Third Annual Biomedical Engineering Graduate Retreat
August 24th, 2020
Welcome to the Third Annual Biomedical Engineering Graduate Retreat at the University of Texas at Austin! This is a yearly event put together by BME graduate students for BME graduate students. The theme of this year's event is the holistic scientist. The event will feature 3-minute graduate student talks, a panel on work-life balance in research, trivia, and a keynote presentation from Harvard Wyss Institute Professor, Dr. Radhika Nagpal, on “The Pursuit of Collective Intelligence, and Happiness, in Science.”
Schedule
9:30 AM Coffee Hour
10:00 AM Keynote Presentation w/ Dr. Radhika Nagpal
11:00 AM Graduate Research Talks
Session 1 (Cancer, membranes, immune, nanoparticles, polymers)
Session 2 (Optics, biomechanics, computational, neural, cardiovascular)
12:00 PM (Optional) Lunch 'n' Learn Breakout Rooms
International Students Room w/ Dr. Tim Yeh
Graduates for Underrepresented Minorities w/ Dana Jenkins
Anti-Racism Discussion Group w/ Ella Sugerman
First-Year Hangout w/ Andrea (Didi) Gardner
Around the Water Cooler w/ Bri Morales
12:30 PM Work-Life Balance in Research Panel
1:30 PM Trivia
2:30 PM Closing Remarks
Keynote: Dr. Radhika Nagpal
Dr. Nagpal is the Kavli Professor of Computer Science at Harvard University and a member of the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering. She leads the Self-organizing Systems Research Group (SSR) and her research interests span computer science, robotics, and biology. In 2014, she was named by Nature magazine as one of the top ten influential scientists and engineers of the year (Nature 10 award, Dec 2014), for her and her group's work on decentralized robot swarms and collective intelligence. Radhika is also known for being the author of a Scientific American blog article on academic life, called "the Awesomest 7-year Postdoc".
Three Minute Research Talks
In order to accommodate more talks, we have divided presentations into two sessions based on keywords. Feel free to bounce around or stay in either.
Nominate your favorite 3 minute talks for prizes here.
Session 1 - Zoom Webinar
Brock Lab: A Systems Biology Approach to Cancer
Daylin Morgan
Brock Lab
Track 2: Cellular and Biomolecular Engineering
Key Words: cancer, modeling, computational biology
Winners and losers: Unveiling cooperation and competition within isogenic cancer cells
Andrea (Didi) Gardner
Brock Lab
Track 2: Cellular and Biomolecular Engineering
Key Words: mathematical modeling, computational oncology, cancer, single cell
Characterizing therapeutic potential of cancer-specific CD8+ T cells in multiple myeloma
Jack Prazich
Jiang Lab
Track 2: Cellular and Biomolecular Engineering
Key Words: Cancer immunology
Gap Junction Liposomes for Efficient Delivery of Chemotherapeutics to Solid Tumors
Andrea Trementozzi
Stachowiak Lab
Track 2: Cellular and Biomolecular Engineering
Key Words: Gap junction channels, intracellular delivery
Modulating macrophage phenotype through tunable phospholipid-coated PEGDA nanoparticles
Elizabeth Bender
Suggs Lab
Track 2: Cellular and Biomolecular Engineering
Key Words: macrophage, polarization, nanoparticle
Membrane bending by protein phase separation
Feng Yuan
Stachowiak Lab
Track 2: Cellular and Biomolecular Engineering
Key Words: Membrane remodeling, protein phase separation
Structural Hydrogel Design to Distinguish Mechanosensing and Cytokine Signaling in 3D Culture of Hematopoietic Stem Cells
Nate Richbourg
Peppas Lab
Track 2: Cellular and Biomolecular Engineering
Key Words: Hydrogel, Stem Cell, Bone Marrow, Stiffness, Diffusivity
Engineering Patient-Specific Cardiac Macrotissues
Nikhith Kalkunte
Zoldan Lab
Track 2: Cellular and Biomolecular Engineering
Key Words: IPSC-CM, Electrospinning, Thermo-Responsive Polymers
Highly porous bone grafts with improved cytocompatibility
Dana Jenkins
Cosgriff-Hernandez Lab
Track 2: Cellular and Biomolecular Engineering
Key Words: Tissue-engineering, Biomaterials, Bone graft, polymers
Engineering Corticospinal Tract Regrowth Post Spinal Cord Injury
Hayley Lindsay
Sakiyama-Elbert Lab
Track 2: Cellular and Biomolecular Engineering
Key Words: cell engineering, regeneration, spinal cord injury, biomaterials
Session 2 - Zoom Call
A FRET-based Sensor of Steric Pressure During Membrane Remodeling
Justin Houser
Stachowiak Lab
Track 2: Cellular and Biomolecular Engineering
Key Words: Biophysics, Quantitative Microscopy
Blazingly Fast Fluorescent Imaging with Line Excitation Array Detection (LEAD) Microscopy
Nick Watson
Ben-Yakar Lab
Track 1: Biomedical Imaging and Instrumentation
Key Words: Fluorescent imaging, microscopy, high frame rate
Improving multiphoton microscopy at depth for neurovascular imaging
Shaun Engelmann
Dunn Lab
Track 1: Biomedical Imaging and Instrumentation
Key Words: Neurovascular, multiphoton microscopy
N-PIE: An Automated Approach Towards Neuron Perception, Identification, and Estimation
Andrew DuPlissis
Ben-Yakar Lab
Track 3: Computational Biomedical Engineering
