简介

William E. Bentley is the Robert E. Fischell Distinguished Professor of Engineering and founding Chair of the Fischell Department of Bioengineering. He is also appointed to the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at the University of Maryland, College Park and the Institute for Bioscience and Biotechnology Research (link is external). At Maryland since 1989, Dr. Bentley has focused his research on the development of molecular tools that facilitate the expression of biologically active proteins, having authored over 250 related archival publications. Recent interests are on deciphering and manipulating signal transduction pathways, including those of bacterial communication networks, for altering cell phenotype. To enable discovery, his lab develops new strategies for opening ‘communication’ between devices and biological systems by the creation and facile assembly of biologically functional interfaces. These concepts are emerging as a field of ‘biofabrication’ that exploits biological components and processes for assembly. He has served on advisory committees for the NIH, NSF, DOD, DOE, FDA, USDA, and several state agencies. He has mentored more than 30 PhDs and 15 postdocs, many now in leadership roles within industry (18), federal agencies (4) and academia (22). He co-founded a protein manufacturing company, Chesapeake PERL, based on insect larvae as mini bioreactors. Dr. Bentley was recipient of the SIM’s Schering-Plough Young Investigator Award, the Charles Thom Award of the SIMB, and the AIChE’s FPB Division Award. He is also a Fellow of the ACS, AAAS, and AIMBE and is an elected member of the American Academy of Microbiology.