Penn Postdocs in the News: Nathan Sniadecki, Ph.D., named inaugural Hartwell Fellow at Penn

December 29, 2006

Penn Bioengineering Postdoc Nathan Sniadecki selected for inaugural Hartwell Foundation Fellowship

PHILADELPHIA, PA — Nathan “Nate” Sniadecki, Ph.D., a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Bioengineering at the University of Pennsylvania, has been selected for the inaugural Hartwell Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship at Penn. Dr. Sniadecki conducts research with Christopher S. Chen, M.D., Ph.D., applying engineering approaches to the study of cell mechanics and mechanobiology.

Dr. Sniadecki’s research lies at the intersection of mechanical engineering, bioengineering, and cell biology, using engineering and microscale technologies to investigate how physical forces influence cellular behavior. His Hartwell Fellowship supports his continued postdoctoral development in Penn Bioengineering under Dr. Chen.

Dr. Sniadecki earned his Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Maryland, where he trained with Don DeVoe, Ph.D., after earning his B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Notre Dame. Before joining Penn, he conducted postdoctoral research with Dr. Chen at Johns Hopkins University supported by an NIH NRSA fellowship.

Dr. Sniadecki’s fellowship also became part of an unusual chapter in Penn’s early history with The Hartwell Foundation. After he left Penn in 2007 to begin a faculty career at the University of Washington, Hartwell permitted Penn to reallocate the remaining fellowship support to another postdoctoral researcher in the Chen Lab, James Cooper, Ph.D. When Dr. Cooper was subsequently recruited to a faculty position at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Penn nominated Jordan S. Miller, Ph.D., another Chen Lab postdoc, to receive the final six months of fellowship support.

Dr. Miller’s work focused on engineering angiogenesis and vascularization in engineered tissues, an important challenge for tissue replacement and regenerative medicine with particular implications for children, whose engineered tissues must be capable of growing with them.

In correspondence with The Hartwell Foundation, Penn noted that the rapid transition of both Drs. Sniadecki and Cooper into faculty positions reflected the caliber of the University’s postdoctoral researchers and the role fellowship support could play in helping promising scientists advance toward independent academic careers.

The inaugural fellowship began a relationship that has continued to support generations of Penn postdoctoral researchers pursuing biomedical research with the potential to improve children’s health.

We are proud to recognize Dr. Sniadecki and the early Penn postdocs whose Hartwell support helped establish this longstanding tradition.