Andrea Joseph

Lab/ Center/ Institute affiliation – BioInspired Institute

Areas of Expertise:

  • Drug delivery
  • Nanomedicine
  • Extracellular vesicles
  • Neuroinflammation
  • Maternal-fetal health

Advancements towards women’s health and children’s health are limited by our failure to understand the unique and complex biology of these populations. Pregnancy, at their intersection, is no less mysterious. Many adverse pregnancy outcomes, including preterm birth, stillbirth, and preeclampsia, have no clear root cause nor effective cure. Further, drug delivery to mom and/or baby is limited by our poor characterization of biological barriers like vaginal mucus and fetal circulation and how these barriers are altered by inflammation and associated adverse outcomes. Nanotechnology can be leveraged to better understand the biochemical features of pregnancy in health and disease and to develop more effective, targeted therapeutics for pregnant people. My research group will focus on two distinct biological environments that are vulnerable to inflammation during pregnancy: the vaginal microbiome and the fetal brain. Our long-term goal is to develop novel nanotherapeutic platforms that can attenuate inflammation to broadly promote maternal, fetal, and neonatal health.

Honors and Awards:

  • Robin Chemers Neustein Postdoctoral Fellowship, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai (2023-2024)
  • President’s Plenary Award, Society for Reproductive Investigation (2023)
  • Kumar Memorial Lecture Award, University of Pennsylvania (2022)
  • Ruth L. Kirschstein Predoctoral Individual National Research Service Award (F31), Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) (2018-2021)

Selected Publications:

Corresponding author

  1. A. Joseph, L. Anton, Y. Guan, B. Ferguson, I. Mirro, N. Meng, M. France, J. Ravel, and M. Elovitz. Extracellular vesicles from vaginal Gardnerella vaginalis and Mobiluncus mulieris contain distinct proteomic cargo and induce inflammatory pathways, npj Biofilms & Microbiomes (2023)
  2. A. Joseph, E. Lewis, B. Ferguson, Y. Guan, L. Anton, and M. Elovitz. Intrauterine colonization with Gardnerella vaginalis and Mobiluncus mulieris induces maternal inflammation but not preterm birth in a mouse model, American Journal of Reproductive Immunology. (2023)
  3. A. Joseph and E. Nance. Nanotherapeutics and the Brain, Annual Review of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering. (2022)
  4. A. Joseph, G. Simo, T. Gao, N. Alhindi, N. Xu, D. Graham, L. Gamble, E. Nance. Surfactants influence polymer nanoparticle fate in the brain, Biomaterials. (2021)
  5. A. Joseph, C. Nyambura, D. Bondurant, K. Corry, D. Beebout, T. Wood, J. Pfaendtner, E. Nance. Formulation and efficacy of catalase-loaded nanoparticles for the treatment of neonatal hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy, Pharmaceutics. (2021)

Biomedical and Chemical Engineering Professor Mary Beth Monroe Receives Young Investigator Award from the Society for Biomaterials

Assistant professor in biomedical and chemical engineering Mary Beth Monroe has received the Young Investigator Award from the Society For Biomaterials. This award recognizes an individual who has demonstrated outstanding achievements in biomaterials research. 

The Society For Biomaterials is a group of multidisciplinary professionals from various fields including academia, healthcare, government, and business. They aim to advance biomaterial science and education to improve professional standards for human health while promoting excellence in biomaterial science, engineering, and technology. 

Monroe’s research is focused on engineering new biomaterials to address clinical needs in wound healing. Seeking to make significant strides in polymer chemistry to facilitate safer, more efficient medical devices, her biomaterials lab conducts basic and applied research to produce and analyze polymeric biomaterials that enhance healing outcomes.

“Dr. Monroe is off to a fantastic start as a junior faculty member, and she brings tremendous creativity, energy, and enthusiasm to her research lab, teaching, mentorship activities, and service efforts. We expect her to continue to lead in these areas and to excel as a biomaterials scholar as she inspires those around her to lead as well,” says the SFB BioInterfaces Special Interest Group Awards Committee, Ashley Brown, Benjamin Keselowsky, and Christopher Siedlecki.  

“I have been engaged with SFB since my first semester of graduate school,” says Monroe. “It is a huge honor to be recognized by this scientific society that has had such a huge impact on my career by providing me with mentors, collaborators, and an outlet for scientific inquiry over the past 10+ years.” 

Mary Beth Monroe and Students in the Laboratory

Yaoying Wu

Lab/ Center/ Institute affiliation –

Bioinspired Institute

Areas of Expertise:

  • Synthetic Biomaterials
  • Peptide Assembly
  • Vaccine Design
  • Immunoengineering

The immune system is essential for many aspects of human health, such as, infections, autoimmune conditions, malignancies, and tissue regenerations. While the generations of immune responses are complicated processes that involves wide range of molecular and cellular interactions, many key aspects crucial for protective immune responses have been recently revealed, generating enormous opportunities for therapeutic interventions to greatly improve patient health. Various immune engineering strategies based on biomaterial platforms have shown promise in facilitating immunogenic materials trafficking, modulating cellular interactions, and more. My previous work has also demonstrated several approaches to engineer coordinated cellular and humoral immune responses for augmenting therapeutic responses. The research of our team at Syracuse is aimed at designing biomaterials strategies to delivering molecular stimuli in a temporal and spatial fashion for regulating immune functions. We are particularly interested in harnessing humoral immune responses for therapeutic purpose by regulating the cellular process involved.

Honors and Awards:

  • Duke Incubation Fund (Co-PI) 2019
  • American Chemical Society Excellence in Graduate Polymer Research Award 2014

Selected Publications:

•             Wu Y, Wen H, Bernstein Z, Blakney T, Congdon K, Sampson JH, Sanchez-Perez L, Collier JH, Multi-epitope supramolecular peptide nanofibers eliciting coordinated humoral and cellular antitumor immune responses, Science Advances, 2022 8, eabm7833

•             Wu Y, Kelly SH, Sanchez-Perez L, Sampson JH, Collier JH, Comparative study of α-helical and β-sheet self-assembled peptide nanofiber vaccine platforms: Influence of integrated T-cell epitopes, Biomaterial Science, 2020, 8, 3522

•             Fries CN, Wu Y, Kelly SH, Wolf M, Votaw NL, Zauscher S, Collier JH, Controlled lengthwise assembly of helical peptide nanofibers to modulate CD8+ T cell responses, Advanced Materials, 2020, 32, 2003310

•             Kelly SH, Wu Y, Varadhan AK, Curvino EJ, Chong AS, Collier JH, Enabling Sublingual Peptide Immunization Using Molecular Self-assemblies, Biomaterials, 2020, 241, 119903

•             Nelson CE, Wu Y, Gemberling MP, Oliver ML, Waller MA, Bohning JD, Robinson-Hamm JN, Bulaklak K, Castellanos Rivera RM, Collier JH, Asokan A, Gersbach CA, Long-term Evaluation of AAV-CRISPR Genome Editing for Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy, Nature Medicine, 2019, 25, 427

•             Wu Y, Norberg PK, Reap EA, Congdon K, Fries C, Kelly SH, Sampson JH, Conticello VP, Collier JH, A supramolecular vaccine platform based on α-helical peptide nanofibers, ACS Biomaterials Science & Engineering, 2017, 3(12), 3128

•             Wu Y, Smith AE, Reineke TM, Lipophilic polycation vehicles display high plasmid DNA delivery to multiple cell types, Bioconjugate Chemistry, 2017, 28, 2035

Yi Zheng

Lab/ Center/ Institute affiliations:

BioInspired Institute

Areas of Expertise:

  • Stem cell-based human developmental models
  • Microengineered organ/disease models (organoids)
  • Single cell genomics
  • Microfluidics
  • Mechanobiology

Embryonic development involves extensive lineage diversification, cell fate specification, tissue patterning and morphogenesis. Identification of the features that enable robust interpretation of developmental signaling using in vivo samples is a significant challenge. Recent studies of self-assembly processes of organ-like structures (organoids) from pluripotent stem cells in vitro have provided fresh insights into fundamental mechanisms underlying embryonic development. These stem cell-based in vitro models offer unparalleled opportunities for experimental control of key parameters, quantitative measurements, and mathematical modeling.

My lab sought to leverage sophisticated engineering approaches to achieve controllable in vitro platforms that could recapitulate sequential developmental events during human embryo development. These stem cell-based models will provide powerful experimental platforms to advance understanding of poorly understood embryonic disorders. With superior controllability and scalability, these platforms will also serve as effective tools for high-throughput drug and toxicity screening to facilitate diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of teratogenesis and birth defects.

Honors and Awards:

  • Robert M. Caddell Memorial Award, University of Michigan
  • Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) Postdoctoral Fellowship
  • Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) CREATE Scholarships, University of Toronto
  • Barbara and Frank Milligan Fellowships, University of Toronto

Selected Publications:

  • Zheng Y, Yan RZ, Kobayashi M, Xiang L, Yang R, Goedel A, Kang Y, Xue X, Esfahani SN, Liu Y, Resto Irizarry AM, Wu W, Li Y, Ji W, Niu Y, Chien KR, Li T, Shioda T, Fu J. Single-cell analysis of embryoids reveals lineage diversification roadmaps of early human development. Cell Stem Cell. 2022. In Press
  • Zheng Y, Xue X, Shao Y, Wang S, Esfahani SN, Li Z, Muncie JM, Lakins JN, Weaver VM, Gumucio DL, Fu J. Controlled modelling of human epiblast and amnion development using stem cells. Nature. 2019;573(7774):421-5.
  • Zheng Y, Sun Y, Yu X, Shao Y, Zhang P, Dai G, Fu J. Angiogenesis in Liquid Tumors: An In Vitro Assay for Leukemic-Cell-Induced Bone Marrow Angiogenesis. Advanced Healthcare Materials. 2016;5(9):1014-24.
  • Zheng Y, Chen J, Cui T, Shehata N, Wang C, Sun Y. Characterization of red blood cell deformability change during blood storage. Lab on a Chip. 2014;14(3):577-83.
  • Zheng Y, Shojaei-Baghini E, Wang C, Sun Y. Microfluidic characterization of specific membrane capacitance and cytoplasm conductivity of single cells. Biosensors and Bioelectronics. 2013;42:496-502.

Senem Velipasalar

Degrees:

  • Ph. D., Electrical Engineering, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, 2007
  • M.A., Electrical Engineering, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, 2004
  • M.S., Electrical Sciences and Computer Engineering, Brown University, Providence, RI, 2001
  • B.S., Electrical and Electronics Engineering, Bogazici University, Istanbul, Turkey, 1999

Lab/ Center/ Institute affiliations:

Director of the Smart Vision Systems Laboratory (http://www.vision.syr.edu/)

Faculty Affiliate, Aging Studies Institute

Areas of Expertise:

  • Machine Learning
  • Computer Vision
  • Wireless Smart Camera Networks
  • Mobile camera applications
  • Signal Processing

Prof. Velipasalar’s primary areas of research are machine learning and computer vision. More specifically, her research has focused on human activity classification and fall detection from egocentric cameras, and applications of machine learning to (i) thermal anomaly detection from UAV-mounted infrared cameras, (ii) driver behavior analysis from in-vehicle mounted cameras, (iii) 3D object detection, (iv) person detection from video data, (v) analysis of functional near infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) data, (vi) dynamic multi-channel access, and (vii) defense against adversarial jamming attacks.

Honors/Awards:

  • NSF CAREER Award, 2011.
  • 2021 IEEE Region 1 Technological Innovation (Academic) Award.
  • 2021 IAAI Deployed Application Award for our paper titled “Preclinical Stage Alzheimer’s Disease Detection Using Magnetic Resonance Image Scans”.
  • Top 25 most downloaded IEEE Sensors Journal paper in the months of January-September 2017, and June 2018.
  • Graduate School All-University Doctoral Prize, received by my former Ph.D. student Burak Kakillioglu, 2022.
  • Graduate School All-University Doctoral Prize, received by my former Ph.D. student Natalie Sommer, 2021.
  • Graduate School All-University Doctoral Prize, received by my former Ph.D. student Yantao Lu, 2020.
  • 2017 IEEE Green Communications & Computing Technical Committee Best Journal Paper Award for our paper titled “Analysis of Energy Efficiency in Fading Channels under QoS Constraints”.
  • 2nd place Poster Award at the 17th Annual SyracuseCoE Symposium Student Poster Competition for our work titled “Heat Mapping Drones”, October 2017.
  • 2014 Excellence in Graduate Education Faculty Recognition Award.
  • Graduate School All University Doctoral Prize, received by my former Ph.D. student Akhan Almagambetov, 2014.
  • Nunan Research Day Poster Competition EECS Departmental Winner Award, received by Danushka Bandara (co-advised by Dr.Hirshfield), 2014.
  • Intelligent Transportation Society (ITS) of NY Best ITS Student Essay Award, received by my former Ph.D. student Akhan Almagambetov, based on our research on vehicle taillight tracking and alert signal detection, May 2013.
  • The college-wide award for “Applicability of Research to Business and Industry”, received by my former Ph.D. student Akhan Almagambetov, Nunan Lecture and Research Day, April 2013.
  • Third place paper award at the ACM/IEEE International Conference on Distributed Smart Cameras for the paper titled “Energy-efficient Feedback Tracking on Embedded Smart Cameras by Hardware-level Optimization“, 2011
  • EPSCoR First Award, 2009
  • Layman Award as PI, 2007
  • Layman Award as Co-PI, 2009
  • Best Student Paper Award at the IEEE International Conference on Multimedia & Expo (ICME) for the paper titled “Design and Verification of Communication Protocols for Peer-to-Peer Multimedia Systems,” 2006
  • IBM Patent Application Award, 2005
  • Travel Grant, Office of Graduate Affairs, Princeton University, 2005
  • Graduate Fellowship, Princeton University, 2002
  • Graduate Fellowship, Brown University, 1999

