EVENTS

• Dr. Huggins received her B.S. in Computer Engineering with a Biomedical Engineering option and an Art Minor from Carnegie Mellon. She received a M.S. in Bioengineering, a M.S.E. in Computer Engineering, and a Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. She completed a clinical Rehabilitation Engineering Internship. While working on her dissertation, she founded the University of Michigan Direct Brain Interface Laboratory with Dr. Simon Levine.

Angelique Rat: 

• Angelique Rat is a microbiologist and plant biologist interested in the interaction of the plant with its environment. She especially wants to work for a more sustainable agriculture while generating knowledge in biological processes involved in plant interactions.

•  After her master in agronomy and chemistry, she joined the international project MICROMETABOLITE (Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant) for her PhD at the Ghent University, Belgium, and studied the influence of bacteria on the production of plant metabolites. Curious on how bacteria interact with each other in the plant environment, she started a position as postdoctoral researcher in the lab of Joy Bergelson in December 2021. S

• he is working on the PATHOCOM project (ERC-synergy grant) to understand how the interactions between commensal and pathogenic strains impact the composition and structure of microbial communities and how it determines the outcome of host-pathogen interactions.

Hanna Maerkle:

• Hanna is a biologist working at the intersection between ecology, evolution and population genetics. She is fascinated by obtaining a better understanding of the interactions between hosts and pathogens, their long term evolutionary dynamics and how this knowledge can be translated into sustainable agriculture management practices.

•  After a Master’s degree in Environmental Planning and Engineering Ecology at the Technical University of Munich, Germany, she pursued her doctoral studies at the same university. During her doctoral work she studied the genomic footprints of host-pathogen interactions and worked on developing methods for detecting these footprints. Intrigued by how diversity at plant resistance genes against pathogens is maintained, she joined the lab of Joy Bergelson at the University of Chicago as a postdoctoral associate in 2020 and moved with her to New York University in 2021. 

• Her current work focuses on understanding the contributions of ecological interactions, genomic organization and functional biology on the evolution of plant resistance genes. Therefore, she is studying three plant species and combines various types of sequencing data, bioinformatic methods, modelling approaches and tightly collaborates with another postdoc working on the functional aspects of the project. 

Dr. Mercier is an Associate Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering and co-founder/co-director of the Center for Wearable Sensors at UC San Diego. He has published more than 170 peer-reviewed papers, and his research interests include the design of energy-efficient mixed-signal systems, RF circuits, power converters, and sensor interfaces for wearable, medical, and mobile applications.

Dr. Koo's lab focuses on understanding the relationship between biofilms and oral infectious diseases and seeking novel therapeutic strategies to control pathogenic biofilms, including those associated with dental caries.

Dr. Koo’s research is particularly interested in elucidating three major questions:

1. How the extracellular matrix assembles dynamically in 3D. In particular, we are interested in understanding the structural organization of EPS, and how they modulate cell adhesion-cohesion, the 3D matrix-scaffold and mechanical stability of biofilms over time.

2. How the matrix modulates the microenvironmental heterogeneity within biofilms. Here, we focus on spatio-temporal characterization of local pH and oxygen levels, microbial organization/positioning and gene expression in situ, and how these properties influence the virulence of biofilms as a whole.

3. How to disrupt the EPS production and target the pathogens embedded in the matrix. We are interested in finding new strategies to prevent biofilm initiation or disrupt existing biofilms using naturally occurring molecules, as well as using in silico methods. We are also employing novel (nano/bio)technologies to create anti-biofilm materials and target the biofilm microenvironments.

Dr. Koo is also the Founding Director of the Center for Innovation & Precision Dentistry, a collaboration between Penn Dental Medicine and Penn’s School of Engineering & Applied Sciences. 

Dr. Len Pagliaro is the CEO and co-founder of Siva Therapeutics, Inc. Siva is developing photothermal cancer therapy, which generates therapeutic heat that stimulates the immune system, neutralizes cancer stem cells, shrinks tumors directly, and increases perfusion to tumors – thus increasing drug efficacy. Len has over 24 years of experience with successful commercialization of biotechnology products, services, and technology licensing. He has managed R&D and business teams, and developed product, service, and technology licensing programs from inception to revenues to profitability in 2 previous biotech startups. Prior to his industrial career, Len was a professor of Bioengineering and Laboratory Medicine at the University of Washington, where his laboratory studied basic aspects of cellular metabolism, with an emphasis on cancer and inflammatory disease. Len received his PhD in cell biology from Wesleyan University, and completed postdoctoral training in biophysics at Carnegie Mellon University.

Alex is an engineer and researcher who focuses on developing novel medical devices. Alex received his BS in Electrical Engineering from the University of Arkansas and his PhD in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Southern California (USC). At USC, he focused on developing thin-film sensors for long-term implantation in the brain as a part of Dr. Ellis Meng’s lab; this work led into the founding of Senseer Inc. to commercialize these technologies for improving the treatment of hydrocephalus. Alex now works at Aneuvo, where he helps develop neurostimulation devices for addressing conditions not treatable by pharmaceuticals. When not working, Alex spends most of his time either climbing or finding new meals to cook; in the winter you can find him skiing at Mammoth.

