2026

May Dr. Meng joined the editorial board of Advanced Biosensors, a newly launched international journal devoted to the research, design, development, and application of biosensors.

May Hafiz was awarded the COE Professional Development Fellowship.

Apr. Hafiz received the Dr. James C. and Joan. R. Wolford Fellowship for Outstanding GTA award.

Apr. Hafiz and Meghan presented their recent studies—“Fibroblast-Mediated Matrix Remodeling Drives Mechanical Stiffening and Tumor Invasion in a Tunable 3D Lung Microenvironment” and “Epithelial Pathogenesis from Viral Remodeling in 3D Biofabricated Skin Organs,” respectively—during the poster session at the inaugural Nebraska Tissue Engineering and Organoid Research Conference (Omaha, NE).

Jan. Drs. D. Joung and F. Meng summarized recent progress in "ECM-Inspired 4D SMART Biomaterials for Bioprinting in Tissue Engineering," which was featured in the International Journal of Bioprinting.

Jan. Hafiz successfully passed his comprehensive examination and was admitted to Ph.D. candidacy.

Jan. In collaboration with Dr. Ruiguo Yang (mechanobiologist, Michigan State University), and Drs. Kristina Seiffert-Sinha and Animesh A. Sinha (dermatologists, University at Buffalo), our study on in vitro autoimmune disease modeling, titled “3D organotypic skin models recapitulate autoantibody-driven pemphigus pathomechanisms and targeted therapeutic response,” was published in Science Advances.  (First author: Dr. Haiwei Zhai)

2025

Nov. Haiwei successfully defended his Ph.D. dissertation, “3D Biofabrication of Multicellular Skin Models for Studying Autoimmune Diseases and Screening Therapeutics.”

Nov. Dr. Meng presented our recent progress on “3D Biofabricated Multilayered Skin Models Recapitulating Autoimmune Pathogenesis” at the 2025 TERMIS-AM Conference (Detroit, MI), Session 1: Advanced Biofabrication Strategies for Cancer and Disease Modeling.

Oct. Haiwei presented our study, "3D Organotypic Skin Models Recapitulate Pemphigus Pathogenesis and Targeted Therapeutic Response," during the tissue engineering poster session at the BMES 2025 Annual Meeting (San Diego, CA).

Aug. Drs. Qing Tang (Biochemistry) and Yinsheng Guo (Chemistry) joined our NVIBE team, contributing expertise in advanced microscopy and optical detection technologies. The study subsequently expanded to "Integrated Analysis of Viral-Induced Epithelial Pathogenesis and Tissue Crosstalk in Biofabricated 3D Physiomimetic Skin Models," funded by NVIBE Phase II.

Jun. In collaboration with Drs. Bo Liu, Bin Duan, and Hanjun Wang (UNMC), we initiated a pilot study, "Engineering CCL2-linked Extracellular Vesicles for Targeted Delivery of S100A9 Inhibitor in Acute Lung Injury Treatment," funded by Nebraska Research Initiative.

May Haiwei received the MME Outstanding GRA award.

Apr. Meghan was awarded the NCIBC Summer Fellowship.

Apr. Supported by the American Cancer Society (ACS) and the Fred & Pamela Buffett Cancer Center, the 3D Biofabrication Lab aimed to establish a "Lung Cancer Metastasis-on-a-Chip for In Vitro Evaluation of Therapeutic Combinations Targeting Tumor–Stroma Interactions."

Mar. Haiwei successfully passed his comprehensive examination and was admitted to Ph.D. candidacy.

Mar. Dr. Meng teamed up with Dr. Daeha Joung (Department of Physics, Virginia Commonwealth University) to serve as guest editors for the special issue “Multidisciplinary Efforts in Bioprinting” in the International Journal of Bioprinting.