Selected Publications:

(Please visit https://ecs.syr.edu/faculty/velipasalar/ for a complete list)

  • J. Chen, B. Kakillioglu and S. Velipasalar, “Background-Aware 3D Point Cloud Segmentation with Dynamic Point Feature Aggregation,” IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing, vol. 60, April 2022.
  • F. Altay and S. Velipasalar, “The Use of Thermal Cameras for Pedestrian Detection,” IEEE Sensors Journal, vol. 22, issue:12, 11489 – 11498, May 2022.
  • Y. Chu, D. Mitra, K. Cetin, N. Lajnef, F. Altay, S. Velipasalar, “Development and Testing of a Performance Evaluation Methodology to Assess the Reliability of Occupancy Sensor Systems in Residential Buildings,” Energy and Buildings, vol. 268, pp. 112148, 2022.
  • J. Wang, T. Grant, S. Velipasalar, B. Geng and L. Hirshfield, “Taking a Deeper Look at the Brain: Predicting Visual Perceptual and Working Memory Load from High-Density fNIRS Data,” IEEE Journal of Biomedical and Health Informatics, vol. 26, issue:5, pp. 2308-2319, December 2021.
  • J. Wang, W. Chai, A. Venkatachalapathy, K. L. Tan, A. Haghighat, S. Velipasalar, Y. Adu-Gyamfi, A. Sharma, “A Survey on Driver Behavior Analysis from In-Vehicle Cameras,” accepted to appear in the IEEE Transactions on Intelligent Transportation Systems, early access version available, November 2021.
  • F. Wang; C. Zhong, M. Cenk Gursoy, S. Velipasalar, “Resilient Dynamic Channel Access via Robust Deep Reinforcement Learning,” IEEE Access Journal, vol. 9 , pp. 163188 – 163203, December 2021.
  • N. M. Sommer, B. Kakillioglu, T. Grant, S. Velipasalar and L. Hirshfield, “Classification of fNIRS Finger Tapping Data with Multi-Labeling and Deep Learning,” IEEE Sensors Journal, vol. 21, issue: 21, pp. 24558-24559, doi: 10.1109/JSEN.2021.3115405, Nov. 2021.
  • Y. Zheng, Y. Lu, and S. Velipasalar, “An Effective Adversarial Attack on Person Re-identification in Video Surveillance via Dispersion Reduction,” IEEE Access Journal, vol. 8, pp. 183891 – 183902, Sept. 2020.
  • N. Sommer, S. Velipasalar, L. Hirshfield, Y. Lu and B. Kakillioglu, “Simultaneous and Spatiotemporal Detection of Different Levels of Activity in Multidimensional Data,” IEEE Access Journal, vol. 8, pp. 118205 – 118218, June 2020.
  • D. Bandara, T. Grant, L. Hirshfield and S. Velipasalar, “Identification of Potential Task Shedding Events Using Brain Activity Data,” Augmented Human Research, 5. 10.1007/s41133-020-00034-y, 2020.
  • M. Cornacchia and S. Velipasalar, “Autonomous Selective Parts-Based Tracking,” IEEE Transactions on Image Processing, vol. 29, pp. 4349-4361, January 2020.
  • B. Kakillioglu, A. Ren, Y. Wang and S. Velipasalar, “3D Capsule Networks for Object Classification with Weight Pruning,” IEEE Access Journal, pp. 27393-27405, Febr. 2020.
  • C. Zhong, M. Cenk Gursoy and S. Velipasalar, “Deep Reinforcement Learning-Based Edge Cashing in Wireless Networks,” IEEE Transactions on Cognitive Communications and Networking, vol. 6 , issue 1, pp. 48-61, March 2020.
  • Y. Hu, Y. Li, M. C. Gursoy, S. Velipasalar, and A. Schmeink, “Throughput Analysis of Low-Latency IoT Systems with QoS Constraints and Finite Blocklength Codes,” IEEE Transactions on Vehicular Technology, vol. 69, issue 3, pp. 3093-3104, March 2020.
  • C. Zhong, Z. Lu, M. Cenk Gursoy and S. Velipasalar, “A Deep Actor-Critic Reinforcement Learning Framework for Dynamic Multichannel Access,” IEEE Transactions on Cognitive Communications and Networking, vol. 5, issue 4, pp. 1125-1139, Dec. 2019.
  • Y. Lu and S. Velipasalar, “Autonomous Human Activity Classification from Wearable Multi-Modal Sensors,” IEEE Sensors Journal, vol. 19, issue: 23, pp. 11403-11412, Dec. 2019.
  • D. Qiao, M. Cenk Gursoy and S. Velipasalar, “Throughput-Delay Tradeoffs with Finite Blocklength Coding over Multiple Coherence Blocks,” IEEE Transactions on Communications, pp. 5892 – 5904, volume: 67 , Issue: 8 , Aug. 2019.
  • D. Bandara, L. Hirshfield and S. Velipasalar, “Classification of Affect Using Deep Learning on Brain Blood Flow Data,” Journal of Near Infrared Spectroscopy, 27(3), pp. 206-219, doi: 10.1177/0967033519837986, April 2019.
  • C. Ye, M. Cenk Gursoy and S. Velipasalar, “Power Control for Wireless VBR Video Streaming: From Optimization to Reinforcement Learning,” IEEE Transactions on Communications, pp. 5629 – 5644, volume: 67 , Issue: 8 , Aug. 2019.
  • M. Cornacchia, B. Kakillioglu, Y. Zheng and S. Velipasalar, “Deep Learning Based Obstacle Detection and Classification with Portable Uncalibrated Patterned Light,” IEEE Sensors Journal, vol. 18, issue: 20, pp. 8416-8425, Oct 2018.
  • Y. Lu and S. Velipasalar, “Autonomous Footstep Counting and Traveled Distance Calculation by Mobile Devices Incorporating Camera and Accelerometer Data,” IEEE Sensors Journal, vol. 17, issue: 21, pp. 7157-7166, Nov. 2017.
  • K. Ozcan, S. Velipasalar and P. Varshney, “Autonomous Fall Detection with Wearable Cameras by using Relative Entropy Distance Measure,” IEEE Transactions on Human-Machine Systems, vol. 47, issue: 1, pp. 31-39, Febr. 2017.
  • M. Cornacchia, K. Ozcan, Y. Zheng and S. Velipasalar, “A Survey on Activity Detection and Classification Using Wearable Sensors,” IEEE Sensors Journal, vol. 17, issue: 2, pp. 386-403, Jan. 2017. Top 25 most downloaded IEEE Sensors Journal paper for nine consecutive months in 2017, and in June 2018 .
  • F. Erden, S. Velipasalar, A. Z. Alkar, A. Enis Cetin, “Sensors in Assisted Living: A Survey of Signal and Image Processing Methods ,” IEEE Signal Processing Magazine, volume:33, issue:2, pp. 36-44, March 2016.
  • K. Ozcan and S. Velipasalar, “Wearable Camera- and Accelerometer-based Fall Detection on Portable Devices ,” IEEE Embedded Systems Letters, volume: 8, issue: 1, pp. 6-9, March 2016.

