We had a fantastic time back at our first in-person ORS in 2 years!! Ethan and Austin did a great job presenting their work, we had so much fun catching up with all our friends, and Austin won a Meniscus Section Poster Award! Congratulations Austin!!!

We had a great time at BMES in Orlando, FL this week. It was our first conference back in person in also 2 years and if felt great to catch up with all our Friends. Austin, and our summer REU student, Sophia, did fantastic jobs presenting their work!!

We virtually attended The Summer Biomechanics, Bioengineering, and Biotransport Conference (SB3C) this week and had a great time. Both Ethan and Panth were finalists in the PhD and BS level paper competitions!! This was our first time attending SB3C and we are looking forward to coming back for many years to come!! 

We had a lab BBQ hosted by Ethan and Mary to celebrate the end of the semester and Madison and Panth's graduation! We are sad to see them go, but excited to see what they get up to in the future. Madison is going to Vanderbilt University to do her PhD and Panth is entering Med. School here at VCU!

Congratulations to Madison Bates for receiving the 2021 Gerald E. Miller Award for Excellence in the BME Undergraduate Program.  The Miller Award is awarded to undergraduates that demonstrate impressive academic accomplishments, research achievements, and dedicated service to the BME program and community! Well done Madison!!!

Congratulations to undergrad Saagar Sheth for being awarded a Undergraduate Fellowship from the VCU Center for Clinical and Translational Research (CCTR) for his work investigating cell localization and differentiation in ligament-to-bone enthesis engineering.  Using a novel culture system we have previously shown to drive zonal enthesis tissue formation, Saagar is investigating whether ligament fibroblasts seeded into out culture system localize to specific zones of the enthesis, or whether the tensile-compressive culture environment drives their differentiation. Congrats Saagar!!

Congratulations to Saagar for being awarded a VCU Undergraduate Fellowship for Clinical and Translational Research, one of the most competitive institutional awards for undergraduate research and scholarship at VCU. His work will be investigating whether cells differentiate or localize to specific zones of Engineered Ligament-to-bone replacements.