Sherry Lynn Voytik-Harbin is a professor in the Weldon School of Biomedical Engineering and Department of Basic Medical Sciences at

Purdue University Purdue University is a public land-grant research university in West Lafayette, Indiana, and the flagship campus of the Purdue University system. The university was founded in 1869 after Lafayette businessman John Purdue donated land and money ...

Early life and education

Harbin was born and raised in Indiana. As a senior at Central High School, she won the State Scholarly Writing Contest and was the recipient of a Storer Scholarship for

Indiana University Bloomington Indiana University Bloomington (IU Bloomington, Indiana University, IU, or simply Indiana) is a public university, public research university in Bloomington, Indiana. It is the flagship university, flagship campus of Indiana University and, with ...

. Upon graduating in 1987, Harbin was expected to enroll at

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

and the

Dana–Farber Cancer Institute Dana–Farber Cancer Institute is a comprehensive cancer treatment and research institution in Boston, Massachusetts. Dana–Farber is the founding member of Dana–Farber/Harvard Cancer Center, Harvard's Comprehensive Cancer Center designated b ...

for graduate work in experimental pathology but instead chose to explore

. She made contact with Pete Konrad and they discussed opportunities in biomedical engineering which convinced her to enroll at the institution. As a doctoral student, she was the recipient of a $500 Geddes-Laufman-Greatbatch Scholarship due to her academic performance.

Career

Harbin joined the faculty of Weldon School of Biomedical Engineering in 2003 as a full-time professor of biomedical engineering and basic medical sciences. In this role, she studied tissue engineering on the Extra-Cellular Matrix to understand the behavior of the reactions. She was later promoted to Associate Professor with tenure in 2006. Harbin was later selected for the 2008 Entrepreneurial Leadership Academy. Harbin continued to research the use of decellularized tissue scaffolds for tissue restoration in human patients and was nominated to the Purdue Innovator Hall of Fame in 2014. Her research laboratory developed collagen formulations that self-assemble to form fibrils that resemble those found in the body's tissues, which could then be used in creating tissue-engineered medical products as well as in-vitro 3D tissue systems for basic research, drug development, and chemical toxicity testing. She was subsequently elected a Fellow of the

National Academy of Inventors The National Academy of Inventors (NAI) is a US non-profit organization dedicated to encouraging inventors in academia, following the model of the National Academies of the United States. It was founded at the University of South Florida in 2010. ...

and named a University Faculty Scholar as an "outstanding faculty member who are on an accelerated path for academic distinction in the discovery and dissemination of knowledge." During the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

, Harbin was elected a Fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering for "developing collagen formulations that rapidly self-assemble at physiological conditions into a mechanically and proteolytic stable material that promotes tissue regeneration." The following year, she collaborated with Stacey Halum to lead a research team in develop tissue-engineered component tissue replacements that support the reconstruction of the larynx.

Personal life

Harbin married Scot A. Harbin in 1994 in Indiana.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Harbin, Sherry Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Scientists from Indiana Purdue University faculty Purdue University alumni Indiana University Bloomington alumni Fellows of the National Academy of Inventors Fellows of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering