Stroka Lab
  • Home
  • Research
  • Papers
  • News
  • Team
  • Contact
  • Funding
  • Photo Contests
  • Education
Meet Our Team!

Principal Investigator

Picture
Professor Kimberly Stroka

In January 2015 Dr. Kimberly Stroka began her appointment as Assistant Professor at the University of Maryland, College Park in the Fischell Department of Bioengineering. She now heads the Cell and Microenvironment Engineering Lab. She completed her postdoctoral training at Johns Hopkins University in the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering and Institute for NanoBioTechnology. She received her Ph.D. in Bioengineering in 2011 from the University of Maryland-College Park and her B.S. summa cum laude in Physics in 2006 from Denison University. In her PhD work with Dr. Helim Aranda-Espinoza, Dr. Stroka developed a novel hydrogel-based in vitro model in order to evaluate the effects of blood vessel stiffening on endothelial cell biomechanics, leukocyte mechanosensing, and leukocyte transmigration, during a normal immune response and in the context of cardiovascular disease. In Dr. Stroka’s postdoctoral work with Dr. Konstantinos Konstantopoulos at Johns Hopkins University, she integrated microfabrication, molecular biology, live cell imaging, and theoretical modeling in order to uncover a new mechanism by which metastatic tumor cells migrate through confined microenvironments. 

Dr. Stroka’s postdoctoral and predoctoral work were supported by an NIH NRSA F32 postdoctoral fellowship (2013-2014), NIH T32 postdoctoral fellowship (2012-2013), NIH NRSA F31 predoctoral fellowship (2010-2011), and NSF Graduate Research Fellowship (2006-2009). Dr. Stroka was also awarded the Burroughs Wellcome Career Award at the Scientific Interface (2014-2019) for her proposal on engineering blood-brain barrier mechanobiology in the context of tumor cell metastasis. She was the recipient of 9 different awards for travel to national and international conferences (2008-2011) and was also the recipient of the 2014 Rita Schaffer Young Investigator Award from the Biomedical Engineering Society (BMES). She also received the Research and Scholarship Award from the University of Maryland Graduate School for Summer 2017, as well as the 2017 Outstanding Young Scientist Award from the Maryland Academy of Sciences and Maryland Science Center. She was awarded the 2018 and 2019 Faculty Teaching Award from UMD's Fischell Department of Bioengineering and was recognized as a 2019 Cellular and Molecular Bioengineering Young Innovator. Most recently, she was awarded the NSF CAREER Award (2020-2025), the Phillipp Merrill Faculty Mentor Award (from UMD; 2020), and the Clark School of Engineering's 2020 E. Robert Kent Teaching Award for Junior Faculty..

Dr. Stroka is currently Director of the UMD BIOE Honors Program, co-Director of the UMD BIOE REU site, and member of the leadership team for the NCI/UMD Partnership for Integrated Cancer Research. She is also organizing NanoDay 2021, along with the Maryland NanoCenter.

In addition to research, Dr. Stroka is passionate about mentorship and outreach, both within the University and in the surrounding community. She and her group have led lab demonstrations and research and career talks for elementary school students from underrepresented minority groups, female middle and high school students, breast cancer patient advocates, students from a rural high school, and adults age 50+. 

Dr. Stroka is also affiliated with the University of Maryland Center for Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine, the Marlene and Stewart Greenebaum Cancer Center, and the UMD Biophysics Program.

Research Assistant Professor

Picture
Dr. Li Yan - Research Assistant Professor
Joined Stroka Lab in January 2020

Dr. Li Yan completed her Ph.D. in Prof. Zandong Li's lab at China Agricultural University. After completing her PhD. she joined Yunnan Key Laboratory of Primate Medical Research Center as a research fellow. She went on to complete her postdoctoral training at the University of Macau in the lab of Prof. Renhe Xu. Dr. Yan's research experiences generally focus on stem cell therapies, with specific expertise in stem cell culture, differentiation, genome editing of hPSCs by CRISPR/Cas9, and handling mice and non-human primate disease models. Her work has been published in the journals such as Biomaterials, Theranostics, Stem Cells, International Journal of Biological Sciences, Cell Death Discovery, and Frontiers in Immunology.