Pranav Soman

Degree(s):

Ph.D. Bioengineering (Penn State University)

Lab/ Center/ Institute affiliation:

  • BioInspired Institute
  • Biomaterial Institute

Areas of Expertise:

  • Optical printing
  • Bioprinting
  • Microfluidics
  • Organ-On-Chip
  • Tissue engineering

Nature’s marvelous ability to arrange proteins, sugars, and minerals from macro to nano scales has realized a wide range of ‘smart’ multifunctional structures optimized to satisfy specific environmental demands. Man-made manufacturing, however, is not able to match nature’s building capabilities. My central research focus is to develop new processing and printing technologies to create reliable models from single cell to tissue scale to capture key aspects of in vivo physiology and pathophysiology. Toward this goal, my group, with expertise in mechanical engineering, laser optics, biomaterials and cell biology, has developed a technology toolbox to process and print biocompatible thermoplastics, photosensitive hydrogels, and living cells and provide a manufacturing solution to advance research in bioprinting, microfluidics, organ-on-chip, tissue engineering, regenerative medicine, and single cell analysis.

Honors and Awards:

  • 2022           The U.S. Air Force Research Lab Summer Faculty Fellowship Program
  • 2021           Satish Dhawan Visiting Chair Professor at the Indian Institute of Science
  • 2020           Techconnect Defense Innovation Award
  • 2020           E&T Outstanding Innovation in the Manufacturing 4.0
  • 2015  Syracuse University – College of Engineering and Computer Science Award for Faculty Excellence
  • 2010           Dean’s award for academic excellent, Penn State University.
  • 2015            Faculty Excellent Award, Syracuse University

Selected Publications:

Xiong, Z., Kunwar, P., & Soman, P. (2021). Hydrogel‐Based Diffractive Optical Elements (hDOEs) Using Rapid Digital Photopatterning. Advanced optical materials, 9(2), 2001217.

Kunwar, P., Jannini, A.V.S., Xiong, Z., Ransbottom, M.J., Perkins, J.S., Henderson, J.H., Hasenwinkel, J.M. and Soman, P., 2019. High-resolution 3D printing of stretchable hydrogel structures using optical projection lithography. ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces.

Kunwar, P., Xiong, Z., Zhu, Y., Li, H., Filip, A. and Soman, P., 2019. Hybrid Laser Printing of 3D, Multiscale, Multimaterial Hydrogel Structures. Advanced Optical Materials, p.1900656.

Xiong, Z., Li, H., Kunwar, P., Zhu, Y., Ramos, R., Mcloughlin, S., Winston, T., Ma, Z. and Soman, P., 2019. Femtosecond laser induced densification within cell-laden hydrogels results in cellular alignment. Biofabrication, 11(3), p.035005.

Sawyer, S. W., Shridhar, S. V., Zhang, K., Albrecht, L., Filip, A., Horton, J., & Soman, P. (2018). Perfusion directed 3D mineral formation within cell-laden hydrogels. Biofabrication. June 8.

Dacheng Ren

Degrees:

  • B.E. (major) Applied Chemistry, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, P. R. China, 1996.
  • B.E. (minor) Electrical Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, P. R. China, 1996.
  • M.E. Chemical Engineering, Tianjin University, P. R. China, 1999.
  • Ph.D. Chemical Engineering, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT, 2003
  • Postdoctoral associate, Chemical Engineering, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, 2003-2005.

Lab/Center Affiliation:

  • Syracuse BioInspired Institute

Areas of Expertise:

  • Biomaterials
  • Medical devices
  • Biotechnology
  • Synthetic Biology
  • Bacterial control

Current Research:

Historically, our understanding of bacterial physiology and development of antibiotics have been focused on active planktonic (free-swimming) cells. However, the vast majority of bacteria in nature and medical environments exist in surface-attached biofilms with varying levels of dormancy. With up to 1,000 times higher tolerance to antibiotics and disinfectants compared to their planktonic counterparts, deleterious biofilms cause serious problems such as chronic infections in humans as well as persistent fouling and equipment failure in industry. Biofilms are blamed for billions of dollars of losses and more than 45,000 deaths annually in the U.S. alone. Despite the well-recognized significance of biofilms, the mechanisms of biofilm formation and bacterial dormancy are still not fully understood with many fundamental questions unanswered. Controlling biofilms and dormant cells is also challenging. To address these challenges, we conduct both basic and translational research with specific interests in bacteria-material interactions, novel antifouling materials, new agents for controlling biofilms and dormant cells, synthetic biology for microbial control, and smart and safer medical devices.

Courses Taught:

  • CEN551 Biochemical Engineering
  • BEN301 Biological Principles for Engineers

Honors:

  • Fellow, American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE), 2022
  • Chancellor’s citation for Faculty Excellence & Scholarly Distinction, Syracuse University, 2018
  • Faculty Excellence Award, School of Engineering & Computer Science, Syracuse University, 2014
  • NSF CAREER Award, 2011-2016
  • College Technology Educator of the Year by the Technology Alliance of Central New York (TACNY), 2010.
  • Early Career Translational Research Award in Biomedical Engineering, Wallace H. Coulter Foundation, 2009

Selected Publications:

For a full list of publications, please see http://scholar.google.com/citations?user=85Ty0hAAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao.

Yikang Xu and Dacheng Ren. “A novel inductively coupled capacitor wireless sensor system for rapid antibiotic susceptibility testing.” Journal of Biological Engineering. 17, Article number: 54 (2023).

72. Sang Won Lee, Erick L. Johnson, J. Alex Chediak, Hainsworth Shin, Yi Wang, K. Scott Phillips and Dacheng Ren. “High-Throughput Biofilm Assay to Investigate Bacterial Interactions with Surface Topographies.” ACS Applied Bio Materials. 5: 3816-3825 (2022).

Sweta Roy, Ali Adem Bahar, Huan Gu, Shikha Nangia, Karin Sauer and Dacheng Ren. “Persister Control by Leveraging Dormancy Associated Reduction of Antibiotic Efflux.” PLOS Pathogens. 17(12): e1010144 (2021).

