Student Merits

OUTSTANDING TALENT

Scholars receive competitive funding to further their research and education

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WENDY BROWN, BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING POSTDOCTORAL SCHOLAR, HAS BEEN NAMED A 2020 FOR WOMEN IN SCIENCE FELLOW BY L’ORÉAL USA.

Brown is one of five female postdoctoral scientists in the country to receive the grant of $60,000.

Working in Distinguished Professor Kyriacos Athanasiou’s lab, Brown focuses on engineering cartilage for facial reconstruction. Nasal cartilage pathologies (like congenital defects) and trauma have devastating health effects for civilians and military personnel. Large, mechanically robust grafts are required for reconstructive rhinoplasty and are frequently harvested from a patient’s own nasal septum. However, this is often not possible because the nose is damaged. Brown is working on growing cartilage in anatomical shapes and sizes from highly expanded cells for surgical implantation. She seeks to help millions of people around the world with facial damage.

“This fellowship allows me to establish myself as an independent scientist and to pursue career-defining research in my area of interest,” said Brown. “This fellowship also gives me the resources to serve as a mentor and to develop science outreach programs for other young women in STEM.” TWO BME STUDENTS RECEIVED GRADUATE RESEARCH FELLOWSHIP PROGRAM AWARDS FROM THE NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION. The GRFP is a five-year fellowship providing financial support to graduate students for three years. The competitive award is open to master’s and doctoral students who are pursuing STEM-oriented research at accredited U.S. institutions.

ANDREW SUM is a second-year doctoral student. Advised by Associate Professor Elliot Hui, Sum is working on a microfluidic droplet platform for highthroughput screening of a panel of peptides, small protein-like molecules. Sum’s research goal is to screen metagenomic samples for synergistic antimicrobial effects where a combination of two or more peptides would have a greater effect than the peptides would individually. “The discoveries from these experiments can potentially address issues related to antibiotic resistance and agricultural pathogen prevention,” said Sum.

On winning the award, Sum said, “It was extremely encouraging to know that other scientists thought my ideas and goals were worth funding.” HEATHER ROMERO MERCIECA is a senior undergraduate student. She will pursue her doctorate and conduct research focusing on renewable energy. During her undergraduate studies, Romero Mercieca spent more than two years researching electrochemical sensors in Professor Michelle Khine’s lab. Most recently, she was working with a team to develop an electrochemical aptamer-based biosensor for the detection of SARS-CoV-2. After earning her doctorate, Romero Mercieca hopes to help communities of black, indigenous and people of color attain energy sovereignty.

“It is a great honor to get the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship, as it will give me the financial support to complete my Ph.D. as well as the freedom to define my research focus and goals,” she said. “I would like to thank the Minority Science Program at UCI for uplifting and guiding me through my research and application process.”

THE ROSE HILLS FOUNDATION HAS AWARDED ONE GRADUATE FELLOWSHIP AND TWO UNDERGRADUATE SCHOLARSHIPS TO BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING STUDENTS THIS YEAR. The graduate fellow, JOANNE LY, will be granted $10,000, while undergraduate scholars will receive an amount equal to work study and loan amounts.

Ly is working on a technology to help clinicians who care for premature infants in the neonatal intensive care unit. She is creating a device that would monitor preterm infants’ breathing while they are feeding to measure how well they are developing. “This technology would provide physicians and nurses an objective measurement to support their care recommendations, reduce the number of days preterm infants stay in the neonatal intensive care unit, as well as help hospitals save millions of dollars annually,” said Ly, who is grateful for the fellowship support. “It enables me to focus on my research and devote more of my time to develop programs and opportunities to elevate others, personally and professionally.” The two undergraduates who received Rose Hills scholarships are Kylie Mae Brown and Luis Gerardo Escalante. GRADUATE STUDENT JULIA ZAKASHANSKY IS A 2021-22 UCI ARCS (ACHIEVEMENT REWARDS FOR COLLEGE SCIENTISTS) SCHOLAR. The award recognizes academically superior doctoral students who exhibit outstanding promise as scientists, researchers and leaders.

Zakashansky, materials science and engineering doctoral candidate, is conducting research in biomedical engineering Professor Michelle Khine’s lab to develop a noninvasive at-home antigen test detecting the spike of SARS-CoV-2 proteins in saliva.

The point-of-care platform uses saliva, an electrochemical reaction and Shrinky Dinks to create low-cost electrodes. The device would be paired with a potentiostat, a USB flash drive-sized reader, plugging directly into a phone or tablet with results in approximately 30 minutes. She and Khine have posted their research on medRxiv.org.

Zakashansky said, “What we’ve shown is that we are capable of detecting really low levels of the viral protein, which is promising for the future of accurate detection of early infections as well as infections in asymptomatic people.”