Mauro Ferrari Lab

Our Research
Our research program focuses on the major areas of nanotechnology, biomechanics, microtechnology, bioengineering and biomaterials. The team is deeply involved in pursuing a number of specific research interests including:

• Nanomedicine for oncology, traumatic injury, cardiovascular disease, infectious pathologies, and diabetes
• Nanofluidics
• Biomedical Microtechnology (BioMEMS)
• Drug delivery
• Proteomics and peptidomics for early detection and therapeutic monitoring
• Cell transplantation, regenerative medicine, and tissue engineering
• Biosensors and bioseparation technology
• Multiscale discrete/continuum mechanics and biomechanics
• Bioethics

About Mauro Ferrari, PhD
Mauro Ferrari, PhD, is the Executive Vice President of Houston Methodist and the President and CEO of the Houston Methodist Research Institute where he is the Ernest Cockrell Jr. Presidential Distinguished Chair. As the Director of the Houston Methodist Institute for Academic Medicine, Ferrari oversees all research and education programs at Houston Methodist, over 1,200 research employees and credentialed clinicians executing more than 800 clinical protocols. He also serves as the Senior Associate Dean of the Weill Cornell Medical College, the primary academic affiliate of Houston Methodist and holds Adjunct and Honorary Professorships at many universities around the world.

Ferrari is the founder of biomedical nano/micro-technology, especially in their applications to drug delivery, cell transplantation, implantable bioreactors, and other innovative therapeutic modalities. Dr. Ferrari served as special expert on nanotechnology at the National Cancer Institute in 2003-2005, providing leadership for the formulation, refinement, and approval of the NCI's Alliance for Nanotechnology in Cancer, currently the world's largest program in medical nanotechnology.

He has to his credit more than 350 publications, including seven books and is the inventor of 30 issued patents in the US and Europe. Throughout his academic career, he has supervised trainees and students who have gone on to senior faculty positions at premier universities like Oxford, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), University of California Berkeley, University of California San Francisco, Duke University, University of Washington, and Ohio State University. Dr. Ferrari's degrees are in Mathematics (Padova, Italy), and Mechanical Engineering (M.S., & Ph.D., U.C. Berkeley).

His seminal contributions to the field of biomedical nanotechnology have been recognized through numerous awards and accolades, including: Founders Award − Controlled Release Society, the Wallace H. Coulter Award for Biomedical Innovation and Entrepreneurship, the ETH Zürich Stodola Medal, Blaise Pascal Medal in Biomedical Engineering − European Academy of Sciences, and the Shannon Director's Award of the National Institutes of Health. Dr. Ferrari is a Fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, American Academy for the Advancement of Science and American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering. He also holds honorary doctorates in Electrical Engineering and Biotechnology from the University of Palermo and the University of Naples “Federico II”, respectively. 

His career research and development portfolio totals over $50 million, including support from the NCI, NIH, DoD, NASA, NSF, DARPA, DoE, the state of Texas, the state of Ohio, the Ohio State University, and several private enterprises. He began his academic career at the University of California, Berkeley, where he tenured in Material Science, Civil Engineering, and Bioengineering. Upon recruitment to the Ohio State University, he served as the Edgar Hendrickson Professor of Biomedical Engineering, Professor of Internal Medicine, Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science. He was also the Associate Vice President, Health Sciences Technology and Commercialization, Associate Director of the Dorothy M. Davis Heart and Lung Research Institute and Director of the Biomedical Engineering Center. Upon recruitment to Houston, he served as Professor and Founding Chair of the Department of Nanomedicine and Biomedical Engineering at the University of Texas Health Science Center and M.D. Anderson Cancer Center.