2025
July:
1. Our collaborative project with Prof. Jingyan Han at Boston University received AHA Transformational Project Award $300k for 3 years to study how 3D-printed vessels with topography-guided cell alignment for enhanced vascular functionality.
2. Dr. Ding has been appointed as Associate Editor for jounral of Frontiers in Bioengineering and Biotechnology (IF: 4.8).
3. PhD student, Rao Fu won the 3rd Place in 2025 SB3C Student Paper Competition. Congratulations!
4. We hosted 17 students (7th-9th grades) from several Worcester middle schools for biomedical research demonstration and presentation in our lab. Students are truly inspired by our research in biomaterials and 3D printing of scaffolds!
May:
1. Nolan was awarded the Outstanding Undergraduate Research Award for the BME department! Congratulations!
April:
1. Rao’s abstract entitled “3D-Printed Scaffolds With Microtopography Guides Vascular Tissue Organization and Regeneration” has been selected as a finalist for the 2025 SB3C Student Paper Competition
2024
September:
1. Nina and Rao presented our recent research at the Society For Biomaterials (SFB) 2024 Regional Symposia hosted by Northeastern University in Boston, September 19-20, 2024.
August:
1. Our collaborative work with Dr. Mark Hersam, Dr. Cheng Sun, and Dr. Guillermo Ameer at Northwestern University has been published in ACS Applied Materials & Interface. Check it out here.
July:
1. Our team has received funding from the 2024 Pilot Project Program by the UMass Center for Clinical and Translational Science. We are excited to collaborate with Dr. Jones Douglas, a vascular surgeon at UMass Chan Medical School, to develop fully bioresorbable vascular grafts for bypass surgery.
2. Dr. Ding was invited by Dr. Shayn Peirce-Cottler, Chair of BME at UVA, to speak at the Seventh Annual Mid-Atlantic Advanced Biomanufacturing Symposium at the University of Virginia on July 11-12, 2024.
May:
1. Dr. Ding gave a talk at the 12th World Biomaterials Congress 2024 in Daegu, Korea on May 26-31, 2024.
2. Our collaborative work with Northwestern University has been published in Bioactive Materials. Check it out here.
Liam Warlick, a senior undergraduate student and mentee of Dr. Ding, made significant contributions to the control of drug release from 3D-printed vascular scaffolds in this work. Inspired by his research experience with Dr. Ding, Liam decided to pursue a PhD and has received an NSF fellowship for graduate school. He will be attending UCSB for his PhD studies. Best of luck to him on his journey!
3. PhD student, Rao Fu, received the 2024 BME Sotak Research Excellence Award!
February: First 3D-printed fully bioresorbable polymer stent in our lab!
2023
1. The results of our first lab survey have been released. We are delighted to observe that individuals in the lab are experiencing both joy and productivity. Moving forward, we remain committed to enhancing our lab environment and mentorship.
2. We celebrated the beginning of the holiday season, welcomed our dear friend, Evan Jones, who came to visit us from Northwestern University, and enjoyed the New England seafood!
3. Dr. Ding was invited to give a talk in the Department of Mechanical & Materials Engineering at WPI on Nov. 8th.
4. Dr. Guillermo Ameer from Northwestern University and Dr. Guohao Dai from Northeastern University visited us and delivered great seminars in our department!
5. PhD student, Rao Fu gave a talk on her research project “Additive Manufacturing of Regenerative Scaffolds with Micropatterns” at BMES 2023 in Seattle!