The University of Otago Christchurch Regenerative Medicine and Tissue Engineering (CReaTE) research group postdoctoral fellow and biomedical engineer is the only young scientist from the Australasian region chosen to attend the American Chemical Society’s (ACS) 2025 Chemical Abstracts Service (CAS) Future Leaders Programme.
Dr Yavitt is usually focused on the development of biomaterial and biofabrication approaches to address challenges in tissue engineering.
At present, he is developing innovative bio-inks to enhance the complexity and physiological relevance of tissue culture models.
His PhD thesis research focused on the synthesis and application of stimuli-responsive biomaterials to study organoid development.
His work has attracted the attention of the ACS and he is one of 35 early-career scientists from 12 countries chosen to attend the future leaders programme.
The programme is highly competitive, accepting only 4% of more than 1000 who apply each year.
He will join a group of outstanding PhD students and postdoctoral scholars from around the world, to take the next steps in their scientific research and leadership futures.
"This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to strengthen my leadership skills for a career as an independent researcher and I’m excited to learn how to best communicate my passion for science," he said.
"I am absolutely honoured to be selected for this programme, representing the University of Otago and our team here at CReaTE, learning alongside some really exceptional scientists."
The two-week programme in Columbus, Ohio, in August, will provide leadership and career development workshops, mentorship skills from industry leaders, science lectures and an opportunity to forge connections with fellow scientists in fields including nanotechnology, computational chemistry, materials research and green chemistry.
The CAS programme was launched in 2010, to fill an identified gap in leadership training for scientists.
As a specialist in scientific management, its team builds the largest authoritative collection of human-curated scientific data in the world and provides essential information solutions, services and expertise to leading organisations around the globe.
CReaTE director Prof Tim Woodfield said he was extremely proud of Dr Yavitt’s success.
"This recognition reflects the extent of fundamental chemistry expertise in Max’s research as an early-career researcher, and the interdisciplinary and novel ways his research is applied to biological systems for the development of hydrogel bio-inks in 3-D bioprinting and regenerative medicine."