Key Words: Confocal Microscopy, C. elegans, Convolutional Neural Networks, Causal Inference
From Motor to Mood: A Brain-Machine Interface to Treat Anxiety
Hannah Stealey
Santacruz Lab
Track 1: Biomedical Imaging and Instrumentation
Key Words: brain-machine interface; neuropsychiatric disorders
Willerson Center for Cardiovascular Modeling and Simulation: A brief overview
Alex Khang
Sacks Lab
Track 4: Biomechanics
Key Words: cardiovascular simulation heart valve disease
Understanding Thrombus' Dissipative Mechanisms Prior to Fracture
Ella Sugerman
Rausch Lab
Track 4: Biomechanics
Key Words: blood clot, pulmonary embolism, hyperelasticity
The ovine tricuspid valve (mal)adapts in heart disease
Will Meador
Rausch Lab
Track 4: Biomechanics
Key Words: growth and remodeling, heart valves, soft tissue biomechanics
Tunable Electrospun Materials for Improved Heart Valve Durability
Andrew Robinson
Cosgriff-Hernandez Lab
Track 2: Cellular and Biomolecular Engineering
Key Words: Electrospinning, controlled microarchitecture, durable heart valves
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Prizes
BEST TITLE - Nick Watson
BEST PRESENTATION - Hannah Stealey
MOST BEAUTIFUL FIGURES - Alex Khang
BEST "HOOK" - Andrea Trementozzi
BEST DELIVERY - Justin Houser
MOST CREATIVE FORMAT - Feng Yuan
BEST COLOR SCHEME - Nikhith Kalkunte
MOST UT PRIDE - Liz Bender
MOST HUMOROUS - Hayley Lindsay
MOST CLINICAL RELEVANCE - Jack Prazich
BEST ANALOGY - Will Meador
BEST ZOOM PRESENCE - Nate Richbourg
Work-Life Balance Panel
A discussion relevant for all PhD students, from restaurant recommendations in Austin to advice on managing expectations in graduate school and beyond.
Moderator: Mae Lewis
Taneidra Buie
I am a rising 6th-year doctoral student in the Cosgriff-Hernandez Lab here at UT. My research is focused on developing a multifunctional wrap for treating large, contaminated bone defects. I am planning to defend my dissertation this fall semester. Outside of my role as a graduate student, I enjoy spending time with my husband. I married my undergraduate-sweetheart two years into graduate school, after having an extended inter-state relationship. This experience has granted me the opportunity to master a healthy work-life balance, as I have to balance my presence in multiple roles. My secret to achieving this is setting boundaries and making them known upfront. On weekdays, between the hours of 6 PM-8 AM, my role as an individual and as a wife prevails over my role as a scholar.
Brandon Bakka
I am a second year student in the Stachowiak Lab here at UT. My research focuses on using protein domains that undergo liquid-liquid phase separation to improve liposome loading and trigger controlled therapeutic release. In addition to my biological research, I am also pursuing the Engineering Education Certificate through the Cockrell School and work on a side project with Dr. Maura Borrego in the STEM-Education department studying LGBTQ+ engineering students. In my free time I enjoy hiking with my dog, as well as baking and playing boardgames!
Kaitlyn Johnson, Ph.D.
I am a recent graduate of the UT BME program, where I worked in Amy Brock's lab. My graduate research was focused in mathematical oncology, specifically integrating a variety of experimental data types into models to better understand tumor growth and treatment response. During my time in Austin, I spent my evenings and weekends seeing live music, running and biking, and spending time with friends.
Nate Richbourg
Nate is a 3rd year graduate student in the Peppas lab. He is using fundamental hydrogel modeling to mimic the physical microenvironment of bone marrow. When he's not doing research, he's probably rock climbing or talking about how cool science is.
Wade Zeno, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Mork Family Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science
University of Southern California
__________________
I received my PhD in Chemical Engineering from the University of California, Davis in 2016, then worked as a postdoctoral fellow in the Biomedical Engineering Department at UT Austin under Jeanne Stachowiak until 2020. I have just recently started my career as an assistant professor of Chemical Engineering at the University of Southern California, where my research group focuses on engineering biological membranes. Specifically, we examine the proteins and lipids that comprise cellular membranes to understand how they function at a fundamental level and how they can be exploited to make functional biomaterials. In my free time, I compete in powerlifting, where I’ve bench pressed nearly 500 pounds, and play musical instruments, including the guitar and cello.
Trivia Instructions
Stay in the Webinar AND join this meeting to be randomly assigned to a team.
Trivia Master: Ella Sugerman
Sponsors
The Biomedical Engineering Graduate Student Society thanks The Integra Foundation and the Department of Biomedical Engineering at UT Austin, whose support has made this event possible.