Jan. Drs. Angeletti, Crawford, and Meng reported progress on the study "Epithelial Pathogenesis from Viral Remodeling in 3D-Biofabricated Skin Organs" at the 1st Nexus of Virology, Immunology, and Bioengineering Symposium, where Haiwei presented the most recent results during the poster session.

2024

Dec. Dr. Meng joined the Fred & Pamela Buffett Cancer Center as an associated member.

Dec. Our NVIBE team presented the study "Epithelial Pathogenesis from Viral Remodeling in 3D-Biofabricated Skin Organs" at the NCIBC monthly meeting; the work was further supported by an NCIBC seed grant.

Sept. Our patent on "Three-Dimensional Skin Constructs" was filed (Application No. 18/830,822).

Aug. Matt reported recent progress on "3D Printed Biosensors for Spatiotemporal Monitoring of Selective Pressures in Physiomimetic Microenvironments" at the NCIBC monthly meeting.

Jul. Matt successfully defended his M.S. thesis, "3D Printed Biosensors for Spatiotemporal Monitoring of Selective Pressures in Physiomimetic Microenvironments."

Jun. The interdisciplinary team, including Drs. Wei Niu (UNL Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering), Yinsheng Guo (UNL Chemistry), Renat Sabirianov, and Wai-Ning Mei (UNO Physics), initiated the Nebraska Research Initiative–funded pilot project "Machine Learning-Assisted Ultrahigh-Throughput Engineering of Lanmodulin for Rare Earth Elements (REEs) Production."

Jun. Dr. Meng delivered a talk titled “Spatially Guided Construction of Multilayered Skin Models Recapitulating Structural Hierarchy and Cell–Cell Junctions” and additionally presented this work during the poster session at the TERMIS 2024 World Congress (Seattle, WA).

Feb. The 3D Biofabrication Lab hosted a STEM badge activity for Girl Scouts Spirit of Nebraska, Troop 28274, and introduced 3D printing and bioprinting to future engineers.

Jan. With support from the Nexus of Virology, Immunology, and Bioengineering (NVIBE), we collaborated with virologists Drs. Lindsey Crawford (Biochemistry) and Peter Angeletti (Biological Sciences) to adapt our 3D skin models to study "Epithelial Pathogenesis from Viral Remodeling."

2023

Dec. Dr. Meng was affiliated with Omaha VA Medical Center as a Research Assistant Professor (Without Compensation, WOC appointment).

Dec. Dr. Meng delivered an international guest lecture, "Biofabrication – Engineering in Biomedicine," for students at the University of Rouen Normandy and the University of Caen Normandy, France, as part of a Materials Science course.

Nov. Matt introduced his study titled "3D Printed Biosensors for Spatiotemporal Monitoring of Selective Pressures in Physiomimetic Microenvironments" at the NCIBC monthly meeting.

Oct. Our patent on "3D-Printed Models of Biological Microenvironments" was granted (U.S. Patent No. 11,781,101).

Oct. Haiwei presented our study titled "Spatially Guided Construction of Multilayered Epidermal Models Recapitulating Structural Hierarchy and Cell–Cell Junctions" in the session "Multicellular Engineered Living Systems" at the BMES 2023 Annual Meeting (Seattle, WA).

Sept. Dr. Meng attended the International Conference on Biofabrication 2023 (Saskatoon, Canada), where he presented "3D In Vitro Reconstruction of Pathological Microenvironments for Multi-Target Testing of Therapeutic Agents" in the session "Biofabrication of Tissue Models or Analogues I" and chaired the symposium "Revolutionizing Disease Modeling: Unleashing the Power of Biofabrication."

Sept. Haiwei presented his study titled "Spatially Guided Construction of skin epidermal models" at the NCIBC monthly meeting.

Jul. Meghan Biegert joined the group as a Ph.D. student in the Biomedical Engineering program.

Jul. Dr. Meng attended the Advanced Mechanics and Materials Engineering Workshop, hosted by our collaborator at the University of Rouen Normandy, France.

