Slepian Delivers Founders Day Lecture on Viruses, Polymers and Hearts

As the 2020 speaker for the UA College of Health Sciences' Founders Day, BME clinical professor Marvin Slepian delivered a lecture on his research into viruses, polymers and hearts.

Slepian, who is also a Regents Professor of medicine, medical imaging, materials science and engineering, and the BIO5 Institute, researches areas including cell mechanotransduction, novel polymers and nanotechnology. He discussed the early influences on his career, how they impacted his trajectory, and how the research he leads can affect the biomedical engineering industry. 

"In my lab, we look at things on the basic and applied level, but most importantly, we focus on translation," Slepian said. "We look at pre-clinical as well as clinical things, and have emphasized, in a big way, innovation."

He discussed how his early high school interest in bacteriophages led to working with AIDS research during his residency, and this subject interest ultimately helped with his research into heart health and viruses such as COVID-19. 

"A lightbulb went off, and I said, 'If I can take what I know at the molecular level and put it into cardiology, this might be a very, very exciting pathway.' And that really was the basis for my career," Slepian said.