Thomas Boland

Thomas Boland
Born	(1965-02-10) February 10, 1965 Dinslaken, West Germany
Alma mater	École Nationale Supérieure des Ingénieurs en Arts Chimiques et Technologiques
Known for	Biomaterials Biofabrication Bioprinting
Scientific career
Fields	Bioengineering
Institutions	Clemson University (1999 - 2009) The University of Texas at El Paso (2009 -)
Doctoral advisor	Buddy D. Ratner
Other academic advisors	David L. Allara

Thomas Boland (born February 10, 1965, in Dinslaken, West Germany) is a German-American biomedical engineer, inventor, and academic, recognized as a pioneer in bioprinting and biofabrication. He currently serves as Professor at the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP), where he directs the 3BD Laboratory and founded the university’s Biomedical Engineering graduate programs.

Early Life and Education

Boland earned his Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering from the École Supérieure d'Ingénieurs de Génie Chimique (now ENSIACET) in Toulouse, France, in 1990. He completed his Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering at the University of Washington, Seattle, in 1995 under the supervision of Professor Buddy Ratner, a leader in biomaterials and bioengineering.

Following his doctoral studies, Boland conducted postdoctoral research at The Pennsylvania State University (1995–1997) under the mentorship of David L. Allara, an internationally recognized pioneer in the field of self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) and surface science. His work there focused on characterizing interfacial structures at the nanoscale.

Academic and Professional Career

Boland's early academic appointments include the Naval Research Laboratory in Washington, DC (1997–1998), where he specialized in surface characterization techniques, and Clemson University (1999–2009), where he developed groundbreaking research in bioprinting, leading to some of the field's earliest scientific publications.

Since 2009, Boland has been a Professor in the Department of Metallurgy, Materials, and Biomedical Engineering at the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP). He is the founding director of the MS and PhD programs in Biomedical Engineering, established in 2013, and directs the 3BD Laboratory, focusing on bioprinting, biomaterials, and point-of-care diagnostics. He also holds an adjunct professorship at the Texas Tech University Paul L. Foster School of Medicine.

Honors and Awards

Boland’s recognitions include:

Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors (2021) Fellow of the Biomedical Engineering Society (BMES) (2017) Fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE) (2011) Founding Member of the International Society for Biofabrication

Selected Publications

Boland, T., et al. "Inkjet Printing of Viable Cells." Biomaterials, 2005. Cui, X., Boland, T. "Human Microvasculature Fabrication Using Thermal Inkjet Printing Technology." Biomaterials, 2009. Campbell, A., Boland, T. "Thermal Bioprinting and Gene Expression in Breast Cancer Cells." Frontiers in Bioengineering and Biotechnology, 2020.