May At the Surgery Research Forum, University of Nebraska Medical Center, Dr. Meng presented recent progress on "3D In Vitro Reconstruction of Pathological Microenvironments for Multi-Target Testing of Therapeutic Agents."

May We hosted Flavie Turpin, an exchange student from the University of Rouen Normandy, France, for a summer research program.

May Haiwei was awarded the NCIBC Graduate Student Travel Grant, and Matt received the NCIBC Graduate Student Fellowship for his summer research.

Feb. Dr. Meng delivered a guest lecture titled "3D Reconstruction of Physiological Microenvironments as Preclinical Disease Models" for students at the School of Mechanical and Materials Engineering, Washington State University.

Jan. Sponsored by the MME Department, lab sessions were added to the Biofabrication course, allowing students to gain hands-on experience with emerging bioprinting techniques.

2022

Nov. Drs. Fanben Meng (Mechanical & Materials Engineering, University of Nebraska-Lincoln), Liqun Ning (Mechanical Engineering, Cleveland State University), and Pingqiang Cai (Medical School, Nanjing University) served as guest editors for the topical collection “3D Bioprinting of Advanced Materials for Regenerative Medicine” in JoVE.

Oct. Dr. Meng joined the Editorial Board of Frontiers in Chemistry as an Associate Editor in Analytical Chemistry and co-edited the research topic “Disease Biomarker Analysis Based on Optical Biosensing” with Dr. Xiaoli Zhu (Shanghai Tenth People’s Hospital, Tongji University) and Dr. Binwu Ying (West China Hospital, Sichuan University).

Jul. Our study on the in vitro reassembly of stratified epidermis, titled “Spatially Guided Construction of Multilayered Epidermal Models Recapitulating Structural Hierarchy and Cell–Cell Junctions,” was published in Small Science and highlighted on the front cover. 

May Dr. Meng reported recent progress on “3D Bioprinted In Vitro Tumor Models for Multi-Targeted Drug Testing” at the Mechanical and Materials Engineering Graduate Seminar.

Mar. Dr. Meng presented our recent study, titled "3D Bioprinted In Vitro Tumor Models for Multi-Targeted Drug Screening," at the ACS Spring 2022 meeting (San Diego, CA) as part of the symposium "3D Printing-Enabled Polymeric Composites and Hybrid Systems."

Jan. Matt Spieker joined the group as an M.S. student in the Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mechanics program, with a specialization in Biomedical Engineering.

Jan. The 3D Biofabrication Lab relocated to newly constructed space (D227C and D227D) in the Engineering Research Center (ERC).

2021

Aug. Dr. Meng joined the MECH 380 instructional team and serves as the instructor for the Mechanical Engineering Measurement course each fall semester.

Aug. Mohammed Hafiz joined the group as a Ph.D. student in the Biomedical Engineering program.

Jan. Dr. Meng joined the UNL Nebraska Center for Integrated Biomolecular Communication (NCIBC) as a project leader, leading the project "Programmable Construction of 3D In Vitro Disease Models Capturing Microenvironment Heterogeneity" funded by National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS).

Jan. Dr. Meng developed a new senior undergraduate/graduate-level course, "Biofabrication," which was launched and is now offered every spring semester.

Jan. Dr. Meng introduced our previous study titled "3D Bioprinted In Vitro Tumor Models via Reconstruction of Physiological Microenvironments" at the Biomedical Engineering Seminar.

Jan. Haiwei Zhai joined the group as a Ph.D. student in the Biomedical Engineering program. 

2020

Oct. Dr. Meng was selected as one of the 2020-2021 Research Development Fellows at UNL.

Oct. At the Mechanical and Materials Engineering Graduate Seminar, Dr. Meng presented a talk on "3D Bioprinted In Vitro Tumor Models via Reconstruction of Physiological Microenvironments."

Aug. Dr. Meng joined the Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering at UNL as an assistant professor.