Quantum-Enabled Dial (QED)!

Posted on July 24, 2024 by Yun Chen

We are very delighted that our project “Quantum-Enabled Dial (QED) to control biochemical reactions and cell behaviors” based on Junjie’s preliminary data has been selected by National Science Foundation (NSF) for the inaugural Trailblazer Engineering Impact Award (https://new.nsf.gov/news/nsf-awards-inaugural-trailblazer-grants). The 3 million USD funding will enable us to pursue the ambitious idea of engineering a novel glass of proteins to control any biochemical reactions anywhere in the human body. We are excited and ready to dive into the world of quantum biotechnology!

 

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Prof. Yukako Nishimura visits MEOW Lab

Posted on July 14, 2024 by Yun Chen

We welcomed Prof. Yukako Nishimura from Hokkaido University visiting us. Prof. Nishimura spent a week with us at Hopkins to test the new generation of cell stretcher developed by Junjie and redesigned by Daniel.

We also exchanged ideas and brainstormed about new research directions involving microtubules-driven cell dynamics and beyond.

We gave tours to Prof. Nishimura showcasing  the state-of-art facilities at Hopkins.

Dr. Ana Pasapera joined us for the tour at Center for Material Characterization and Processing.

Of course, Prof. Nishimura took the chance to visit other scientist friends here.

Prof. Takanari Inoue showed us the touristy spots in Baltimore on a sunny and breezy Thursday.

Profs. Jian Liu and Sergey Plotnikov shared good time and good food with our guest of honor too.

It was great to have you here Yukako. Please come back soon!

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Dr. Taneka Jones from Lehigh visits

Posted on June 12, 2024 by Yun Chen

We welcome Dr. Taneka Jones and her graduate student Zelalem Ayalew visiting us at Homewood for the Biofabrication Workshop for Women’s Health (June 10 – June 14, 2024). We discussed and tested the strategy of fibricating engineered tissues in the lab to study diseases affect women’s health.

Daniel was the instructor for the workshop.

We shared our experience in using multifunctional bioprinters for tissue manufacturing.

Of course we also exchanged notes about research and beyond over good food.

Thank you for visiting us, Taneka! We had a great time!

 

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Marino visits from Queensland and a new microscope is built

Posted on June 1, 2024 by Yun Chen

We welcomed our collaborator Marino Lara from Prof. Warwick Bowen’s lab in University of Queensland visiting the MEOW lab for a month.

Marino helped us build a new microscope where we can study cellular states in a label-free manner.

We are very excited to use the microscope to test our cells.

The new scope is definitely a new hot spot in the lab that everyone wants to try it out.

We alreday got several promising results within the week.

We look forward to many good data in the coming weeks. Thank you Marino!

 

 

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Commencement 2024

Posted on May 22, 2024 by Yun Chen

This week we celebrated many milestones. Friends and family of the MEOW lab graduated and visited Homewood from far-away places.

Wei-Hung visited from Boston.

Sumayah came back and is ready to go on to her next journey in the medical school!

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Feiyu graduates

Posted on May 20, 2024 by Yun Chen

Today we celebrated Feiyu’s graduation as she was granted the MSE degree in Biomedical Engineering. Deiyu joined the MEOW lab as a rookie in biophysics and mechanobiology. She has made strides in research. Feiyu successfully authored a comprehensive dissertation and is preparing a manuscript about the mechanics in engineered tissue. Congratulations Feiyu (and happy birthday)! Job well done! We look forward to working with you when you come back from the summer break as our in-house biofabrication specialist!

 

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Samantha wins INBT symposium people’s choice poster award

Posted on May 16, 2024 by Yun Chen

We are very happy that Samantha’s work on quantum actuation under Junjie’s omnipresent supervision has won the people’s choice award at the annual Institute for NanoBioTechnology (INBT) symposium!

Samantha’s work attracted many people asking questions about her findings!

There is no better conclusion for Samantha’s productive work in the MEOW lab before she goes on to medical school. We are very very proud of you, Samantha!

 

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Embassy of France and Mycelium Visit

Posted on April 5, 2024 by Yun Chen

We met scientific attaches from Embassy of France today and the founder of the startup company Mycelium from France.

We demonstrated the tools that we use for research in biofabrication and biomaterials characterization for our guests of honor.

Daniel was showing how we could use shear-thinning viscoelastic biomaterials to print complex shapes using our bioprinter.

 

For example, we could print Gary the cat snail using NIVEA hand cream. Scale: 1 mm.

Or we could print a family of them.

We also learned a lot from the presentation by Mycelium and our colleagues at Hopkins. It was a very informative event.

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Congratulations Samantha for the medical admission offer!

Posted on March 30, 2024 by Yun Chen

We celebrated Samantha’s graduation last December and admission offer to medical school today!

Samantha joined our lab in 2021 when we just returned to the normal operation in the lab.  She has been working with Junjie through many projects. Samantha is an integral part of the MEOW lab. Though we are sad to part with her, we are very excited for Samantha that she is going to start a new chapter in life. Congratulations, Samantha!

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Day of Unibrows

Posted on March 29, 2024 by Yun Chen

On this bright and sunny Friday in March we all grew unibrows. Unibrows are the symbol of intelligence, wisdom, scientific rigor, research productivity, engineering excellence and ingenuity in many cultures since ancient times. This symbolism traces all the way back when human kinds started hypothesizing and verifying the hypotheses in their first experiments.

We are very happy that we can embody those scholarly characteristics on our faces!

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