News

 2025

• 12/23/2025 We’re excited to share a few pieces of wonderful news from the lab as we conclude the semester. (1) Congratulations to Salona on the acceptance of her paper in the International Journal of Nanomedicine! (2) Dr. Cai presented at the LSUHSC Alcohol and Drug Abuse Center of Excellence (ADACE) Scientific Retreat as an invited speaker. (3) We’re happy to welcome Ethan to the group as a new undergraduate researcher. (4) We also welcomed the youngest (and tiniest) member, baby Eric! Eric has already “attended” BE1252 (Spring 2025) and BE4910 (Fall 2025) with Dr. Cai, setting an impressive record for early exposure to biomedical engineering. We look forward to what’s ahead and wish everyone a restful and well-deserved break.

• 08/08/2025 Congratulations, Salona, on passing the qualifying exam! Great job!

• 06/05/2025 Welcome to LSU undergraduate students Hudil, Brandon, and Thinula as they join us for summer research. A warm welcome as well to Baton Rouge High student, Dev, who is participating through the LSU High School Summer Research Program. We welcome Mason, a student from Catholic High, who is joining us as a summer volunteer. 

• 06/04/2025 Congratulations, Salona, on receiving LSU Graduate Student Association Travel Award.

• 06/03/2025 Congratulations, Salona, on receiving the Summer Opportunities Fellowship supported by Shell Oil Company. Great job!

• 05/27/2025 Congratulations, Daniel, on receiving the Southern Regional Education Board (SREB) Doctoral Scholars Program fellowship (2025-2028). Great job!

• 04/24/2025 Daniel, Enson, Rayanne, and Hanna presented their research at LSU Discover Day.

• 04/02/2025 We participated in 2025 ENGage LSU and demonstrated the Cancer Treatment Garden to middle school students (grades 6-8). Thank you, Salona and Daniel for your help!

• 03/18/2025 Dr. Cai presented at the LSU Provost’s Fund Symposium.

• 02/28/2025 Salona's work was presented at the Society for Brain Mapping and Therapeutics World Congress 2025. Congratulations!

 2024

• 12/10/2024 Dr. Cai's collaborative paper has been accepted at ACS Nano. 

• 10/28/2024 Aseel and Enson presented their summer research at LSU LCMC Health Cancer Center Retreat. Good job!

• 09/15/2024 Daniel won first place in the student poster competition at the 40th Southern Biomedical Engineering Conference. Congratulations!

• 09/14/2024 Dr. Cai chaired and presented at the 40th Southern Biomedical Engineering Conference. 

• 08/26/2024 Rayanne joined the lab via LSU ESTEEMED. Welcome!

• 08/15/2024 Salona and Xianru joined the lab. Welcome!

• 08/12/2024 Daniel is going to present his work at the 40th Southern Biomedical Engineering Conference 2024 and 2024 Biomedical Engineering Society Annual Meeting. Congratulations!

• 05/16/2024 Enson joined the lab. Welcome!

• 04/15/2024 We received Provost's Fund for Innovation in Research - Big Idea Research Grants to study drug delivery for retinoblastoma treatment. Congratulations! 

• 04/02/2024 We received a grant from the Board of Regents Support Fund over three years to understand how tumor microenvironments contribute to glioblastoma cell migration and invasion. Congratulations! 

• 03/16/2024 Dr. Cai chaired and presented at the BBB and Brain Drug Delivery Session, 21st Annual World Congress of SBMT, Los Angeles, CA.

• 02/19/2024 Hanna, Daniel, and Sobhan joined the lab. Welcome!

• 01/24/2024 Dr. Cai's collaborative research paper has been accepted at Nano Letters.

2023

• 12/06/2023 Dr. Cai's paper has been accepted at Bio-protocol. 

• 11/03/2023 Dr. Cai's collaborative research paper has been accepted at Small Methods. 

• 10/20/2023 Nathan joined the lab. Welcome!

• 10/16/2023 Dr. Cai's recent publication on glioblastoma treatment has been featured on Nature Communications, UT Dallas News, and UTSW Medical Center News. 

• 09/14/2023 Dr. Cai gave an invited seminar talk on blood-brain barrier modulation and drug delivery for glioblastoma treatment at the Laboratory of Cell Biology, NIH/NCI. Thanks Drs. Michael Gottesman and Joanna Thomas for the invitation!

• 09/11/2023 Aseel joined the lab. Welcome!

• 08/31/2023 Dr. Cai gave an invited talk at the Biological Engineering Student Organization (BESO) general meeting. 

• 05/02/2023 Dr. Cai will join the Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering at Louisiana State University in August 2023.