People

Brendan Harley (he/him)

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Email bharley@nospam66ffd6ddd9034.illinois.edu
Title Robert W. Schaefer Professor, Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering
Office Program Leader, Cancer Center at Illinois
Theme Leader, Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology

S.B., Engineering Sciences, Harvard University, 2000
Sc.D., Mechanical Engineering, MIT, 2006
Postdoc, Childrens Hospital Boston, 2008

Fellow, American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), 2014
Fellow, American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE), 2018
Fellow, Biomedical Engineering Society (BMES), 2021
Young Investigator Award (2014), Clemson Award for Basic Research (2021), Society for Biomaterials
NSF CAREER award, 2013

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Faculty

Sara Pedron Haba (she/her)

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Email spedron@nospam66ffd6dddad64.illinois.edu
Title Research Professor (CHBE, IGB, CI MED)
Department Ph.D., Institute of Polymer Science and Technology (Spain), 2009

Graduate Trainees

Ashwin Bale, (he/him)

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Email abale2@nospam66ffd6dddcf6d.illinois.edu
Department B.E. Chemical Engineering with a Minor in Materials Science, Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani, 2021
Office Project: Understanding the interplay between Glioblastoma's cell metabolism and hyaluronic acid using multi-dimensional hydrogel models and imaging

Gunnar Thompson (he/him)

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Email gunnart2@nospam66ffd6dddda54.illinois.edu
Department B.S., Chemical Engineering, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 2016
Office Project: Granular Hydrogels for Hematopoietic Stem Cell Culture

Sheridan Fok, (he/him)

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Email kfok2@nospam66ffd6ddde5f4.illinois.edu
Department B.S., Life Science, National Taiwan University, 2015,
M.S., Life Science, National Taiwan University, 2018

Brittany Payan, (she/her)

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Email bpayan2@nospam66ffd6dddf1b0.illinois.edu
Department B.S., Biomedical Engineering, University of Houston, 2020
Office Project: Gelatin Maleimide Granular Hydrogels as a Model to Study Glioblastoma

Génesis Ríos-Adorno, (she/her)

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Email genesis5@nospam66ffd6dddfbf5.illinois.edu
Department B.S. Chemical Engineering with a minor in Pharmaceutical Engineering at University of Puerto Rico at Mayagüez, 2021
Office Project: Incorporation of Gel-SH hydrogels into a stratified scaffold for tendon-to-bone interface regeneration

Grace Rubino, (she/her)

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Email grubino3@nospam66ffd6dde066a.illinois.edu
Department B.S., Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Ohio State University, 2022

Victoria Kriuchkovskaia (she/her)

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Email vk10@nospam66ffd6dde10f4.illinois.edu
Title B.S., Chemical Engineering and Mathematics, Iowa State University, 2019
Office Project: Understanding Acquired Chemotherapeutic Resistance in Glioblastoma Using Biomaterial-Based Models

Hannah Theriault (she/her)

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Email hst4@nospam66ffd6dde1bc6.illinois.edu
Department B.S., Biomedical Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, 2021
Office Project: Developing hydrogel-based models of endometriosis lesion etiology and progression

Kyle Timmer

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Email ktimmer2@nospam66ffd6dde268d.illinois.edu
Department B.S., Chemical Engineering & Biochemistry, Calvin University, 2020
Office Project: Tailoring triphasic biomaterials to promote regeneration of osteotendinous transitionary tissue

Undergraduate Assistants

Joel Kattoor (MCB)

Department Mentor: Brittany Payan

Ariel Byun (BioE)

Department Mentor: Ashwin Bale

Jenny Martinez (BioE)

Department Mentor: Hannah Theriault

Madi Hayes (BioE)

Department Mentor: Sara Pedron Haba

Achal Anand (ChBE)

Department Mentor: Sara Pedron Haba

Christopher DeConcilis (ChBE)

Department Mentor: Ashwin Bale

Ela Eames (ChBE)

Department Mentor: Victoria Kriuchkovskaia

Joseph Mueller (ChBE)

Department Mentor: Sara Pedron Haba

Noah Flores Velasco (ChBE)

Department Mentor: Gunnar Thompson

Sydney Nelson (ChBE)

Department Mentor: Gunnar Thompson

Terrence Amador (ChBE)

Department Mentor: Victoria Kriuchkovskaia

Husain Badri (MatSE)

Department Mentor: Ashwin Bale

Kaila Kuo (MatSE)

Department Mentor: Gunnar Thompson

Teju Anand (MCB)