Graduate STudents

Picture
Rebecca Moriarty - Bioengineering PhD Candidate and CRTA Fellow
Joined Stroka Lab in January 2017

Becca Moriarty graduated in Mary 2016 from the University of Maryland, College Park, with a B.S. in Biological Sciences and a minor in Spanish Language and Cultures. As an undergraduate, she performed research in the Tissue Engineering and Biomaterials Lab (TEBL) under the direction of Dr. John Fisher. Her undergraduate thesis focused on a coculture system to aid in prevascularization of a large tissue engineered bone construct, and she also presented her findings at the 2015 Biomedical Engineering Society Meeting. Prior to her work in the TEBL, she held previous summer internships at RoosterBio, Inc., and at the National Cancer Institute-Frederick, where she worked under Dr. Susan Mackem. In Dr. Stroka's lab, Becca is interested in understanding the role that physical confinement plays in regulating tumor cell cycle progression. Becca has been awarded the Goldhaber Travel Award, as well as the Graduate Student Summer Research Fellowship from the UMD Grad School. Starting in fall 2018, Becca has been supported by a competitive Cancer Research Training Award from the NCI, through the UMD-NCI Partnership for Integrative Cancer Research. Becca has presented her work at the Biomedical Engineering Society Annual Meeting and American Society for Cell Biology Meeting. When she isn't in the lab, Becca enjoys running, hiking, cooking, and traveling.

Picture
Ariana DeCastro - Bioengineering PhD Candidate and Clark Doctoral Fellow
Joined Stroka Lab in August 2018

Ariana DeCastro received her Bachelors of Science in Biomedical Engineering in May 2018 from Virginia Commonwealth University. As an undergraduate she was awarded an undergraduate scholarship position with Virginia Commonwealth University’s Initiative for Maximizing Student Diversity (IMSD) research training program in April 2016. Through the IMSD program Ariana was able to conduct research under Dr. Christopher Lemmon in the Matrix Mechanobiology lab. The goal of her project was to fabricate micropillar arrays with physiologically relevant stiffness to be able to better characterize cell behavior during normal and disease states. She presented her work at the Center on Health Disparities Summer Research Symposium and the Annual Biomedical Research Conference for Minority Students. To further support her work under Dr. Christopher Lemmon during the summer of 2017, Ariana was awarded the National Science Foundation Research Experience for Undergraduate Students. The goal of her project was to fabricate externally stretched micropillar arrays to quantify the mechanical properties of the extracellular matrix. She presented her work at the Biomedical Engineering Society Annual Meeting and the Annual Biomedical Research Conference for Minority Students. Ariana was a recipient of the Clark Doctoral Fellowship from the A. James and Alice B. Clark Foundation during her first year of graduate school. She was awarded a Goldhaber Travel Award from the UMD Graduate School to present at the 2020 Cellular and Molecular Bioengineering Conference. ​Most recently, she was awarded the Graduate Student Summer Research Fellowship from the UMD Grad School for summer 2020.

Picture
Ian Smith - Bioengineering PhD Candidate and Clark Doctoral Fellow
Joined Stroka Lab in August 2020


Ian Smith graduated in December 2019 from the Georgia Institute of Technology with a B.S. in Biomedical Engineering and a minor in Chemistry. As an undergrad, he performed research in Dr. Andres Garcia’s lab. The role of his project was to define the interplay between the forces and signals that direct cell behavior and the cell’s integrin-mediated adhesion to hydrogels. To support his work in the lab, Ian was awarded Georgia Tech’s President’s Undergraduate Research Award in the spring of 2019. The award allowed him to present his findings at the Georgia Undergraduate Research Conference. In Dr. Stroka’s Lab, he is interested in continuing to understand how biomechanical cues from the microenvironment direct cell behavior. Ian was a recipient of the Clark Doctoral Fellowship from the A. James and Alice B. Clark Foundation. In his free time, Ian enjoys pottery, hiking, wood working, and traveling.

