University of Michigan

Natalie C. Roberts Endowed Professor

About

Dr. Kohn is the Natalie C. Roberts Endowed Professor at the University of Michigan with appointments in the Departments of Biomedical Engineering (College of Engineering) and Biologic & Materials Sciences (School of Dentistry). He received his BS in BME from Tulane University and his Ph.D. in bioengineering from the University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Kohn is Director of the Michigan-Pittsburgh-Wyss Regenerative Medicine Resource Center, an NIH-supported national center whose mission is to translate tissue engineering technologies to the clinic and private sector, Director of an NIH Training Program in Tissue Engineering and Regeneration, and Director of a University Biosciences initiative in programmable biomaterials for regenerative medicine. Dr. Kohn is a Past President of SFB, a Fellow of the AIMBE, AAAS and the IUSBSE, and recipient of an IADR Distinguished Scientist Award. Dr. Kohn’s laboratory is dedicated to understanding causes of skeletal fragility and developing technologies to regenerate skeletal tissue. His laboratory utilizes combinations of engineering and biological technologies to advance musculoskeletal and oral health. Specifically, tissues are studied across many levels of scale by coupling mechanical, compositional and molecular analyses, and these structure-function relations are used to develop strategies to regenerate tissues. Principles of biomimicry, peptide engineering and cell-cell communication are used as platforms to design materials that can communicate with their biological microenvironment, leading to better control of cell function and spatially directed tissue formation in-vivo. Dr. Kohn’s work has been funded by NIH, NSF, DoD, and industry continually for the past 26 years. He has published over 155 peer-reviewed papers and book chapters, holds 10 patents, and has over 135 invited presentations.