Vincent Leung received his Ph.D. degree from UC San Diego in 2004. He had 16 years of industrial analog/ RF IC design experience. He was an adjunct Assistant Professor at Columbia University (NY) in 2005–2007, teaching a graduate course on Analog VLSI (ADC/ DAC and filters) and has published more than 30 peer-reviewed journal/ conference papers. At Qualcomm (San Diego), he held key design/ lead positions for 3G/4G RF transceiver chips employed in all high-end smartphones at the time. In 2016, he joined UCSD/ Qualcomm Institute as the Technical Director of Circuits Lab, where he pursued his interest in academic research and teaching. He engaged in the DARPA NESD (Neural Engineering System Design) program, where he investigated on RF energy harvesting and wireless communication techniques for “Wireless Brain Implants”. In 2020, he joined Baylor University (Waco, Texas) as an Associate Professor of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, where he continues to teach today. 

Dr. Yeon Sik Choi obtained his BS (2009) and MS (2011) degrees from Yonsei University, Korea in Materials Science and Engineering. He spent 2011-2015 as a senior researcher in the Advanced Materials Development Team at LG Chem. Ltd. R&D Center, Korea, working on polymer nanocomposite for electronic devices. In 2019, he received a PhD under the guidance of Prof. Sohini Kar-Narayan, in the Materials Science and Metallurgy from University of Cambridge, UK, with support from the Cambridge Trust Scholarship. Currently, he works under Prof. John A. Rogers as a NIH K99 postdoctoral fellow in the Querrey Simpson Institute for Bioelectronics at Northwestern University, USA. 

In 2021, Dr. Choi received the Pathway to Independence Award (K99/R00) from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). He is also the recipient of the IIN Outstanding Research Award (2021), the Baxter Young Investigator Award (2021), the Regeneron Prize for Creative Innovation (2021), the CSAR PhD Student Award (2019), the ABTA Doctoral Researcher Award (2018), and two best paper, three best poster awards. Dr. Choi’s works have received extensive global media coverage. One of his inventions - bioresorbable cardiac pacemaker - is exhibited as a permanent collection at the Thackray Museum of Medicine in Leeds (UK).

Dr. Bliley earned her B.S. from Duquesne University in 2010.  She then completed her masters in Medical Sciences from Boston University in 2012.  In her master’s thesis, she investigated bioactive growth factor delivery from polymer-based microspheres into decellularized nerve allografts to enhance peripheral nerve regeneration.  She was then hired by the University of Pittsburgh where she worked for 4 years in an academic research lab under the guise of Dr. Kacey Marra and Dr. Peter Rubin.  Her main research focus was various drug/growth factor/cell delivery techniques for soft tissue engineering.  She returned to her studies to pursue her PhD in Biomedical Engineering in 2016 at Carnegie Mellon University in the Regeneration Biomaterials and Therapeutics Group under the direction of Dr. Adam Feinberg and completed her PhD in Fall 2021.  Her main research interests include engineering cardiac tissues with 3D bioprinting and other advanced biofabrication techniques with a specific emphasis on incorporating cues from early heart development, like mechanical loading.

Dr. Mohiuddin recently served as chief of transplantation section of Cardiothoracic Surgery Research Program and Senior Scientist at the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute of the National Institutes of Health. Before joining NIH in 2005 he held faculty positions at University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia and Rush University, Chicago. Dr. Mohiuddin is involved in the field of xenotransplantation since 1992 and has been instrumental in starting the xenotransplantation research programs at the above institutions.

Dr. Mohiuddin received his MBBS (MD) degree from Dow Medical College in Karachi, Pakistan and after completing his surgical training at Civil Hospital Karachi moved to United States where he finished his first fellowship in Transplantation Biology at University of Pennsylvania (Verdi DiSesa) and later fellowship in bone marrow transplantation at Institute of Cellular Therapeutics (Suzanne Ildstad), MCP Hahnemann University (now Drexel University).

Dr. Mohiuddin’s primary interest is in understanding the role of B lymphocytes in Transplantation, especially xenograft rejection. His other interests include transplantation tolerance and immune modulation. He has made several contributions to the fields of transplantation and xenotransplantation with over 120 publications and over 100 abstracts as well as numerous presentations. His group holds the record of longest xenograft survival in a large animal model. The immunosuppressive regimen developed under his leadership is now used widely throughout the xenotransplantation field.

Dr. Mohiuddin is an elected councilor of International Xenotransplantation Association / TTS. He is a member of prestigious societies; The Transplantation Society and American Society of Transplant Physicians. He reviews manuscripts for journals; Transplantation, Transplant Immunology, xenotransplantation, Journal of Heart and Lung Transplantation, etc. He has received several NIH and non-NIH grants during his academic career. His recent work in cardiac xenotransplantation was highlighted widely in press throughout the world.

Dr. Jian Wang received his Ph.D. in Bioengineering from the University of Washington.  For the past 20+ years, Dr. Wang developed several software products with customers in academia, government and the pharmaceutical industry. Jian has deep knowledge in the rapidly evolving field of precision medicine and its associated biomarker-driven clinical trials, especially in the sub-discipline of clinical trial sample and consent management.   

Jian is a digital technology entrepreneur with full lifecycle experience from start-up to successful exit. He is passionate about the application of data driven solutions in clinical and pharmaceutical R&D settings.