Ryan Gilbert, a professor of biomedical engineering at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, will serve as a member of the Bioengineering of Neuroscience, Vision and Low Vision Technologies Study Section for the National Institutes of Health Center for Scientific Review.

As experts in their field, study section members review grant applications submitted to the NIH and then make recommendations about those research proposals. Their knowledge, guidance, and judgment are central to the advancement of biomedical innovations, scientific discovery, and the improvement of human health.

Members are chosen for this role based on their “demonstrated competence and achievement in their scientific discipline as evidenced by the quality of research accomplishments, publications in scientific journals, and other significant scientific activities, achievements, and honors.”

Gilbert’s research focuses on developing biomaterials to provide targeted treatment to damaged spinal cord and tissue. He and his lab aim to change cell behavior in order to enable and promote nerve regeneration.

He recently co-led an interdisciplinary team from Rensselaer that demonstrated how estrogen can be polymerized into a slow-releasing biomaterial and applied to nervous system cells to protect them and even promote regeneration. The team’s findings were published in Nature Communications last fall.

Gilbert is a member of the Center for Biotechnology and Interdisciplinary Studies at Rensselaer. He serves as editor-in-chief of the journal Cells Tissues Organs. He previously chaired a Department of Veterans Affairs Panel in the area of rehabilitation research and development.