Apple picking Sunday

Posted on September 29, 2024 by Yun Chen

To celebrate Hoff’s success in passing her DQE, we had a celebratory outing to commemorate this happy season.

At Weber’s PeachBerry Farm, we picked pumpkins.

We tried on crab hats.

We studied mechanics of apples.

Of course, we also ventured to the orchard and picked bushels of apples.

As usual, Hoff took no prisoner even when apple picking. No apple in the world is out of Hoff’s reach.

In contrast, Tony is focused on lower hanging fruits.

We really collected a lot apples- probably enough for the whole season!

We had fun!

 

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Daniel, Hoff and Feiyu are selected for 2024 Cell Bio travel grants

Posted on September 25, 2024 by Yun Chen

We are very pleased to learn that Daniel, Hoff and Feiyu are awarded for the 2024 Cell Bio travel grants. They will be funded for the trip to present their research results at 2024 Cell Bio meeting to be held in San Diego in mid-December this year. It is a competitive process, in which their professional experience and statement of promoting diversity were evaluated.  The awardees from MEOW lab are hard working and visionary in promoting diversity manifested in scientific disciplines, social backgrounds, heritages and personal choices. This honor is well deserved. Congratulations!

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Bioprinting Lab is set up

Posted on September 1, 2024 by Yun Chen

Thanks to everyone’s (mostly physical) efforts, now the bioprinting lab has been set up for serious bioprinting.

We have the fridge, the incubator, the water bath and gas tanks all up and running.

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We have two biosafety cabinets installed.

And we have the new fluorescence microscope too to scrutinize the cells.

Now we are in business of biofabrication full speed!

 

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Dr. Takehiro Yasukawa from Juntendo University visits MEOW lab

Posted on August 7, 2024 by Yun Chen

We were delighted to have Dr. Takehiro Yasukawa from Juntendo University, Tokyo, Japan visit us. Dr. Yasukawa is an expert in mitochondria. He is currently studying the changes in mitochondrial dynamics in the context of tumor microenvironment. We exchanged ideas and made plans for our collaboration.

Dr. Franck Housseau joined us over dinner to talk more.

Thank you for visiting us, Takehiro. We look forward to working with you!

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Quantum-Enabled Dial (QED) is funded via NSF Trailblazer Engineering Impact Award

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 class of proteins to control any biochemical reactions anywhere in the human body Lera more here). 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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