Chemical engineer named academy fellow

David Wu, an associate professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering and on the faculty of the Department of Microbiology and Immunology in the School of Medicine and Dentistry, focuses his research on blood cell formation in artificial bone marrow. His research team was one of the first in the world to design a three-dimensional tissue culture bioreactor that simulates bone marrow. The culture environment allows bone marrow cells to retain their shapes and remain within close physical contact with other cells, which is necessary for crucial cell-to-cell communication. In comparison, the two-dimensional environment of the traditional culture dish flattens the cells and compromises cell-to-cell communication, giving scientists a skewed picture of how cells behave in the body.

Wu's bioreactor supports human blood cell formation for two months, enabling scientists to study the red blood cells, platelets, and white cells that differentiate from bone marrow stem cells. Scientists know that understanding how stem cells develop into blood cells will aid the treatment of hereditary and acquired blood disorders such as leukemia, hemophilia, sickle cell anemia, cancer, and AIDS. Industrial sectors have adapted Wu's concept, and the three-dimensional culture is now used by many university and industrial laboratories around the world in the search for better understanding of bone marrow biology and technology.

Combining biology and technology enables Wu to find direct applications of basic scientific research that will benefit others. His desire to help others shaped the course of his education. After earning a Bachelor of Science degree in biochemistry and microbiology in 1976 from National Taiwan University, Wu moved to the United States to study biochemical engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and earned his master's and doctoral degrees in 1982 and 1987, respectively. He joined the University after completing his doctorate.

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