Sang Won Lee, Joseph Carnicelli, Dariya Getya, Ivan Gitsov, K. Scott Phillips and Dacheng Ren. “Biofilm Removal by Reversible Shape Recovery of the Substrate.” ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces. 13 (15): 17174–17182 (2021)

Sang Won Lee, K. Scott Phillips, Huan Gu, Mehdi Kazemzadeh-Narbat, Dacheng Ren. “How microbes read the map: effects of implant topography on bacterial adhesion and biofilm formation.” Biomaterials. 268: 120595 (2021).

Huan Gu, Sang Won Lee, Joseph Carnicelli, Teng Zhang, and Dacheng Ren. “Magnetically driven active topography for long-term biofilm control”. Nature Communications. 11: Article number: 2211 (2020).

Yikang Xu, Yousr Dhaouadi, Paul Stoodley, and Dacheng Ren, “Sensing the unreachable: challenges and opportunities in biofilm detection”. Current Opinion in Biotechnology. 64: 79-84 (2020).

Farzana Rahman

Degrees:

  • Ph.D., Computer Science, Marquette University, Wisconsin, USA (2013)
  • M.S., Computer Science, Marquette University, Wisconsin, USA (2010)
  • B.S., Computer Science and Engineering, Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET), Bangladesh (2008)

Research interests:

  • Mobile and pervasive health technologies
  • Internet-of-Things
  • Computer science education
  • Impact of active learning pedagogy in CS courses
  • Broadening participation of women and underrepresented students in CS

Current research:

Her research spans the domains of mobile healthcare, healthcare data analytics, and pervasive health technologies. Broadly, her research focuses on integrating mobile and pervasive technologies in health and wellness environments to improve users’ quality of life, mental and physical wellbeing. Her research also expands in the direction of mobile security, information and communication technology for development (ICT4D), Computer Science education, broadening participation in computing, best practices in undergraduate research, and how different pedagogical practices can increase diversity in CS. She is also interested in finding why and how people from diverse backgrounds are learning programming in 21stcentury and how the development of new kind of scalable programming environments or platform can support all kind of learners.

Teaching Interests:

  • Introduction to Programming
  • Object-Oriented Programming
  • Data Structure
  • Mobile Application Programming
  • Mobile and Pervasive Computing
  • Computer Architecture

Honors:

  • Provost LA Initiative Award, Florida International University, Spring 2018-2019
  • Best paper award, IEEE Conference on Networking Systems and Security (NSysS’ 16), 2016
  • Systers Pass-It-On (PIO) Award, Anita Borg Institute, 2014
  • Best paper award, IEEE International Conference on e-Health Networking, Applications and Services (Healthcom’ 12), 2012

Recent Publications:

  1. Claire Fulk, Grant Hobar, Kevin Olsen, Samy El-Tawab, Puya Ghazizadeh, and Farzana Rahman. Cloud-based Low-cost Energy Monitoring System through the Internet of Things. In Proceedings of the IEEE International Workshop of Mobile and Pervasive Internet of Things (PerIoT 2019), in Conjunction with IEEE Percom ’19. Japan, March 2019.
  2. Farzana Rahman and Samy El-Tawab. App Development for the Social Good: Teaching Socially Conscious Mobile App Development in an Upper-Level Computer Science Course. In Proceedings of the 2019 ASEE Annual Conference and Exposition (ASEE ’19), Orlando, FL, July 2019.
  3. Farzana Rahman. Leveraging Visual Programming Language and Collaborative Learning to Broaden Participation in Computer Science. In Proceedings of the 19th Annual Conference on Information Technology Education (SIGITE ’18), Ft Lauderdale, FL, Oct 2018.
  4. Saiyma Sarmin, Nafisa Anzum, Kazi Hasan Zubaer, Farzana Rahman, A. B. M. Alim Al Islam. Securing Highly-Sensitive Information in Smart Mobile Devices through Difficult-to-Mimic and Single-Time Usage Analytics. In Proceedings of the 15th EAI International Conference on Mobile and Ubiquitous Systems, Computing, Networking and Services (MobiQuitous ’18), Nov 2018.
  5. Farzana Rahman. From App Inventor to Java: Introducing Object-oriented Programming to Middle School Students Through Experiential Learning. In Proceedings of the 2018 ASEE Annual Conference and Exposition (ASEE ’18), Salt Lake City, UT, July 2018.
  6. Farzana Rahman, Healthy Hankerings: Motivating Adolescents to Combat Obesity with a Mobile Application. In Proceedings of the 20th International Conference on Human-Computer Interaction (HCI International ’18), NV, July, 2018.
  7. Farzana Rahman, Perry Fizzano, Evan M. Peck, Shameem Ahmed, and Stu Thompson. How to Build a Student-Centered Research Culture for the Benefit of Undergraduate Students. In Proceedings of the 49th ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education (SIGCSE ’18), Maryland, Feb 2017.

Shikha Nangia

Degrees:

  • Ph. D. Chemistry (2006) University of Minnesota, Twin Cities
  • M.Sc. Chemistry (2000) Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi, India
  • B.Sc. Chemistry (1998) University of Delhi, Delhi, India

Lab/Center Affiliation:

  • Syracuse Biomaterials Institute

Research interests:

  • Blood-brain barrier
  • Targeted cancer drug delivery
  • Multiscale modeling of nanomaterials
  • Nanomedicine
  • Virus nanotechnology

Current Research:

My research group focuses on studying blood-brain barrier using theoretical and computational techniques. The goal is to enable the transport of drug molecules across the blood-brain barrier, which has been the biggest impediment for finding a cure for brain related ailments such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases. This project was funded through the NSF-CAREER award.

Additionally, we our group focuses on computational multiscale modeling of nanomaterials, including nanomedicine, drug delivery nanocarriers, and nano-bio interactions. The goal of this research is to design efficient nanosized drug delivery carriers to target cancer tumor cells that hold the key to a new era of cancer treatment. To achieve our research goals we are developing quantitative approaches for characterizing interaction of nanoscale entities with living matter (serum, cell-membranes, cells). Our computational approaches are directed to analyze these complex nano-bio interactions in an effort to design safe and smart drug delivery nanocarriers.