CO-ADVISED GRADUATE STUDENTS

Michelle Baird - Biophysics PhD Candidate
Primary Advisor: Dr. Clare Waterman (NIH)
Co-advised by Dr. Stroka since 2016


Undergraduate Students

Katelyn Kunert (Bioengineering '22)
Joined Stroka Lab in June 2019
​ASPIRE Award (Fall 2019)


Adam Landa (Bioengineering '21)
Joined Stroka Lab in February 2020

Cole Dwiggins (Bioengineering '22)
Joined Stroka Lab in November 2020
​ASPIRE Award (Spring 2021)

LAB GRADUATE ALUMNI

Name
Degree
Dates in Lab
Awards
Post-graduation position
Ajmeeta Sangtani
Ph.D., BIOE, 2019 Mentor: Dr. James Delehanty, NRL
​Co-Mentor: Dr. Stroka
Spring 2015 - Spring 2019
- Goldhaber Travel Award
- Alan Berman Publication and Research Award
USC-Allergan Pharmacology Fellowship Program
Marina (Shumamovich) Pranda
Ph.D., BIOE, 2019
Jan. 2015-Aug. 2019
- GRC Travel Award
- Goldhaber Travel Award
- International Conference Student Support Award
- Clark School of Engineering Future Faculty Program
- GRAD Day Travel Award for Best Talk
- Outstanding Graduate Assistant Award, UMD
- BMES Career Development Award
- Ann G. Wylie Dissertation Fellowship
Lecturer at UMD BIOE (Spring 2020); currently Project Manager at Alliance for Diversity in Science and
Engineering (ADSE)
Kelsey Gray
Ph.D., BIOE, 2019
Jan. 2015-Dec. 2019
- Fischell Fellowship, 
- NSF GRF Honorable Mention (x2)
- Outstanding Graduate Assistant Award, UMD 
- Goldhaber Travel Award 
- International Conference Student Support Award
- Cellular and Molecular Bioengineering Conference Student/Fellow Travel Award
- Dr. Mabel S. Spencer Award for Excellence in Graduate Achievement
- Dean’s Fellowship 
- Biomedical Engineering Society Student Travel Award
- Clark School of Engineering Future Faculty Program
- Cellular and Molecular Bioengineering Shooting Star Award
- Three Minute Thesis Competition 2nd place winner
- BMES Career Development Award
Senior Scientist at Pfizer
Mary Doolin
Ph.D., BIOE, 2020
Mar. 2016-Aug. 2020
- NIH/NHLBI NSRA (F31) Fellowship
- Goldhaber Travel Award (2x)
- Graduate Student Summer Research Fellowship
- Biomedical Engineering Society Student Travel Award
Postdoc, Astrazeneca

Lab UNDERGRADUATE Alumni

Name
Degree
Dates in Lab
Awards
Post-graduation position
Kenneth Wesley Bryant
B.S. BIOE, 2015
Jan. 2015-Dec. 2015
---
-
Matthew Angelico
B.S. BIOE, 2016
Jan. 2015-Dec. 2015
ASPIRE Scholar
Appian Consulting
Dakota Katz
B.S. BIOE, 2016
Jan. 2015-May 2016
ASPIRE Scholar, Maryland Summer Scholar
PhD program, WashU BME
Erica Brown
B.S. BIOE, 2018
Jan. 2016-Dec. 2016
ASPIRE Scholar (2x)
MedImmune
Jack Siglin
B.S. Physiology and Neurobiology, 2017

Apr. 2016-Dec. 2016
---
MD program, University of Maryland School of Medicine
Danielle Rossi
B.S. BIOE, 2017
Sept. 2016-Dec. 2016
SEEDS Fellow
MS program, UPenn BIOE
Dani Khalilzadeh
B.S. BIOE, 2017
Jan. 2015-Apr. 2017
Maryland Summer Scholar and SEEDS Fellow
MD program
Sukriti Ghosh
B.S. BIOE, 2018
Sept. 2016-May 2017
---
FDA Intern
Nate Girma
B.S., Santa Clara University, 2019 
Summer 2018
NSF REU Program
Santa Clara University Class of 2019
Greg Dawson
B.S. Physiology and Neurobiology, 2019 
Jan. 2017-Aug. 2018
Maryland Summer Scholar
MD program, University of Maryland School of Medicine
Paula Kleyman
B.S. BIOE, 2019
Mar. 2018-Dec. 2018
---
UMD BIOE
​Class of 2019
Brittney Murugesan
B.S. BIOE, Exp. 2020
Nov. 2017-Dec. 2018
Maryland Summer Scholar
UMD BIOE
​Class of 2020
Thea Ornstein
B.S. BIOE, 2019
Aug. 2017-May 2019
HHMI Fellow
BMES Travel Award 
​NSF GRF Honorable Mention 
PhD program, Georgia Tech BME
Maddie Hurwitz
B.S., Williams College Exp. 2021
Summer 2019
NSF REU Program
Pursuing B.S. at Williams College
John Merlo-Coyne
B.S. Biology (Exp. 2021)
Jan. 2019-Dec. 2019
---
Pursuing B.S.
Neal Kewalramani
B.S., BIOE, 2020
Sept. 2018-May 2002
---
Pursuing Ph.D. in Bioinformatics at Boston University
Jae Jung
B.S., BIOE, Exp. 2022
Aug. 2018-Aug. 2020
ASPIRE Fellow
Pursuing B.S.

