Kara Spiller Receives the 2025 Society For Biomaterials (SFB) Clemson Award for Basic Research February 12, 2025 Kara Spiller, PhD, URBN Professor of Biomedical Innovation, was selected to receive the 2025 Society For Biomaterials (SFB) Clemson Award for Basic Research. This is awarded to an individual who has made an original contribution to the basic knowledge and understanding of the interaction between materials and tissue. The Society For Biomaterials is a multidisciplinary society of academic, healthcare, governmental and business professionals who are dedicated to promoting advancements in all aspects of biomaterials science, education, and professional standards to enhance human health and quality of life. One growing area of research that Dr. Spiller started is the sequential delivery of different immunomodulatory cytokines to harness sequential and synergistic behavior of infiltrating macrophages. Her landmark paper introducing this idea was published in 2015 has now been cited more than 700 times and a recent google search for “sequential delivery of immunomodulatory cytokines” since 2015 yielded 460 results. Another advance by Dr. Spiller's lab is the proof-of-concept that biomarkers based on macrophage phenotype can be used to predict healing outcome of human diabetic foot ulcers, a major unmet clinical need. These biomarkers can be used to guide physicians in their selection of the more than 100 biomaterials that are currently on the market for diabetic wound healing. Yet another example of the impact of the basic research coming from Dr. Spiller's lab is the demonstration that macrophages can be loaded with drug-releasing micro- or nanoparticles to control their phenotype in situ. This is a completely novel approach to macrophage cell therapy with wide ranging applications from cancer to autoimmune disease and regenerative medicine.