Entries by Ramya Kumar

The lab introduces hydrogels to a high school classroom

The lab taught students at Arvada West all about covalent and non-covalent interactions responsible for hydrogel formation. We had a lot of fun forming, dissolving, and reforming hydrogels. Alginate, agarose, and HEMA behaved very differently under heating and EDTA addition. Click through the gallery above to watch the lab in action. Thanks to HS teachers, […]

Ramya receives an R21 award from the National Institutes of Health.

Ramya’s R21 application (in collaboration with coI Prof. Luis G. Villa-Diaz at Oakland University) was awarded $403,000 from NIH NIBIB. This funding will help the lab unravel how glycocalyx-mimetic cell culture coatings impact the expansion and genetic modification of mesenchymal stem/signaling cells. This is the first funded proposal in Ramya’s independent career.

Lab renovations completed!

After an 18-month wait for lab renovations, we have finally started doing research in our own space in Alderson.

Jessica wins NSF GRFP! Adam and Aryelle recognized with honorable mentions!

The lab did pretty well with our first stab at the National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Fellowship competition. Jessica was offered an award for the 2023 cycle while Adam and Aryelle came really close with honorable mentions. The NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program recognizes and supports outstanding graduate students in NSF-supported science, technology, engineering, […]