The Cells

We couldn't do it without the help of these guys.
Picture

Group Photos

Picture
Kelsey's defense - August 2019
​
From Left - Marina, Kim, Kelsey, Becca, Ariana, Mary
Picture
Fall Lab Party - November 2018
​
(Our Junior Scientist requested that the M&M make a come-back this year)
Picture
The group - June 2018
From Left - Thea, Paula, Becca, Marina, Mary, Kim, Kelsey, Brittney, Greg
Picture
Ice cream trip to the Maryland Dairy with our favorite (4-year-old) junior scientist! - June 2018
Picture
Fall Lab Party - November 2017

Picture
Ice cream trip to the Maryland Dairy with our favorite junior scientist! - June 2017
Picture
The mildest of the "funny photos" - June 2016
From Left - Kim, Erica, Michelle, Kelsey, Marina, Mary, Jack
Picture
The group - June 2016
From Left - Marina, Kelsey, Jack, Michelle, Erica, Mary. Kim in front middle. 
Picture
Lab Picnic - July 2015
From Left - Marina, Wes, Dakota, Gabriella, Kim, Matt, Kelsey
Picture
The first group - May 2015
From Left - Dani, Dakota, Kelsey, Matt, Marina, Wes, Kim

Graduate Student Bio Archive

Picture
Marina (Shumakovich) Pranda - Bioengineering PhD Candidate and Future Faculty Fellow
Joined Stroka Lab in March 2015 and defended PhD in June 2019


Marina Pranda graduated from Cornell University in January of 2014 with a B.S. in Biological Engineering and a minor in Biomedical Engineering. At Cornell, she conducted research in the Analytical Microsystems and Biosensors Lab under the direction of Dr. Antje Baeumner. Marina worked on the development of a point-of-care biosensor for thrombin detection and presented her findings at an American Chemical Society Regional Meeting in 2013. During her studies at Cornell, Marina received three undergraduate research grants, a competitive undergraduate research award, and an alumni scholarship in 2013. In the summer of 2013, Marina conducted research in the Amplified Molecular Sensors Lab at the University of Maryland under the direction of Dr. Ian White. She worked on the microfluidic synthesis of chitosan beads. After graduating from Cornell, Marina spent a semester working for the biotherapeutics start-up, Glycobia. Marina is interested in studying the biomechanics of cancer metastasis and building lab-on-a-chip models. Specifically, in Dr. Stroka’s lab Marina is working on engineering microenvironments in microfluidic devices for the study of metastatic tumor cell and blood-brain-barrier interactions. Marina has presented posters and talks at national and international conferences and received the International Conference Student Support Award and Goldhaber Travel Award from the University of Maryland Graduate School. Marina is a Clark School Future Faculty Fellow and received the 2017 Outstanding Graduate Assistant Award from the UMD Grad School. She also received the 2017 BMES Career Development Award. Most recently, she was awarded the Ann G. Wylie Dissertation Award ($15,000) from the UMD Grad School for fall 2018. She is involved in the Bioengineering Graduate Student Society and served as the Vice President of Academic Affairs for the 2016-2017 school year. Marina is passionate about teaching and has been engaged in outreach during her undergraduate and graduate studies. In her free time, Marina likes to hike, run, be outdoors, travel, and read.

