Tyrone Porter will join the faculty as a full professor in August 2020. Porter is currently an Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering, Biomedical Engineering, and Materials Science and Engineering at Boston University.
The primary focus of his research is to integrate ultrasound technologies with chemical and biomolecular engineered vesicles for diagnostic and therapeutic applications. Porter’s overall goal is to push the application of ultrasound technology in new and exciting directions, including immunomodulation and reversible opening of the blood-brain barrier.
“We are excited to have Dr. Porter join the BME faculty at UT Austin. He will provide a bridge between the long-standing expertise in acoustics in the Cockrell School of Engineering and the translational research at the Medical School. His work also connects two key areas of strength in the BME Department: Imaging and Drug Delivery, developing new methods for ultrasound-assisted drug delivery,” Department Chair Shelly Sakiyama-Elbert said.
While at Boston University, Porter guided the development of several stimuli-responsive particles for nonlinear contrast-enhanced diagnostic ultrasound as well as image-guided drug delivery and ultrasound-mediated tumor ablation.
Porter has held a variety of leadership positions at Boston University: as Co-Director for the NIH-funded Translational Research in Biomaterials Program and as Associate Director for the Nanotechnology Innovation Center. More recently, Porter was appointed an inaugural Faculty Fellow for Diversity and Inclusion. In that role, he develops programs to recruit and retain talented students from underrepresented groups in STEM doctoral programs. Additionally, Porter serves on the Executive Council for the Acoustical Society of America (ASA) and is a member of the Board of Directors for the American Institute of Physics (AIP).
Porter earned his B.S. in electrical engineering from Prairie View A&M University and his Ph.D. in bioengineering from University of Washington. He was awarded the prestigious Hunt Postdoctoral Fellowship from the ASA and completed his training at the University of Cincinnati on the development of ultrasound-responsive lipid-based vesicles.
