David Needham
David Needham

David Needham

Professor Emeritus in the Thomas Lord Department of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science

Overview

Professor Needham has been at Duke since 1987 and over the years has developed many collaborative and scholarly relationships across the campus and Medical School. He holds Faculty and membership appointments as: Associate Professor of Biomedical Engineering; Center for Bioinspired Materials and Material Systems; Center for Biomolecular and Tissue Engineering; Duke Comprehensive Cancer Center; and the Duke Cancer Institute.  Internationally, he holds a joint appointment as Professor of Translational Therapeutics in the School of Pharmacy, at the University of Nottingham, UK.  He also collaborates with preclinical researchers at the Erasmus University Medical Center, in Rotterdam, NL. 
For the past 35 years Needham's Lab has developed and used a platform technology of micropipette manipulation to manipulate single and pairs of micro bubbles, droplets and particles in order to assess their behavior in well-defined fluids and solution conditions.  Recently his research and development has focused on nucleation, growth and stability of nanoparticles.  Applications of these fundamental particle and interfacial studies have primarily focused on advanced drug delivery treatments for cancer and now COVID19 with a nasal and throat spray prophylactic and early treatment regimen.

Positions

Professor Emeritus in the Thomas Lord Department of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science in the Pratt School of Engineering

2023 Pratt School of Engineering

Member of the Duke Cancer Institute in the School of Medicine

2010 School of Medicine

Education

B.S. 1975

1975 Nottingham Trent University (United Kingdom)

Ph.D. 1981

1981 University of Nottingham (United Kingdom)

Publications, Grants & Awards

Offices & Contact

3391 Fciemas Building
Durham, NC
27708
3391 Fciemas Building
Durham, NC
27708-0300