Speaker biography

Plenary Speaker: Prof. Allan S. Hoffman

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Allan Hoffman

Professor Hoffman studied at M.I.T., where he received B.S., M.S., and Sc.D. degrees in Chemical Engineering between 1953 and 1957.  He taught on the faculty of M.I.T. Chemical Engineering Department for a total of ten years.  Since 1970 he has been Professor of Bioengineering and Chemical Engineering at the University of Washington in Seattle, Washington.

Professor Hoffman’s main research interests include the principles and applications of polymer materials science, surface science, and biological sciences in the design and study of new materials and devices for a wide range of uses in medicine and biotechnology, especially drug delivery, affinity separations and diagnostics. His current interests are in two main areas: (1) design of smart polymeric carriers for intracellular delivery of nucleic acid and protein drugs; and (2) design of smart nanoparticle diagnostic systems for screening potential diseases in microfluidic devices. He has almost four hundred publications, including four in Nature, several books and chapters, over 20 issued patents and a number of patents pending.  He is on the Editorial Boards of three major journals, Bioconjugate Chemistry; Biomacromolecules, and Journal of Biomaterials Science (Polymer Edition). He is also an Associate Editor of the Journal of Bioactive and Compatible Polymers.  Prof. Hoffman is one of four editors of the Textbook of Biomaterials Science, Elsevier Publishers. This textbook is the largest selling volume worldwide of all books on biomaterials, implants and medical devices.

Some of his professional activities and major awards have included the following: President, Society for Biomaterials (1983-1984); Clemson Award, Society for Biomaterials, (1984); Biomaterials Science Prize, Japanese Biomaterials Society (1990); Founding Fellow of the American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE) (1992); Founders Award of the Society for Biomaterials (2000); Elected to the National Academy of Engineering, USA (2005); International Award from the Society for Polymer Science, Japan (2006); Founders Award of the Controlled Release Society (2007).  He is one of the founders of a new drug delivery company called PhaseRx, which was founded in 2008 in Seattle, WA, USA.