Department Mentor: Brittany Payan

Rene Mohammadi (MechSE)

Department Mentor: Hannah Theriault

Sia Mittal (ChBE)

Department Mentor: Hannah Theriault

Noah Chiou (Engineering Physics)

Department Mentor: Samantha Zambuto

Ryan Yao (ChBE)

Department Mentor: Sara Pedron Haba

Alumni

Raul Sun Han (he/him)

Email sunhanc2@nospam66ffd6dde5908.illinois.edu
Department Ph.D. ChBE 2022

Aleczandria Tiffany (she/her)

Email ast2@nospam66ffd6dde5a47.illinois.edu
Department Ph.D. ChBE 2022

Samantha Zambuto (she/her)

Email zambuto2@nospam66ffd6dde5b51.illinois.edu
Department Ph.D., BioE 2022

Tori Barnhouse (she/her)

Email vb7@nospam66ffd6dde5c43.illinois.edu
Department Ph.D., BioE 2022

Vasiliki (Aliki) Kolliopoulos (she/her)

Email vk7@nospam66ffd6dde5d36.illinois.edu
Title Ph.D., ChBE 2023

Yoanna Ivanova (she/her)

Email yoannai2@nospam66ffd6dde5e1c.illinois.edu
Department M.S., BioE 2023
Office Project: optimizing a 3D brain microvascular model to study radiation damage

Steven Caliari

Title Ph.D., ChBE, 2014
Department Project: influence of scaffold biophysical properties on tenocyte and mesenchymal stem cell bioactivity for musculoskeletal tissue engineering

Emily (Jee-Wei) Chen

Email jechen3@nospam66ffd6dde5feb.illinois.edu
Department Ph.D., Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (2019)
Office Current: Postdoc (Cecilia Leal), University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Ji-Sun Choi

Title Ph.D., ChBE 2014
Office
  • Project: label-free tracking of hematopoietic stem cell fate decisions
  • Current: Samsung Biologics, S. Korea

Marley Dewey

Email mjdewey2@nospam66ffd6dde61a4.illinois.edu
Title Ph.D. MatSE 2021

Seema Ehsan

Title Postdoc (IGB), 2014 - 2015.
Department Project: tissue engineering platforms for cancer
Office Current: Regulatory Affairs, Genentech, San Francisco, CA.

Nathaniel Gabrielson

Title Post-doc (IGB), 2011 - 2012
Department Project: cell-laden hydrogels in integrated microfluidic devices for long-term cell culture
Office Current: Lecturer, Dept. of Materials Science & Engineering, U. Illinois

Aidan Gilchrist

Email agilchr2@nospam66ffd6dde63e4.illinois.edu
Title Ph.D. ChBE 2020
Office Project: biomaterial platforms for directed hematopoietic stem cell response
Current: Postdoc with Dr. Sarah Heilshorn at Stanford University

Emily Gonnerman

Title M.S., ChBE, 2011
Department Project: collagen-glycosaminoglycan scaffold systems to assess HL-1 cardiomyocyte beating and alignment
Office Current: Manufacturing Engineer, TSI, Inc., MN.

William Grier

Title Ph.D., ChBE 2017
Department Project: mechanotransduction in osteotendinous insertion repair
Office Current: Process Engineer, Manufacturing Science and Technology Group, Genzyme, Cambridge, MA

Rebecca Hortensius

Title Ph.D. BioE 2016
Department Project: amniotic-membrane functionalized collagen biomaterials for orthopedic repair
Office Current: Postdoc in the Ogle Lab at U. Minnesota

Bhushan Mahadik

Title Ph.D., U. Illinois, 2014
Department Project: microfluidic tools for studying hematopoietic stem cell/niche interactions
Office Current: Assistant Director, NIH Center for Engineering Complex Tissues, U. Maryland

Laura Mozdzen

Title Ph.D., ChBE 2016
Department Project: mechanically reinforced scaffolds for osteotendinous insertion repair
Office Current: Senior Scientist, AbbVie, Chicago, IL

Mai Ngo

Email maingo2@nospam66ffd6dde687b.illinois.edu
Title Ph.D. ChBE 2020
Office Project: developing vascularized glioblastoma models
Current: Postdoc with Dr. Chris Chen in the Biological Design Center at Boston University

Jacquelyn Pence

Title Ph.D., ChBE 2016
Department Project: endometrial-inspired biomaterials
Office Current: Research Assistant Professor, U. Memphis

