like ischemia-reperfusion injury and sickle cell disease.

About Dr. Panitch

Dr. Panitch received bachelor’s degrees from Smith College in Biochemistry and from the University of Massachusetts-Amherst in Chemical Engineering.  She completed her Ph.D. in Polymer Science and Engineering from the University of Massachusetts.  After a postdoctoral fellowship at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) and University of Zurich.  She started her first faculty position at Arizona State University in 1999 where she was awarded an NSF CAREER award.  After stops at Purdue University and the University of California, Davis, she moved to Georgia Institute of Technology and Emory Univeristy, which she serves as chair of the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering.   She is a member and Fellow of the Biomedical Engineering Society, the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineers (AIMBE) and the National Academy of Inventors.  She also serves as an Editor for the Journal of Colloids and Surfaces B: Biointerfaces.

Dr. Panitch has been federally funded since 2002 including NIH, NSF, and DOD funding.  She has over 130 publications in peer-reviewed journals and over 100 invited talks based on her work.  Her work has also resulted in 30 US and associated global patents.   These patents have led to the founding of 3 startups that collectively raised over $75 million.  Four drugs developed in these companies entered human clinical trials.