Gordana Vunjak-Novakovik

Gordana Vunjak-Novakovic

University Professor; Mikati Foundation Professor Of Biomedical Engineering And Medical Sciences; Professor Of Dental Medicine

Gordana Vunjak-Novakovic's diverse team of engineers, clinicians, and scientists are developing innovative tissue engineering technologies for improving human health. Her Laboratory for Stem Cells and Tissue Engineering is interested in whole organ engineering for regenerative medicine, tissue models for biological research, and “organs-on-a-chip” platforms for  modeling of tissue injury, disease and regeneration in patient-specific contexts.

To this end, her team directs the human cell differentiation and assembly into functional tissues using a “cell-instructive” approach based on tissue-specific scaffolds (providing templates for tissue formation) and advanced bioreactors (providing environmental control, molecular and physical signaling). Her research has been reported in top journals including Nature, Cell, Nature Biotechnology, Nature Medicine, Nature Biomedical Engineering, Nature Methods, Nature Genetics, Nature Communications, Nature Protocols, The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Cell Stem Cell, Science Advances, and Science Translational Medicine, and is highly cited. She has mentored about 250 trainees.

Vunjak-Novakovic’s laboratory is a home to the national Tissue Engineering Resource Center funded by the NIH to foster tissue engineering for medical impact. Her research team is  actively collaborating with colleagues at both campuses of Columbia University, nationwide, and around the world. Her lab is also part of CELL-MET, a multi-institutional National Science Foundation Engineering Research Center in Cellular Metamaterials. CELL-MET aims to grow functional and clinically significant heart tissue while simultaneously developing a talented and diverse workforce to tackle future challenges in synthetic tissues engineering. To translate their science into new therapeutic modalities, their lab has launched five biotech companies.

Among her many awards and recognitions, Dr Vunjak-Novakovic has served on the NIBIB Council, chaired the College of Fellows of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE), is now chairing the section for Bioengineering  of the National Academy of Engineering, and is serving on the Scientific Review Board of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. She was inducted into the Women in Technology International Hall of Fame, and received the Pierre Galletti Award of the AIMBE, and the Lifetime Achievement Award of the Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine Society. She was selected as one of the Top 50 Academic Life Science Entrepreneurs, and received an annual award of the European Patent office.

She was elected to the New York Academy of Sciences, Academia Europaea, the National Academy of Engineering (the first women faculty at Columbia University), the National Academy of Medicine (the first engineer at Columbia University), the National Academy of Inventors, the Royal Society of Canada Academy of Sciences, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Research Areas

  • Bioinformatics
  • Bioinstrumentation
  • Biomaterials
  • Biomechanics
  • Biomedical Imaging
  • Cardiovascular Engineering
  • Cell & Tissue Engineering
  • 3D Printing and Biofabrication
  • Biomedical Image Analysis
  • Cell and Tissue Biomechanics
  • Microfluidics and Lab-on-a-Chip Technology
  • Personalized Medicine and Patient-specific Modeling
  • Regenerative Medicine
  • Tissue & Organ Models of Disease