Julio Serrano

Email jfserra2@nospam66ffd6dde6a01.illinois.edu
Title Postdoc
Department Ph.D., Chemistry, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Daniel Weisgerber

Title Ph.D., ChBE 2016
Department Project: mineralized collagen scaffolds for bone and craniofacial defect repair
Office Current: Post-Doc in Abate Lab at UCSF

Tamaki Yokohama-Tamaki

Title Visiting scientist, 2011 - 2012
Department Project: CXCR4/CXCL12 signaling in the dental epithelial stem cell niche
Office Current: Asst. Prof., Tokyo Medical and Dental University, Japan

Alumni (Undergrads)

Christine Hunter (BioE)

Department Mentor: Mai Ngo

Diana Slater (BioE)

Department Mentor: Marley Dewey

Rachael Bell (BioE)

Department Mentor: Tori Barnhouse

Swaroop Thammineni (BioE)

Department Mentor: Ashwin Bale

Vincent Cornelius (BioE)

Department Mentor: Aidan Gilchrist

Vincent Lam (BioE)

Department Mentor: Gunnar Thompson

Allison Kojima (ChBE)

Department Mentor: Samantha Zambuto

Ambar Rivera (ChBE)

Department Mentor: Marley Dewey/Alec Tiffany

Edward Neves (CHBE)

Joy Hensold (ChBE)

Department Mentor: Mai Ngo

Michael Ding (ChBE)

Department Mentor: Aidan Gilchrist

Nathan Petrikas (ChBE)

Department Mentor: Tori Barnhouse

Sanha Kim (ChBE)

Department Mentor: Mai Ngo

Angela Andrada (Chemistry)

Department Mentor: Marley Dewey

Sarah Leary (Chemistry)

Department Mentor: Emily Chen

Alison Nunes (MatSE)

Department Mentor: Aidan Gilchrist

Andrey Nosatov (MatSE)

Department Mentor: Marley Dewey

Val Cruz (MatSE)

Title Mentor: Yoanna Ivanova

Ioana Pintescu (MCB)

Department Mentor: Samantha Zambuto

Matthew Au (ChBE)

Title Mentor: Bhushan Madadik

Audrey Blazek (BioE)

Department Mentor: Emily Chen

Amber Boyce (ChBE)

Title Mentor: Rebecca Hortensius

Lily Buescher (ChBE)

Title Mentor: Sara Pedron Haba

Hannah Chait (ChBE)

Title Mentor: Alec Tiffany

Jill Ebens (ChBE)

Title Mentor: Rebecca Hortensius

Kevin Erning (ChBE)

Title Mentor: Dan Weisgerber

Michael Foley (ChBE)

Title Mentor: Bill Grier

Christine Hunter (BioE)

Department Mentor: Mai Ngo

Eileen Johnson (BioE)

Department Mentor: Marley Dewey

Elijah Karvels (ChBE)

Department Mentor: Mai Ngo

Allison LaHood (BioE)

Title Mentor: Emily Chen

Sarah Laken (BioE)

Title Mentor: Sara Pedron Haba

Patricia Li (CHBE)

Department Mentor: Sara Pedron

Jordan Meyer (ChBE)

Department Mentor: Bill Grier

Ashley Moy (BioE)

Title Mentor: Bill Grier

Yunseon Park (CHBE)

Department Mentor: Aliki Kolliopoulos

Maxwell Polanek (CHBE)

Department Mentor: Aliki Kolliopoulos

Harshita Polishetty (ChBE)

Title Mentor: Sara Pedron Haba

Amanda Pritchard (ChBE)

Title Mentor: Sara Pedron Haba

Matt Ramsey (BioE)

Title Mentor: Bill Grier

Ryan Rodgers (ABE)

Title Mentor: Laura Mozdzen

Shayta Roy (ChBE)

Title Mentor: Laura Mozdzen

Kirsten Schroeder (BioE)

Department Mentor: Aidan Gilchrist

Simona Slater (ChBE)

Department Mentor: Marley Dewey

Erik Steinbrenner (ChBE)

Title Mentor: Bhushan Mahadik

Jessica Vargas (Int. Biology)

Title Mentor: Rebecca Hortensius

Alan Vucetic (ChBE)

Title Mentor: Laura Mozdzen

Evan Willey (ChBE)

Department Mentor: Bhushan Mahadik

Gabrielle Wolter (BioE)

Department Mentor: Sara Pedron

Huiru Zhang (MatSE)

Department Mentor: Sara Pedron