Courses Taught:

  • Statistical thermodynamics
  • Multiscale computational methods
  • Reaction kinetics
  • Engineering Materials, Properties, and Processing

Honors:

  • 2017 Dean’s Award for Excellence in Education
  • 2017 Meredith Teaching Recognition Award
  • 2016 College Technology Educator of the Year, Technical Alliance of Central New York
  • 2016 ACS OpenEye Outstanding Junior Faculty Award
  • 2015 Nappi Research Competition Award
  • NSF CAREER award (2015)
  • Faculty Excellence Award, College of Engineering and Computer Science, Syracuse University (2015)

Recent Publications:

Development of effective stochastic potential method using random matrix theory for efficient conformational sampling of semiconductor nanoparticles at non-zero temperatures, J. Scher, M. Bayne, A. Srihari, S. Nangia, and A. Chakraborty, Journal of Chemical Physics, 149, 014103 (2018). https://aip.scitation.org/doi/10.1063/1.5026027
Self-assembly simulations of classic claudins-insights into the pore structure, selectivity and higher-order complexes, F. J. Irudayanathan, X. Wang, N. Wang, S. Willsey, I. Seddon, and S. Nangia, Journal of Physical Chemistry B, 122, 7463-7474 (2018). https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.jpcb.8b03842

Mechanism of Antibacterial Activity of Choline-Based Ionic Liquids (CAGE), Kelly N. Ibsen, H. Ma, A. Banerjee, E. E. L. Tanner, S. Nangia, and S. Mitragotri, ACS Biomaterials Science and Engineering, 4, 2370-2379 (2018). https://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/acsbiomaterials.8b00486

Dynamics of OmpF trimer formation in the bacterial outer membrane of Escherichia coli, H. Ma, A. Khan, and S. Nangia, Langmuir, 34, 5623-5634 (2018). https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.langmuir.7b02653

Architecture of the paracellular channels formed by Claudins of the blood-brain barrier tight junctions, F. J. Irudayanathan, N. Wang, X. Wang , and S. Nangia, Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1749-6632 (2017). https://nyaspubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/nyas.13378

Modeling diversity in structures of bacterial outer membrane lipids H. Ma, D. D. Cummins, N. B. Edelstein, J. Gomez, A. Khan, M. D. Llewellyn, T. Picudella,  S. R. Willsey and S. Nangia, Journal of Chemical Theory and Computation, 13, 811–824 (2017). http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/acs.jctc.6b00856

Drug-specific design of telodendrimer architecture for effective Doxorubicin encapsulation, W. Jiang, X. Wang, D. Guo, J. Luo, and S. Nangia, Journal of Physical Chemistry B, 120, 9766–9777 (2016).  http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/acs.jpcb.6b06070

Zhen Ma

Education:

  • Postdoc, University of California, Berkeley
  • Ph.D. Clemson University
  • M.S. Tianjin University
  • B.S. Tianjin University

Areas of Expertise::

  • Stem Cell Engineering Developmental
  • Cardiac tissue engineering and regenerative medicine
  • 3D Organoid Technology

Human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) allows the recapitulation of human disease models in vitro, which can be used to both study disease mechanisms and ultimately design and screen personalized therapeutics prior to large animal or clinical trials. My research focuses on developing multi-scale cardiac models through the combination of stem cell biology, micro/nanotechnology and cardiovascular research. These in vitro models help us not only understand a variety of fundamental questions on cardiac physiology and development, but also improve the diagnosis and treatment for human heart diseases.

Honors and Awards:

  • Rising Stars Award of BMES Cellular and Molecular Bioengineering
  • National Science Foundation CAREER Award
  • Lush Prize Young Researcher at Americas, Lush Cosmetics

Selected Publications:

  • Kowalczewski A., Sakolish C.M., Hoang P., Liu X., Jacquir S., Rusyn I., Ma Z. (2022) “Integrating nonlinear analysis and machine learning for human induced pluripotent stem cell-based drug cardiotoxicity testing” Journal of Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine 16(8): 732-743.
  • Shi H., Wu X., Sun S., Wang C., Ash-Shakoor A., Mather P.T., Henderson J.H., Ma Z. (2022) “Profiling the responsiveness of focal adhesions of human cardiomyocytes to extracellular dynamic nano-topography” Bioactive Materials 10: 367-77.
  • Hoang P., Kowalczewski A., Sun S., Winston T.S., Archilla A., Lemus S., Ercan-Sencicek A.G., Gupta A.R., Liu W., Kontaridis M.I., Amack J., Ma Z. (2021) “Engineering spatial-organized cardiac organoids for developmental toxicity testing” Stem Cell Reports 16(5): 1228-1244.
  • Ma Z., Huebsch H., Koo S., Mandegar M.A., Siemons B., Conklin B.R., Grigoropoulos C.P., Healy K.E. (2018) “Contractile deficits in engineered cardiac microtissues as a result of MYBPC3 deficiency and mechanical overload” Nature Biomedical Engineering 2(12): 955–67.

Era Jain

Experience:

  • Research Scientist, Washington University in Saint Louis
  • Postdoctoral Fellow and Instructor, Saint Louis University
  • Postdoctoral Associate, Virginia Tech

Degrees:

  • Ph.D., Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur, India, 2011
  • Bachelor’s in Pharmacy, India, 2004

Lab/Center Affiliation:

  • Syracuse BioInspired Institute

Areas of Expertise:

  • Targeted and programed drug delivery for macrophages
  • Injectable and biodegradable hydrogels and scaffolds
  • Musculoskeletal tissue engineering
  • Drug Delivery

Inflammation is a primary component of all diseases including several musculoskeletal disorders such as arthritis. The Jain Lab research focuses on engineering immunomodulatory biomaterials for advancing treatment of musculoskeletal disorders and related inflammatory disorders. We are particularly interested in design of macrophage targeting and programed drug delivery systems for spatially and temporally controlled biomolecule release to regulate inflammation. We employ a combination of in vitro models and pre-clinical animal models to evaluate the translational potential of these novel delivery systems.

Honors and Awards

  • 2021 Discovery Award (DoD)
  • 2018 Travel Award for Best Poster, Musculoskeletal Research Center, Winter Symposium, Washington University in Saint Louis 
  • 2017 Best Undergraduate Poster Award to a mentee at STLAURUS 2017
  • 2004-2010 Graduate Research Scholarship, Department of Biotechnology (DBT), India
  • 2008 Travel grant for attending from Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), India.

Selected Publications:

  • I.M. Berke, E. Jain, B.Yavuz, T. McGrath, L. Jing, M. Silva, G. Mbalaviele, F. Guilak, D. Kaplan, L.A. Setton. NF-κB-mediated effects on behavior and cartilage pathology in a non-invasive loading model of post-traumatic osteoarthritis, Osteoarthritis and Cartilage (2021), 29, 248-256.
  • E. Jain, S. Neal, H.Graf, X. Tan, R. Balasubramaniam, and N.Huebsch Copper-Free Azide–Alkyne Cycloaddition for Peptide Modification of Alginate Hydrogels ACS Applied Bio Materials (2021) 4 (2), 1229-1237.
  • X, Tan, E. Jain, M.N. Barcellona, E. Morris, S. Neal, M.C. Gupta, J.M. Buchowski, M. Kelly, L.A. Setton, N. Huebsch: Integrin and syndecan peptide-conjugated alginate hydrogel for modulation of nucleus pulposus cell phenotype. Biomaterials. 2021.
  • E. Jain, N.Chinzei, A. Blanco, N. Case, L. J. Sandell, S. Sell, M. F.Rai, S. P. Zustiak, Sustained release of platelet-rich plasma from polyethylene glycol hydrogels exerts beneficial effects on chondrocytes, J. Orthop. res. (https://doi.org/10.1002/jor.24404)
  • E. Jain, A.S. Qayyum, G. Kolar, Y. Kim, S.A. Sell, S.P. Zustiak, Design of electrohydrodynamic sprayed polyethylene glycol hydrogel microspheres for cell encapsulation, Biofabrication 9 (2017) 025019.
  • E. Jain, S. Sheth, A. Dunn, S.P. Zustiak, S.A. Sell, Sustained release of multicomponent platelet-rich plasma proteins from hydrolytically degradable PEG hydrogels, J Biomed Mater Res A 105 (2017) 3304-3314.
  • E. Jain, L. Hill, E. Canning, S.A. Sell, S.P. Zustiak, Control of gelation, degradation and physical properties of polyethylene glycol hydrogels through the chemical and physical identity of the crosslinker, J Mater Chem B 5 (2017) 2679-2691.
  • S.G. Priya, A. Gupta, E. Jain, J. Sarkar, A. Damania, P.R. Jagdale, B.P. Chaudhari, K.C. Gupta, A. Kumar, Bilayer Cryogel Wound Dressing and Skin Regeneration Grafts for the Treatment of Acute Skin Wounds, ACS Appl Mater Inter 8 (2016) 15145-15159.

James (Jay) Henderson

Degree(s):

  • 2004 Ph.D. Mechanical Engineering Stanford University
  • 2001 M.S. Mechanical Engineering Stanford University
  • 1999 B.S. Mechanical Engineering Rice University, Summa Cum Laude

Lab/Center Affiliation(s):

  • BioInspired Institute

Areas of Expertise:

  • Mechanobiology
  • Biomechanics
  • Shape-memory polymers
  • Tissue engineering
  • Advanced Manufacturing

The Henderson Lab uses expertise in cell biomechanics and mechanobiology, cell and molecular biology, mechanics, imaging, and computational tools to inform the development and application of functional shape-memory materials to enable innovative strategies to study and control mechanobiological and biomechanical aspects of cell and tissue function and repair.

Honors and Awards:

  • 2024 Mentor of the Year, Center for Fellowship and Scholarship Advising (CFSA), Syracuse University.
  • 2017 Excellence in Graduate Education Faculty Excellence Award, The Graduate School, Syracuse University
  • 2016 James K. Duah-Agyeman Faculty Award, Center for Graduate Preparation and Achievement, Syracuse University
  • 2012 Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Young Faculty Award
  • 2010 College of Engineering and Computer Science Faculty Excellence Award
  • 2007 New Investigator Recognition Award (NIRA), 6th Combined Meeting of the Orthopaedic Research Societies

Selected Honors and Awards to Graduate Students:

  • All University Doctoral Prize x 2
  • Outstanding Achievement Award in Graduate Study, Bioengineering x 4
  • NSF Graduate Research Fellowship
  • Orange Circle Award
  • Black Engineer of the Year Award (BEYA) STEM Conference Community Award
  • STEM Fellow x 3

Selected Honors and Awards to Undergraduate Students:

  • Syracuse University Scholar x 2
  • Remembrance Scholar x 2
  • Senior Marshal
  • NSF Graduate Research Fellowship
  • Goldwater Scholar x 2
  • Seinfeld Scholar
  • Karen Hiiemae Outstanding Achievement Award, BMCE
  • Oren Nagasako Award, BMCE
  • George M. Berry Award for Best All-Around Senior, ECS
  • Louis N. DeMartini Award for Outstanding Research, ECS
  • Chancellor’s Citation for Excellence in the category of Excellence in Student Research
  • The Chancellor’s Forever Orange Award
  • Chancellor’s Award for Public Engagement and Scholarship
  • The Earl H. Devoe Prize for Undergraduate Research
  • The Bioengineering Founders Award x 2
  • Upstate Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (ULSAMP) Undergraduate Research Assistantship x 8
  • LSAMP Outstanding Service and Dedication Award
  • Ronald E. McNair Scholars Program x 3
  • Donofrio Scholar x 3
  • Fulbright Canada-Mitacs Globalink internship
  • Maxwell Citizenship Scholar
  • Gates Millennium Scholars Program
  • Annual Black Engineer of the Year Award (BEYA) STEM Conference Research Award x 2

Selected Publications:

  • Oguntade, Elizabeth; Wigham, Caleb; Owuor, Luiza; Aryal, Ujjwal; O’Grady, Kerrin; Acierto, Anthony; Zha, R Helen; Henderson, James H; Dry and wet wrinkling of a silk fibroin biopolymer by a shape-memory material with insight into mechanical effects on secondary structures in the silk network, Journal of Materials Chemistry B, 12, 26, 6351-6370, 2024
  • Pieri, Katy; Liu, Di; Soman, Pranav; Zhang, Teng; Henderson, James H; Large Biaxial Recovered Strains in Self‐Shrinking 3D Shape‐Memory Polymer Parts Programmed via Printing with Application to Improve Cell Seeding, Advanced Materials Technologies, 8, 9, 2201997, 2023
  • Chen, Junjiang; Sun, Shiyang; Macios, Mark M; Oguntade, Elizabeth; Narkar, Ameya R; Mather, Patrick T; Henderson, James H; Thermally and Photothermally Triggered Cytocompatible Triple-Shape-Memory Polymer Based on a Graphene Oxide-Containing Poly (ε-caprolactone) and Acrylate Composite, ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, 15, 44, 50962-50972, 2023
  • Chen, Junjiang; Hamilton, Lauren E; Mather, Patrick T; Henderson, James H; Cell-responsive shape memory polymers, ACS Biomaterials Science & Engineering, 8, 7, 2960-2969, 2022
  • Buffington, Shelby L; Paul, Justine E; Ali, Matthew M; Macios, Mark M; Mather, Patrick T; Henderson, James H; Enzymatically triggered shape memory polymers, Acta biomaterialia, 84, 88-97, 2019
  • Wang, Jing; Quach, Andy; Brasch, Megan E; Turner, Christopher E; Henderson, James H; On-command on/off switching of progenitor cell and cancer cell polarized motility and aligned morphology via a cytocompatible shape memory polymer scaffold, Biomaterials, 140, 150-161, 2017
  • Baker, Richard M; Tseng, Ling-Fang; Iannolo, Maria T; Oest, Megan E; Henderson, James H; Self-deploying shape memory polymer scaffolds for grafting and stabilizing complex bone defects: A mouse femoral segmental defect study, Biomaterials, 76, 388-398, 2016
  • Baker, Richard M; Brasch, Megan E; Manning, M Lisa; Henderson, James H; Automated, contour-based tracking and analysis of cell behaviour over long time scales in environments of varying complexity and cell density, Journal of The Royal Society Interface, 11, 97, 20140386, 2014
  • Tseng, Ling-Fang; Mather, Patrick T; Henderson, James H; Shape-memory-actuated change in scaffold fiber alignment directs stem cell morphology, Acta biomaterialia, 9, 11, 8790-8801, 2013
  • Davis, Kevin A; Burke, Kelly A; Mather, Patrick T; Henderson, James H; Dynamic cell behavior on shape memory polymer substrates, Biomaterials, 32, 9, 2285-2293, 2011

Victor Duenas

Degrees:

  • Ph.D., 2018, University of Florida

Areas of Expertise:

  • Nonlinear and Adaptive Control
  • Rehabilitation Robotics
  • Powered Exoskeletons
  • Functional Electrical Stimulation (FES)

Areas of expertise include design, analysis, and implementation of intelligent closed-loop control methods for physical human-robot interaction. Research interests involve an integration of powered lower-limb exoskeletons, motorized cycling, functional electrical stimulation (FES), wearable devices, and neuromuscular control.