Additional Information

  • Professional Experience
    • 2019- Director, Center for Dental and Craniofacial Research, Columbia University
    • 2019- Professor of Dental Medicine, Columbia University
    • 2018- Affiliate member, Mortimer B Zuckerman Mind Brain Behavior Institute, Columbia University
    • 2017- University Professor, Columbia University
    • 2016 - Honorary Professor, University of Novi Sad, Serbia
    • 2015- Faculty, Center for Human Development, Columbia University
    • 2014- Faculty, Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center, Columbia University
    • 2011- The Mikati Foundation Professor of Biomedical Engineering, Columbia University
    • 2011- Professor of Medical Sciences, Columbia University
    • 2011 Biomedical Engineering track of Mayo Graduate Faculty, Mayo Clinic
    • 2005- Professor, Columbia University, Department of Biomedical Engineering
    • 2005 Director, Stem Cell and Tissue Engineering Laboratory, Columbia University
    • 2005- Visiting Scientist, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Harvard-MIT Division for Health Sciences and Technology, Cambridge MA
    • 2009- Honorary Professor, Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Belgrade
    • 2009- Visiting Professor, Ben Gurion University of the Negev, Israel
    • 2009- Co-director, Craniofacial Regeneration Center, Columbia University
    • 2002- Adjunct Professor, Department of Biomedical Engineering. Tufts University, Medford MA
    • 1994- Adjunct Professor, Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Tufts University
    • 1993–99 Professor, Department of Chemical Engineering, Belgrade University, Yugoslavia
    • 1993- Professor, Department of Chemical Engineering, Belgrade University, Yugoslavia
    • 1993- Visiting Scientist, Department of Chemical Engineering, MIT, Cambridge MA
    • 1992 Visiting Scientist, Harvard – MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology
    • 1989 Visiting professor, University of Wageningen, Netherlands
  • Professional Affiliations
    • American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE), Fellow
    • American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE)
    • Biomaterials Research Society
    • Biomedical Engineering Society (BMES), Fellow
    • International Academy of Medical and Biological Engineering (IAMBE), Fellow
    • International Society for Stem Cell Research (ISSCR)
    • Orthopaedic Research Society (ORS)
    • Society For Biomaterials (SFB)
    • Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine Society (TERMIS), officer
  • Honors & Awards
    • 2023- Elected to the Royal Society of Canada – Academy of Science 
    • 2023 –    Technology Venture Ambassador
    • 2023- Rosalind Franklin Society and Mary Ann Liebert Inc., the best paper in Stem Cells and Development
    • 2023    NIH Advisory Committee to the Director Working Group on Novel Alternative Methods to Animal Testing (ACD-WG)
    • 2023 –     Vice-president of the Belgrade University Alumni Association
    • 2022    BIOS Top 50 Academic Life Science Entrepreneurs
    • 2022    National Academy of Engineering, Chair of Section 2: Bioengineering; 
    • 2021    Lifetime Achievement Award, Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine Society (TERMIS)
    • 2021    Featured in “Narratives on Discovery”, Rut Charon
    • 2021 Fellow, International Academy of Medical and Biological Engineering (IAMBE)
    • 2021    Life Sciences Power 50
    • 2021 Pierre Galletti Award, AIMBE's highest honor
    • 2020 Order of Karadjordje Star, Serbia’s highest honor
    • 2020    Featured in “Invincible Women: Conversations with 21 Inspiring and Successful American Immigrants” by Bilha Fisch
    • 2020 Petit Distinguished Lecture, Georgia Institute if Technology and Emory, Atlanta
    • 2019 Person of the year in Serbia
    • 2019 Award of the NCATS-ASPIRE Design Challenge for Biological Assays for Translational Innovation in Pain, Opioid Use Disorder and Overdose (with Kacey Ronaldson-Bouchard, Joriene de Nooij and Naveed Tavakol)
    • 2019 Elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
    • 2019- HHMI Scientific Review Board
    • 2019 Innovation and Commercialization Award, Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine Society of the Americas (TERMIS)
    • 2019 AIChE Rock Stars of Regenerative Engineering
    • 2019 Shu Chien Achievement Award, Biomedical Engineering Society
    • 2019 Birnberg Medal, College of Dental Medicine, Columbia University
    • 2019 Advisory Council of the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB)
    • 2018 – Advisory Council of the National Institute for Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB)
    • 2017-2020    Center for Advancement of Science in Space (CASIS), Board of Directors; Chair of the Science and Technology Committee 
    • 2017 Robert A. Pritzker Award for 2017, Biomedical Engineering Society
    • 2017 NIBIB National Advisory Council speaker, NIH, January 24, 2017.
    • 2017-2018    American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering, Chair of the College of Fellows 
    • 2017 Doctorate Honoris Causa, University of Novi Sad, Serbia
    • 2016-2017 Chair, College of Fellows, American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIBME)
    • 2016 –2018    Board of Directors, American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE)
    • 2016-2022    “Cardiac Contractility, Hypertrophy, and Failure” study section, permanent member; resigned effective May 22, 2018 following election to the NIBIB National Advisory Council
    • 2016 Award of the Materials Research Society of Serbia for Lasting and Outstanding Contribution to Material Science and Engineering
    • 2015 Bioengineering Peer Committee, National Academy of Engineering
    • 2014 Election to the National Academy of Inventors    
    • 2014 Election to the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
    • 2014 Election to the National Academy of Medicine
    • 2014 Foreign Policy’s 100 Leading Global Thinkers of 2014          
    • 2013 National Academy of Engineering, Executive Committee, Section for Bioengineering; Fritz J and Dolores H Russ Prize Committee
    • 2013 Founding Class of the International Fellows of Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine
    • 2012 Election to the National Academy of Engineering
    • 2012 Election to the Academia Europea
    • 2012 Election to the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts
    • 2012 Election to the Serbian National Academy of Engineering
    • 2012 Fellow, Biomedical Engineering Society (BMES)
    • 2010 Clemson award of the Society of Biomaterials “for significant contributions to the literature on the science or technology of biomaterials”
    • 2009 Election to the New York Academy of Sciences
    • 2008 Hall of Fame, Women in Technology International (one of 5 leaders in science and technology in 2008)
    • 2008- 2010    Chair, NIH Study section on Biomaterials and Biointerfaces (BMBI) 
    • 2008 US Section Head, Musculoskeletal Repair & Regeneration Section, Faculty 1000 of Medicine
    • 2007 NIH Director’s lecture, the first woman engineer to receive this distinction
    • 2004 Outstanding Performance Medal, World Congress of in vitro Biology
    • 2004-2006 Three Space Act Awards, NASA, for patents
    • 2000 American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE), Fellow
    • 1997 Medal of recognition, Centennial of the Serbian Chemical Society, Belgrade YU
    • 1996 – 97 Space study of cartilage tissue engineering aboard “Mir”, in collaboration with NASA Johnson Space Center (co-lead of the 13-member team, with LE Freed); the longest cell experiment ever conducted in space; study reported in PNAS)
  • Education
    • Fulbright Fellowship, MIT, Cambridge MA
    • PhD, Chemical Engineering, Belgrade University
    • MS, Chemical Engineering, Belgrade Universit\
    • BS, Chemical Engineering, Belgrade University
    • Doctorate in engineering honoris causa, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
    • Doctorate in Science Honoris Causa, University of Novi Sad, Serbia