Picture
Kelsey Gray - Bioengineering PhD Candidate, Fischell Fellow, and Future Faculty Fellow
Joined Stroka Lab in March 2015 and defended PhD in August 2019

Kelsey Gray graduated in May 2012 from the University of Delaware with a Bachelor of Chemical Engineering degree and minors in Biochemical Engineering and Biomedical Engineering. As an undergraduate, she performed research at the University of Maryland in Dr. Gregory Payne’s lab where she worked on electrodeposition of stimuli responsive polymers (e.g. chitosan) to bridge the bio-device interface for lab-on-a-chip applications. While working in the Payne lab, Kelsey worked on an industry-university team developing immunosensors for point-of-care diagnostics, and traveled to France for several weeks to initiate a collaboration in Lyon. After graduation, she worked for a generic injectable pharmaceutical manufacturing company in NC where she gained experience with cGMP, regulatory requirements, product quality, and exception reports. During her time at the company, she won four awards for her contribution to various projects and regulatory inspections. As a graduate student, she is working to develop an electrodeposited blood-brain barrier-on-a-chip for use in understanding the mechanobiology of brain endothelium, and the role of extracellular vesicles in cellular communication at the blood-brain barrier. In 2014, Kelsey received the UMD Bioengineering Merit Scholarship and was awarded the Fischell Fellowship in Bioengineering to fully fund her graduate degree. Kelsey received the 2016 Outstanding Graduate Assistant Award and the 2017 Dr. Mabel S. Spencer Award for Excellence in Graduate Achievement ($15,000) from the UMD Grad School. She  also won numerous competitive travel awards to give talks at national and international conferences, including the 2017 Cellular and Molecular Bioengineering (CMBE) Travel Award, 2017 BMES Travel Award, 2018 Shooting Star Award from CMBE, 2018 BMES Career Development Award, as well as the UMD Grad School's International Student Support Award and Goldhaber Travel Award. Kelsey is also a Clark School of Engineering Future Faculty Fellow. Kelsey also plays an active role in the department, having served as the Vice President of Academic Affairs (2015-2016) and President (2016-2018) of the Bioengineering Graduate Student Society. Outside of research, she enjoys crafting and do-it-yourself projects, picking Maryland blue crabs, and water sports on the Chesapeake Bay.

Picture
Mary Doolin - Bioengineering PhD Candidate and NIH F31 Fellow
Joined Stroka Lab in March 2016 and defended in June 2020

Mary Doolin graduated from the University of Delaware in May 2015 with a Bachelor of Biomedical Engineering degree and minors in Computer Science and Bioelectrical Engineering. As an undergraduate, she performed research in the Neuromuscular Biomechanics Lab under Dr. Jill Higginson. The goal of her project was to increase the effectiveness of physical rehabilitation for individuals with an injured lower limb using motion capture techniques. She presented her project results at the 2015 Gait and Clinical Movement Analysis Society conference. Mary also performed research under Dr. Li Liao in bioinformatics, where she developed a computer program that aids in predicting protein interactions. In summer months, Mary held internship positions at IBM and Covidien. While at the University of Delaware, she won the Biomedical Engineering Distinguished Junior Award, Biomedical Engineering Distinguished Senior Award, and John K. Scoggin, Sr. Memorial Award. As a graduate student, Mary is interested in stem cell mechanobiology and biomechanics, specifically how physical cues from the microenvironment direct stem cell differentiation. Currently, she is investigating the mechanisms that enable mesenchymal stem cells to migrate through confined channels in order to inform and improve tissue engineered scaffold designs. She presented her results at the 2017 and 2020 Cellular and Molecular Bioengineering Conference, both of which she was awarded the Goldhaber Travel Award (twice) from the UMD Grad School, and also at the 2017 BMES Meeting, for which she was awarded the BMES Student Travel Award. She is also the recipient of the 2017 Graduate Student Summer Fellowship ($5,000) from the UMD Grad School. Most recently, Mary was awarded an NIH F31 Predoctoral Fellowship from NHLBI. When not in the lab, Mary enjoys hiking, practicing yoga, listening to music, and home brewing. 

UMD Bioengineering
Stroka Research Lab © 2019