Mary Doolin, PhD student in the Stroka Lab, has been awarded an NIH F31 Predoctoral Fellowship from the NHLBI! This award will provide funding for Mary to investigate the interplay between the mesenchymal stem cell secretome and fibroblast differentiation in the confined microenvironment of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. The award will also provide a mentorship pathway for Mary to continue to prepare for her future career and professional goals. Congratulations, Mary!!!

Congratulations to Jae Jung, who was awarded the ASPIRE Research Scholarship from UMD's MTech! This scholarship will fund his research for the spring 2019 semester. Great job, Jae, and thank you, MTech!

Baby Elanna, the newest member of the Stroka lab, has arrived!

Last spring, Kelsey won second place in UMD's 3 Minute Thesis competition. Her talk is now posted on You Tube! Check it out here. Congratulations again, Kelsey!

PhD student Kelsey Gray was recently one of several graduate students from across UMD to participate in the new GradTerp Exchange, a monthly series where graduate students and postdocs can share their research with a broad audience. Read the article here. 

The Stroka lab had great representation at the annual BMES Meeting in Atlanta last week! PhD students Kelsey, Marina, and Becca presented talks, and undergraduate student Thea Ornstein (BIOE '19) presented 2 posters (one on research from our lab and from from her REU research in Robert Mauck's lab at UPenn last summer). PhD student Ariana DeCastro also presented a talk in the design competition with her Capstone Team from Virginia Commonwealth University, and undergraduate student Neal Kewalramani presented a poster from his REU research in Stephanie Fraley's lab at UCSD. Congrats and great job to all!

Dr. Stroka was co-chair of the Cellular and Molecular Bioengineering Track, and our own department chair Dr. John Fisher co-chaired the entire meeting.

Below is undergraduate student Thea Ornstein with her poster.

Congratulations to PhD student Becca Moriarty, whose paper on the effects of physical confinement on sarcoma cell division was just accepted for publication in the journal Cell Cycle! Link to article is here. Great job, Becca!

Congratulations to undergraduate researcher Brittney Murugeson (BIOE '21) who was awarded MTech's ASPIRE Scholarship for Fall 2018! This award will provide her with a stipend for her research in our lab on the effects of cold atmospheric plasma on tumor cell migration and morphology. Congrats, Brittney, and thank you to MTech for the support!

Dr. Stroka was selected to receive the 2018 Fischell Department of Bioengineering Faculty Teaching Award. Thanks for this honor!

Yesterday the Fischell Department of Bioengineering held its first ever graduate student-faculty retreat. It was a great day filled with excellent talks by graduate students, team-building activities, and career talks by faculty. All 4 PhD students in the Stroka lab gave presentations on their current research. Congratulations to 4th-year PhD student Mary Doolin, who won the award "Best Student Presentation" at the retreat! Mary's talk was about her novel fabricated micropillar device for confining cells in three dimensions.