PhD students Mary Doolin and Ariana DeCastro represented the lab at the Cellular and Molecular Bioengineering Conference held in Puerto Rico this week. Both gave poster presentations on their research. Great job!

Welcome to the newest lab member, Dr. Li Yan, who will be working as a Research Assistant Professor! Dr. Yan received her B.S. in Biotechnology, followed by a PhD in Molecular Biology from China Agricultural University. After completing her PhD, she worked as a research fellow at the Yunnan Key Laboratory of Primate Biomedical Medical Research and then as a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Macau in China. Dr. Li comes to us with expertise in stem cell therapeutics, and we are excited to have her join the team!

Congratulations to Dr. Marina Pranda and Dr. Kelsey Gray on their hooding today at the UMD Clark School of Engineering commencement ceremony! Marina and Kelsey were the first two Stroka Lab PhD grads, and we are very excited and proud! 

Thanks to Kelsey and Marina, we now have an official lab ice cream scoop (!!!), and Dr. Stroka has a personalized lab coat and new office decor!

Congratulations to PhD students Mary Doolin and Ariana DeCastro who have both received the Goldhaber Travel Award from the UMD Graduate School for travel to Puerto Rico for the 2020 Cellular and Molecular Bioengineering Conference! They each will receive $400 towards conference expenses. Thank you, UMD Graduate School, for the support!

Our paper in collaboration with Dr. Amy Karlsson's lab has been accepted for publication in Protein Science! The paper is titled "Effects of histatin-5 modifications on antifungal activity and kinetics of proteolysis." Congrats to all authors, including Stroka Lab PhD student Mary Doolin! 

Our paper, titled, "Sensitivity of tumor vs. normal cell migration and morphology to cold atmospheric plasma-treated media in varying culture conditions" has been accepted for publication in Plasma Processes and Polymers! Congrats to first author and recent PhD graduate Dr. Marina Pranda, undergraduate student Brittney Murugesan, and collaborators Dr. Andrew Knoll and Dr. Gottlieb Oehrlein (UMD, Materials Science and Engineering). Congrats, team!

Maddie Hurwitz (Williams College '21) completed her NSF REU research with us this past summer and presented her work at the annual BMES Meeting in Philadelphia, PA! Congrats and great job, Maddie! 

In all, UMD BIOE had 5 NSF REU students presenting (4 posters, 1 oral) at BMES!

Dr. Stroka represented the Stroka Lab at the Biomedical Engineering Society Annual Meeting in Philadelphia, PA this week. A huge thanks to the Cellular and Molecular Bioengineering journal and session chairs Drs. Mike King and Stephanie Willerth for the huge honor of Dr. Stroka being selected a 2019 CMBE Young Innovator! Dr. Stroka presented the lab's work on "Tumor Cell Mechanosensing during Incorporation into the Brain Endothelium," which recently appeared in the CMBE journal. Read it here.

Dr. Stroka gave a talk today in the Department of Pharmacology at the University of Vermont's School of Medicine. The talk was titled, "Form, Function, and Mechanics of Cell-Cell Junctions in the Vascular Endothelium." A huge thanks to Dr. Alan Howe for the invitation to visit and for the entire department for excellent conversations, feedback, and discussion of ideas!

Congratulations to Katelyn Kunert (BIOE '22) who received the ASPIRE Award from MTech! This award will support her research during the fall 2019 semester. Great job, Katelyn!