Tom Gaborski

Department Head

Department of Biomedical Engineering

Kate Gleason College of Engineering

trgbme@rit.edu

585-475-4117

Office Location

INS-3107

Office Mailing Address

Institute Hall 73-3100

Tom Gaborski

Department Head

Department of Biomedical Engineering

Kate Gleason College of Engineering

Education

BS, Cornell University; MS, Ph.D., University of Rochester

Bio

Tom Gaborski is a biomedical engineer, professor, and entrepreneur with expertise in materials engineering, biological separations, and tissue barrier models, including the biophysical study of cell-substrate interactions.

As the director of the NanoBio Materials Laboratory at RIT, he leads a team studying and developing nanomembranes for microphysiological systems (tissue-on-a-chip) and the purification of extracellular vesicles. His laboratory has been funded by six institutes at the National Institutes of Health as well as the National Science Foundation, New York State, and multiple industry partners. He also serves as the Department Head of Biomedical Engineering at RIT. He joined RIT in the spring of 2012 as a founding member of the Biomedical Engineering Department. Before returning to academia, Tom was the co-founder and president of SiMPore, an early-stage nanomaterials company, where he helped raise two rounds of investment, was awarded three NIH grants as principal investigator, and helped bring several products to market.

Personal Links

(formerly Twitter)

Areas of Expertise

Biomedical engineering

Ultra-thin nano-membranes

Nanomanufacturing

Cellular micro-environments

Microfluidics

Select Scholarship

Journal Paper

Ahmed, A, et al. "Microengineered Three-Dimensional Collagen Landscapes with Independetly Tunable Fiber Anisotropy and Directionality." Advanced Materials Technologies 6. 4 (2021): 2001186. Print.

Allahyari, Z, et al. "Micropatterned Poly(ethylene glycol) Islands Disrupt Endothelial Cell–Substrate Interactions Differently from Microporous Membranes." ACS Biomaterials Science & Engineering 6. 2 (2020): 959-968. Print.

Hill, K, et al. "Second Generation Nanoporous Silicon Nitride Membranes for High Toxin Clearance and Small Format Hemodialysis." Advanced Healthcare Materials. (2020): 1900750. Print.

Invited Keynote/Presentation

Gaborski, TR. "Development of Nanopocket Membranes for Tangential Flow Analyte Capture (TFAC) of Extracellular Vesicles." North American Membrane Society Annual Meeting. North American Membrane Society. Phoenix, AZ. 20 May 2020. Conference Presentation.

Mireles, M, C Soule, and TR Gaborski. "Use of Nanosphere Self-Assembly to Pattern Nanoporous Membranes for the Study of Extracellular Vesicles." 2019 Annual North American Membrane Society Meeting. North American Membrane Society. Pittsburgh, PA. 15 May 2019. Conference Presentation.

Gaborski, T.R. "Engineering Porous Membranes to Optimize in Vitro Cellular Barrier Models." IEEE NANOMED. IEEE. Waikiki, HI. 4 Dec. 2018. Conference Presentation.

Peer Reviewed/Juried Poster Presentation or Conference Paper

Allahyari, Z and TR Gaborski. "Can Porous Membranes be Engineered to Induce Physiologically Relevant Cell-substrate Interactions?" Proceedings of the 2019 Annual North American Membrane Society Meeting. Ed. NA. Pittsburgh, PA: n.p..

Dehghani, M and TR Gaborski. "Tangential Flow Microfluidics for the Capture and Release of Nanoparticles and Extracellular Vesicles on Conventional and Ultrathin Membranes." Proceedings of the 2019 Annual North American Membrane Society Meeting. Ed. NA. Pittsburgh, PA: n.p..

Mireles, M, C Soule, and TR Gaborski. "Surface-Specific Thermoresponsive Coating of Membranes." Proceedings of the 2019 Annual North American Membrane Society Meeting. Ed. NA. Pittsburgh, PA: n.p..

Currently Teaching

BIME-470

Advanced Quantitative Cell Culture Techniques

3 Credits

This hands-on course gives engineering students experience with different culture platforms and analysis techniques. Students will be given experiments relating to current literature and state of the art techniques in the area of Tissue Engineering. In a project-based course style, individual experiments require multiple weeks and students will be expected to maintain their own cultures.

BIME-499

Co-op

0 Credits

One semester of paid work experience in biomedical engineering.

In the News

September 13, 2024

Gaborski named department head for RIT Biomedical Engineering Department

For the fall 2024 academic year, Gaborski has been appointed department head and will oversee a program that has expanded since it began to include more than 300 students in undergraduate, master’s and doctoral programs.
August 27, 2024

RIT offers new master’s degrees in chemical engineering, biomedical engineering, and project management

The new engineering master’s degrees will serve to meet demands in increasing renewable energies, personalized healthcare technologies, and diagnostic system improvements. The project management MS allows students the ability to better specialize to their specific interests, giving them a competitive edge in their field of interest and making them more valuable to an employer.
September 1, 2023

RIT researchers pioneer solutions for degenerative disc disease and back pain

Researchers are improving non-invasive treatment options for degenerative disc disease, an ailment that impacts 3 million adults yearly in the U.S. Using state-of-the-art gene editing technology in mesenchymal stem cells, the researchers will add to the growing field of regenerative medicine, the process of producing cellular therapies to alleviate pain and lack of mobility.

September 26, 2023

Gaborski named to NIH study section