{"id":235778,"date":"2025-09-25T12:06:28","date_gmt":"2025-09-25T16:06:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/?p=235778"},"modified":"2025-09-25T12:06:28","modified_gmt":"2025-09-25T16:06:28","slug":"professor-sir-cato-t-laurencin-of-uconn-presents-allcock-lecture-at-penn-state-university","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/2025\/09\/professor-sir-cato-t-laurencin-of-uconn-presents-allcock-lecture-at-penn-state-university\/","title":{"rendered":"Professor Sir Cato T. Laurencin of UConn Presents Allcock Lecture at Penn State University"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Allcock Alumni Group Lectureship in Polymers and Materials Chemistry was established by former students of Harry Allcock, Atherton Professor of Chemistry. Many of the recent Allcock Lecturers have been recipients of the Nobel Prize.<\/p>\n<p>The annual event\u2019s purpose is to bring the world\u2019s leading scientists to Penn State to share cutting-edge research and insights on polymers and material chemistry. In his talk, \u201cRegenerative Engineering: Breakthroughs in Science Fueled by Chemistry,\u201d University Professor Sir Cato T. Laurencin of UConn spoke about breakthrough technologies, including polymeric nanofiber systems that create the prospect for biomimetics to recapitulate connective tissue ultrastructure. This allows for the design of biomechanically functional matrices, and next generation matrices that create a niche for stem cell activity. Work in the creation of synthetic artificial stem cells presents prospects for joint restoration.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_235844\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-235844\" style=\"width: 241px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-235844 img-responsive lazyload\" data-src=\"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Harry-Allcock-Dr-Laurencin-280x300.jpg\" alt=\"Professor Harry Allcock, Atherton Professor of Chemistry, Penn State Eberly College of Science and Professor Sir Cato T. Laurencin, CEO, The Cato T. Laurencin Institute for Regenerative Engineering.\" width=\"241\" height=\"258\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Harry-Allcock-Dr-Laurencin-280x300.jpg 280w, https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Harry-Allcock-Dr-Laurencin-956x1024.jpg 956w, https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Harry-Allcock-Dr-Laurencin-768x823.jpg 768w, https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Harry-Allcock-Dr-Laurencin-1434x1536.jpg 1434w, https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Harry-Allcock-Dr-Laurencin-1912x2048.jpg 1912w, https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Harry-Allcock-Dr-Laurencin-392x420.jpg 392w, https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Harry-Allcock-Dr-Laurencin-621x665.jpg 621w, https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Harry-Allcock-Dr-Laurencin.jpg 2000w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 241px) 100vw, 241px\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml;base64,PHN2ZyB3aWR0aD0iMSIgaGVpZ2h0PSIxIiB4bWxucz0iaHR0cDovL3d3dy53My5vcmcvMjAwMC9zdmciPjwvc3ZnPg==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 241px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 241\/258;\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-235844\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><em>Professor Harry Allcock, Atherton Professor of Chemistry, Penn State Eberly College of Science and Professor Sir Cato T. Laurencin, CEO, The Cato T. Laurencin Institute for Regenerative Engineering.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Laurencin is the founder and pioneer in the field of regenerative engineering. He is recognized as the leading international figure in polymer science and engineering as applied to musculoskeletal biology. He is an expert in biomaterials science, stem cell technology and nanotechnology and has worked in the Convergence of these areas of research. In receiving the Spingarn Medal from the NAACP, he was named as the world\u2019s foremost engineer-physician-scientist. He is the world leader on chemistry and materials science applied toward musculoskeletal repair and regeneration.<\/p>\n<p>Laurencin is the recipient of the Priestley Medal, the American Chemical Society\u2019s highest honor, and the recipient of the Von Hippel Award, the Materials Research Society\u2019s highest honor. He is the recipient of the Founders Award from the American Institute of Chemical Engineers, and the Percy Julian Medal from the National Association of Black Chemists and Chemical Engineers, their highest awards. The American Association for the Advancement of Science awarded\u00a0 Laurencin the Philip Hauge Abelson Prize given \u2018for signal contributions to the advancement of science in the United States.\u2019 In recognition of his breakthrough achievements in Regenerative Engineering worldwide, the American Institute of Chemical Engineers created the Cato T. Laurencin Regenerative Engineering Founder\u2019s Award.<\/p>\n<p>Laurencin was named the 2023 Inventor of the Year by the Intellectual Property Owners Education Foundation. He received the 2024 Kathryn S. Hach Award for Entrepreneurial Success from the American Chemical Society. He is the recipient of the National Medal of Technology and Innovation, America\u2019s highest honor for technical achievement, awarded by President Barack Obama in ceremonies at the White House.<\/p>\n<p>In 2025 he received the Dickson Prize in Medicine. Many of the Dickson Prize awardees have gone on to receive the Nobel Prize. Laurencin was bestowed Knight Commander of the Order of St. Lucia, under the auspices of King Charles III of England through the Governor General of St. Lucia.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Laurencin presented The Allcock Alumni Group Lectureship in Polymers and Materials Chemistry September 15-16, 2025.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":228,"featured_media":235843,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_crdt_document":"","wds_primary_category":0,"wds_primary_series":0,"wds_primary_attribution":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2429,2287,1868],"tags":[],"magazine-issues":[],"coauthors":[2653],"class_list":["post-235778","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-awards-scholarships","category-orthopedics","category-meds"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-30 15:10:22","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/235778","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/users\/228"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=235778"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/235778\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":235841,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/235778\/revisions\/235841"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media\/235843"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=235778"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=235778"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=235778"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/magazine-issues?post=235778"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=235778"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}