Honors and Awards:

  • 2019 IEEE Control Systems Technology Award
  • MAE Department Best Dissertation Award 2018, University of Florida
  • 2016 Vodovnik Best Student Paper Award, Third Place International Conference of Electrical Stimulation Society

Selected Publications:

  • C. Chang, J. Casas, A. Sanyal, and V. H. Duenas, “Motorized FES-Cycling and Closed-Loop Nonlinear Control for Power Tracking using a Finite-Time Stable Torque Algorithm,” Front. Control Eng., Vol. 3, Article 910126,August 2022, doi: 10.3389/fcteg.2022.910126.
  • C. Chang, J. Casas, S. Brose, and V. H. Duenas, “Closed-loop Torque and Kinematic Control of a Hybrid Lower-limb Exoskeleton for Treadmill Walking,” Front. Robot. AI, Vol. 8, Article 702860, January 2022, doi: 10.3389/frobt.2021.702860.
  • C. Cousin, V. H. Duenas, and W. E. Dixon, “FES Cycling and Closed-Loop Feedback Control for Rehabilitative Human-Robot Interaction,” Robotics, Vol. 10, No. 61, 2021, doi.org/10.3390/robotics10020061.
  • V. H. Duenas, C. Cousin, V. Ghanbari, E. J. Fox, and W. E. Dixon, “Torque and Cadence Tracking in Functional Electrical Stimulation Induced Cycling using Passivity-Based Spatial Repetitive Learning Control,” Automatica, Vol. 115, May 2020, DOI:10.1016/j.automatica.2020.108852.

Mary Beth Browning Monroe

Lab/Center Affiliation:

BioInspired Institute

Areas of expertise:

  • Biomaterials
  • Shape memory polymers
  • Antimicrobial materials
  • Hemostatic materials
  • Polymer engineering

The Monroe Biomaterials Lab utilizes fundamental advances in polymer chemistry to provide biomaterials that could improve healing outcomes. Our research spans polymer synthesis, 3D scaffold fabrication, materials characterization, cell/material interactions, bacteria/material interactions, and in vivo characterization of biomaterials. Our research focuses on shape memory polymers (SMPs). These ‘smart’ materials can be deformed and stored in a temporary shape. Upon application of a stimulus (e.g. heating to body temperature, exposure to water), the materials rapidly return to their original shape. Specific applications of SMPs that we study include hemorrhage and infection control in traumatic wounds, infection surveillance and prevention in chronic wounds, and cell and antimicrobial delivery to Crohn’s fistulas.

Honors and Awards:

  • Society for Biomaterials Young Investigator Award (2024)
  • Rosalind Franklin Society Special Award in Science, Tissue Engineering, Part A (2023)
  • Litwin IBD Pioneers Award, Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation (2020-2022)
  • New York State Science Congress Keynote Speaker (2022)

Selected Publications:

  • M.B.B. Monroe, D.A. Fikhman, “Mini-Review: Antimicrobial Smart Materials: The Future’s Defense,” Frontiers in Biomaterials Science Special Issue: Women in Biomaterials Science. 2 (2023). DOI: 10.3389/fbiom.2023.1285386
  • C. Du, D. A. Fikhman, D. Persaud, M.B.B. Monroe, “Dual burst and sustained release of p-coumaric acid from shape memory polymer foams for polymicrobial infection prevention in trauma-related hemorrhagic wounds,” ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces. 15 (20) 24228-24243 (2023). DOI: 10.1021/acsami.3c04392
  • M. Ramezani, M.B.B. Monroe, “Bacterial Protease-Responsive Shape Memory Polymers for Chronic Wound Infection Surveillance and Biofilm Removal,” Journal of Biomedical Materials Research, Part A. 111 (7) 921- 937. (2023). DOI: 10.1002/jbm.a.37527
  • H.T. Beaman, M.B.B. Monroe, “Direct Cell Encapsulation Within Highly Porous Gas-Blown Hydrogels With High Cell Viability,” Tissue Engineering, Part A. (2023). 29 (11-12) 308-321 (2023). DOI: 10.1089/ten.TEA.2022.0192.
  • A.U. Vakil, N.M. Petryk, C. Du, B. Howes, D. Stinfort, S. Serinelli, L. Gitto, M. Ramezani, H.T. Beaman, M.B.B. Monroe, “In Vitro and In Vivo Degradation Correlations for Polyurethane Foams with Tunable Degradation Rates,” Journal of Biomedical Materials Research, Part A. 111 (5) 580-595 (2023). DOI:10.1002/jbm.a.37504
  • N.M. Petryk, G. Haas, A.U. Vakil, M.B.B. Monroe, “Shape Memory Polymer Foams with Tunable Interconnectivity Using Off-the-Shelf Foaming Components,” Journal of Biomedical Materials Research, Part A. 110 (8) 1422-1434 (2022). DOI:10.1002/jbm.a.37383
  • H.T. Beaman, B. Howes, P.S. Ganesh, M.B.B. Monroe, “Shape Memory Polymer Hydrogels with Cell-Responsive Degradation Mechanisms for Crohn’s Fistula Closure,” Journal of Biomedical Materials Research, Part A. 110 (7) 1329-1340 (2022). DOI:10.1002/jbm.a.37376.
  • H.T. Beaman, E. Shepherd, J. Satalin, S. Blair, H. Ramcharran, K. Dong, D. Fikhman, G. Nieman, S.G. Schauer, M.B.B. Monroe, “Hemostatic Shape Memory Polymer Foams With Improved Survival in a Lethal Traumatic Hemorrhage Model,” Acta Biomaterialia. 137, 112-123 (2022). DOI: 10.1016/j.actbio.2021.10.005
  • J. Liu, C. Du, H.T. Beaman, M.B.B. Monroe, “Characterization of Phenolic Acid Antimicrobial and Antioxidant Structure-Property Relationships,” Pharmaceutics, 12 (5), 419 (2020). DOI: 10.3390/pharmaceutics12050419.