People

Brendan Harley (he/him)

Photograph
Email bharley@nospam64786231a18a4.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

Download CV

Faculty

Sara Pedron Haba (she/her)

Photograph
Email spedron@nospam64786231a48df.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)

Photograph
Email abale2@nospam64786231a6cc2.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)

Photograph
Email gunnart2@nospam64786231a7927.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)

Photograph
Email kfok2@nospam64786231a8581.illinois.edu
Department B.S., Life Science, National Taiwan University, 2015,
M.S., Life Science, National Taiwan University, 2018

Brittany Payan, (she/her)

Photograph
Email bpayan2@nospam64786231a9257.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)

Photograph
Email genesis5@nospam64786231aa158.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)

Photograph
Email grubino3@nospam64786231aad6c.illinois.edu
Department B.S., Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Ohio State University, 2022

Vasiliki (Aliki) Kolliopoulos (she/her)

Photograph
Email vk7@nospam64786231ab906.illinois.edu
Title B.S., Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Ohio State University, 2018

Victoria Kriuchkovskaia (she/her)

Photograph
Email vk10@nospam64786231ac4e0.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

Yoanna Ivanova (she/her)

Photograph
Email yoannai2@nospam64786231acdcb.illinois.edu
Department B.E., Biomedical Engineering, Vanderbilt University, 2021

Hannah Theriault (she/her)

Photograph
Email hst4@nospam64786231ad9b9.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

Photograph
Email ktimmer2@nospam64786231ae5a3.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

Rachael Bell (BioE)

Department Mentor: Tori Barnhouse

Ambar Rivera (ChBE)

Department Mentor: Marley Dewey/Alec Tiffany

Edward Neves (CHBE)

Joy Hensold (ChBE)

Department Mentor: Mai Ngo

Angela Andrada (Chemistry)

Department Mentor: Marley Dewey

Alison Nunes (MatSE)

Department Mentor: Aidan Gilchrist

Amber Boyce (ChBE)

Title Mentor: Rebecca Hortensius

Christine Hunter (BioE)

Department Mentor: Mai Ngo

Yunseon Park (CHBE)

Department Mentor: Aliki Kolliopoulos

Noah Chiou (Engineering Physics)

Department Mentor: Samantha Zambuto

Maxwell Polanek (CHBE)

Department Mentor: Aliki Kolliopoulos

alumni

Raul Sun Han (he/him)

Photograph
Email sunhanc2@nospam64786231b2f52.illinois.edu
Department B.S., Chemistry, Pomona College, 2016

Aleczandria Tiffany (she/her)

Photograph
Email ast2@nospam64786231b3b67.illinois.edu
Department B.S., Chemical Engineering, U. of Southern California, 2016

Samantha Zambuto (she/her)

Photograph
Email zambuto2@nospam64786231b474f.illinois.edu
Department B.S., Biological Engineering, Cornell University / Sc.M., Biomedical Engineering, Brown University

Tori Barnhouse (she/her)

Photograph
Email vb7@nospam64786231b5342.illinois.edu
Department B.S., Biomedical Engineering, Ohio State University, 2017

Steven Caliari

Photograph
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

Photograph
Email jechen3@nospam64786231b674a.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

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

Marley Dewey

Photograph
Email mjdewey2@nospam64786231b7b9e.illinois.edu
Title B.S., Chemical Engineering, UMaine Orono, 2016

Seema Ehsan

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

Nathaniel Gabrielson

Photograph
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

Photograph
Email agilchr2@nospam64786231b97c1.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

Photograph
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

Photograph
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

Photograph
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

Photograph
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

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

Mai Ngo

Photograph
Email maingo2@nospam64786231bce2a.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

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

Julio Serrano

Photograph
Email jfserra2@nospam64786231be32f.illinois.edu
Title Postdoc
Department Ph.D., Chemistry, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Daniel Weisgerber

Photograph
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

Photograph
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

Vincent Cornelius (BioE)

Department Mentor: Aidan Gilchrist

Allison Kojima (ChBE)

Department Mentor: Samantha Zambuto

Michael Ding (ChBE)

Department Mentor: Aidan Gilchrist

Nathan Petrikas (ChBE)

Department Mentor: Tori Barnhouse

Sanha Kim (ChBE)

Department Mentor: Mai Ngo

Sarah Leary (Chemistry)

Department Mentor: Emily Chen

Andrey Nosatov (MatSE)

Department Mentor: Marley Dewey

Ioana Pintescu (MCB)

Department Mentor: Samantha Zambuto

Matthew Au (ChBE)

Title Mentor: Bhushan Madadik

Audrey Blazek (BioE)

Department Mentor: Emily Chen

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

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

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