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Warren C. Ruder, PhD
210 Center for Biotechnology | 300 Technology Drive | Pittsburgh, PA 15219 P: 412-383-9744
warrenr@pitt.edu www.warrenruder.com/ Associate Professor
The Engineered Living Systems and Synthetic Biology Lab focuses on applying synthetic biology constructs, methods, and paradigms to solve a range of medical, industrial, and environmental problems. Our mission includes both understanding the fundamental biology of natural bioprocessing systems as well as re-engineering these systems with synthetic control circuits. We have expertise in multiple fields including gene circuit engineering, cell physiology and biomechanics, microfluidics, MEMS, and biomaterials. The research team currently develops new approaches in synthetic biology and links these technologies with biomimetic systems that mimic cell, tissue, and organism physiology. Active research areas include: (1) creating synthetic control modules for 2nd-messenger signaling in neurons (2) a living, bacterial microbiome for a biomimetic, robotic host, (3) artificial and engineered living microbiome constituents that deliver nutrients within organ-on-achip systems, (4) synthetically engineered cells that control material assembly, and (5) a biomimetic biofilm that combines microfluidics with synthetic biology to enable the discovery and monitoring of spatially segregated phenotypes within cell populations. These systems hold significant promise for both elucidating fundamental principles of physiology while also serving as new technologies for biomechanical engineering.
Biographical Highlights
Dr. Warren Ruder moved his research group to the University of Pittsburgh’s Bioengineering department in January of 2017. Previously, he spent four and half years as an assistant professor in Virginia Tech’s Biological Systems Engineering department, where he led the Engineered Living Systems Laboratory. His expertise is in synthetic biology, cellular and molecular biomechanics, and lab-on-a-chip systems. Dr. Ruder received his PhD in Biomedical Engineering and his M.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Carnegie Mellon University, and his B.S. in Civil and Environmental Engineering from MIT. From 2003-2005, he was a Health Science Specialist at the Veterans Affairs Boston Healthcare System and Harvard Medical School. From 2005-2009, Dr. Ruder was an inaugural NIH trainee in the Pitt-CMU Biomechanics in Regenerative Medicine program and a Dowd graduate fellow in the groups of Phil LeDuc and Jim Antaki. From 2010-2012, he was a postdoctoral research associate in the group of Jim Collins at Boston University (now at MIT), and Harvard University’s Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering.
