Tori Barnhouse graduated from The Ohio State University with a B.S. in Biomedical Engineering in 2017 where she worked as a research assistant under Dr. Jennifer Leight. She will be working on a project tracing the behavior of hematopoietic stem cells encapsulated within 3D hydrogels.

Samantha Zambuto received a B.S. in Biological Engineering from Cornell University in 2015 and a Sc.M. in Biomedical Engineering from Brown University in 2017. At Brown, she worked in Dr. Diane Hoffman-Kim’s lab and wrote a thesis titled “Advancing Tissue Engineered Neural Platforms to Explore Sex Differences in Ischemic Stroke and Traumatic Brain Injury.” Samantha will be expanding our efforts to generate models of the endometrium.

Congrats to recent graduate Dr. Bill Grier, who has accepted a new position as Process Engineer in the Manufacturing Science and Technology Group at Genzyme in Cambridge, MA. Super excited for his move to the Northeast!

The Phi Tau Phi (PTP) Scholastic Honor Society was founded by Joseph H. Ehlers in 1921 in Pei Yang University, China. The Society aims to encourage scholarship, stimulate research, reward scholastic achievement, and form bonds of intellectual and professional fellowship.

Aidan will be assisting in teaching incoming MatSE students the fundamentals of material science and engineering

Congrats to Mai for the acceptance of her first paper, ‘The influence of hyaluronic acid and glioblastoma cell co-culture on the formation of endothelial cell networks in gelatin hydrogels,’ in Advanced Healthcare Materials. This study looks at the incorporating elements of the perivascular niche into gelatin hydrogels to explore the influence of glioblastoma-vascular interactions on GBM cell activity.

Dr. Harley and Dr. Helen Lu (Columbia University) co-edited a Special Issue published in Acta Biomaterialia: Gradient in Biomaterials. This special issue highlighted some of the latest advances in developing biomaterials containing graded or non-uniform properties. The collection of scientific publications emphasized  existing challenges as well as opportunities in the fields of tissue engineering and regenerative engineering. Read it!

This week Brendan, Aidan, Mai, and Bill travel to the 2017 Society for Biomaterials annual meeting. Aidan Gilchrist has a podium presentation, ‘Tunable Biotransport Properties in Gelatin Hydrogels for Hematopoietic Stem Cell Culture,’ Wed 4:30p (#94, rm. 208CD). Mai Ngo has a podium presentation, ‘Impact of VEGF Presentation and Glioblastoma on Vascularization of GelMA,’ Thurs 11:00a (#133, rm 208CD). Bill Grier has a poster, ‘Combinatorial effects of cyclic tensile strain and local biomaterial cues on tendon-bone-junction engineering,’ Fri 2:15-3:45p (#867).

Brendan and Aidan travel to Washington this week to be part of a workshop Brendan helped organize with the NIDDK at the NIH. The goal of the Remodeling the Hematopoietic Bone Marrow Niche workshop is to bring together a multidisciplinary groups of researchers in a 1-day workshop format to learn more about the structure of the bone marrow, particularly the components of the niche that give rise to circulating blood cells and how the niche remodels to adequately respond to changes in environmental cues.

This week Sara and Emily travel to the 2017 American Association for Cancer Research annual meeting. Emily Chen will be presenting her work on the effect of the matrix hyaluronic acid and hypoxia on invasive phenotype of glioblastoma, Sun 1p – 5p (Poster #931, section 43). Sara Pedron will be presenting work on the role of the matrix biophysical properties on GBM resistance to tyrosine kinase inhibitors, Wed 8a – 12p (Poster #5776, section 38).