Anaiah Jones researched in here Lipke Lab this summer of 2023 under Shireen Singh working on the cardiac team. She helped Shireen with experiments and performed image analysis to help Shireen better understand cardiac differentiation. She also participated in summer REU meetings with the college and also helped us out with outreach activities including the 2023 Biomanufacturing Workshop held at Alabama State University.
She gave her final presentation titled, “Biomimetic Materials An Innovative Approach Towards the Development of Cardiac Regeneration.” We celebrated her by visiting a local ice cream shop in downtown Auburn. We had such a great summer with you Anaiah!
Alt Text: Anaiah stands in front of a scientific poster. She poster is navy and white with various images, graphs, and other data.
Members of Lipke Lab (Mohammad, Shireen, Kwaghtaver, Nipa, and Anaiah) and the Selen Cremaschi Research Group (Dr. Cremaschi, Shenba, and Erfan) lead a day-long workshop to summer REU students at Alabama State University with Dr. Komal Vig covering topics including biomanufacturing of engineered tissues, machine learning for use in decision making processes, and scale up of heart tissue production using machine learning. The workshop composed of interactive presentations and hands-on demonstrations including machine learning demonstrations, cell encapsulations, hydrogel production, and pig heart demonstrations. The event was held on June 30th, 2023.
Alt Text: Shireen, Mohammad, Anaiah, Dr. Vig, and summer REU students gather around a large wooden conference table during a cookie activity for biomanufacturing.
Alt Text: Mohammad and Shireen pose in a lab holding pig hearts.
Dr. Lipke took five summer researchers to Hannover, Germany to perform research in the Leibniz Laboratories for Biotechnology and Artificial Organs (LEBAO). Students had the opportunity to work in research labs, including labs from Dr. Robert Zweigerdt, Dr. Ina Gruh, Dr. Ruth Olmer, Dr. Nico Lachmann, and Dr. Stefan Kalies. This program provided students with the opportunity to conduct research at the interface of clinical application and biomanufacturing, advancing their knowledge of German culture, and becoming aware of scientific education and carrier opportunities in regenerative medicine on a trans-institutional and trans-Atlantic level. Students arrived in Germany at the end of May 2023, and returned to the US at the end of July 2023.
This collaborative initiative was made possible by competitive International Research Experiences for Students (IRES) grant funding acquired from the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) and is focused on process development for cell and tissue manufacturing.
Alt Text: From left to right, Jada Neal, undergraduate student at Auburn Univeristy (AU), Jasmine Brown, undergraduate student at Georgia Tech, Fawaz , graduate student at MHH LEBAO, Justin Harvell, graduate student at AU, Dr. Elizabeth Lipke, faculty at AU, Stephen Wheat, undergraduate student at Louisiana State Univeristy, Shifaa Abdin, graduate student at MHH NIFE, Liam Wilson, graduate student at MHH LEBAO, Rajesh Vivekanandan, graduate student at MHH LEBAO, Dr. Robert Zweigerdt, head of research group at MHH LEBAO, Aileen Schmidt, graduate student at MHH LEBAO, Dr. Ruth Olmer, head of research group at MHH LEBAO, Carlos Bautista, graduate student at MHH LEBAO, Ellie Hall, undergraduate student at Mississippi State, and Mirela Wilkening, an assistant at MHH LEBAO. The group are standing in front of a gray and red building sign in Hannover, Germany.
Justin Harvell and Grace Hester competed in the Samuel Ginn College of Engineerings 2023 AUSome Science in 60 Seconds competition and both won respective graduate and undergraduate overall winners.
The competition challenged students to present their work in one minute to a general audience, similar to a one minute TikTok video. The Lipke Lab came in first place for both undergraduates and graduate students. The winners were announced at the Council of Engineering Graduate Students’ awards banquet on April 27, 2023.
Alt text: From left to right, Dr. Michael Greene, associate professor of nutritional sciences, Grace Hester, Dr. Elizabeth Lipke, Mary and John H. Sanders Professor in chemical engineering, and Justin Harvell stand in front of a Council of Engineering Graduate Students navy backdrop. Grace and Justin hold large signed golden checks for their award.
Peter was named the 2023 Outstanding Undergraduate Student in the Department of Chemical Engineering. Peter was recognized at the College of Engineering’s awards ceremony, congratulations Peter!
Peter, an undergraduate in Lipke Lab, was awarded an NSF-GRFP. This is a prestigious award and is greatly deserved; Peter will be attending graduate school for a PhD after he graduates this year. Congratulations Peter!
Mohammad, Shireen, and Ravi presented at the 2023 Auburn Research Symposium. Mohammad presented an oral presentation entitled “Scalable Production of Engineered Cardiac Tissue Microspheroids with Varying Geometries,” Shireen presented a poster titled “Directing HiPSC Differentiation Towards Left and Right Ventricular Cardiomyocytes in a Scaffold-Supported 3D Construct,” and Ravi presented a poster titled “Adaptation of a Microfluidic System for Use in Scalable Cell Encapsulation.”
Mohammad presents an oral presentation.Shireen presents a poster.Ravi presents a poster.
Kayla Edwards and Zuri Rashad, two 2022 summer undergraduate CASE-REU students in Lipke Lab, presented their summer research at the 2022 CASE-REU Research Symposium on July 22, 2022. Kayla presented her work entitled “Scaffold Supported Human Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell-Laden Microsphere Heart Tissues,” and Zuri presented her work entitled “Production of Engineered Cardiac Tissues Through Differentiation of Self-Formed Aggregates Using Left Ventricular Reporter Cell Line.” With the completion of the program, Kayla will continue her research at her home institution, Alabama State University, collaborating with Lipke Lab and Zuri will begin graduate school at University of California Irvine getting her PhD in chemical engineering.
We want to wish a huge congratulations to our undergraduate researcher, Peter Abraham, who was named a Barry M. Goldwater scholar. Throughout the past several years, Peter has made numerous outstanding contributions to our cancer research projects and is highly deserving of this prestigious award! For more info on Peter’s research and the Goldwater award, check out this news release. This semester, Peter also had his research published in PLOS One, won 1st place at the AIChE Regional Conference Technical Presentation competition, and was elected to serve as the Auburn AIChE Internal Vice President. Congratulations on all of your accomplishments, Peter! We are so proud of you!
Congratulations to Lipke Lab undergraduate researcher Ravi Nataraj for winning 2nd place at the AIChE Regional Conference Poster Competition for his work, “Adaptation of a Microfluidic System for Use in High-Throughput Drug Screening”. Ravi was also recently elected to co-lead the BMES Design Team and will work towards developing a cost-effective, adjustable foot and ankle prothesis specifically targeted to female populations. This design will enable a multitude of shoe options ranging from tennis shoes to high heels! Keep up the awesome work, Ravi!
