Join VINSE Director Sharon Weiss to discuss new initiatives, pilot funding, tech crew, and other ways VINSE can help support your research.

Thursday, September 17, 2026
9:00AM – 10:00AM
226 Engineering Science Building
�ձ���������Conference Room

VINSE users once again have access to screen printing in the cleanroom with the MTI EQ-SPC 2 Screen Printer.

The system provides a fast and versatile method for patterning a variety of paste materials using a process similar to traditional screen printing. Recent upgrades include a new UV light source that expands the maximum patternable area to approximately 5 × 5 inches, enabling processing of larger substrates.

VINSE offers screens with 130 and 200 mesh counts, supporting feature sizes as small as 200-300 μm, depending on the material and application.

Researchers interested in using the screen printer can find training requirements, access information, and additional details here: MTI EQ-SPC-2-LD

The symposium, which was held in collaboration with the Chemical Biology/Chemistry NSF-REU and VUSE Summer Research Program, showcased 98 students from the following programs: VINSE NSF-REU, Chemical Biology/Chemistry NSF-REU, VINSE Tech Crew, VISE, VIBES, ����ԭ�� Immersions, Wond’ry IMPACT, ����ԭ�� ISIS, SyBBURE, and VUSE Undergraduate Summer Experience.

Posters were evaluated by a panel of judges for an opportunity to win travel grants to support the cost of presenting posters at a National Conference. The winners are:

Best Overall – $1,000 travel grant
Elena Harvey, Lipscomb University
“Controlling Phase in Cobalt Chalcogenides through Phosphine Addition”
Mentors: Elizabeth Hayes, Janet Macdonald

Best Overall – $1,000 travel grant
Shubh Patel, ����ԭ��
“Near-Field Characterization of Infrared Metaplasmonics: Mapping Tunable Plasmon Polaritons in Perforated Gold Films”
Mentors: Maximilian Obst, Josh Caldwell

Best Overall – $1,000 travel grant
Paul Spang, Mercer University
“Electronic Band Structure of an Infinite H Chain Using Stochastic Variation of Explicitly Correlated Gaussian (ECG) Basis Functions”
Mentors: Patrick Barron,  Kálmán Varga

Best Overall – $1,000 travel grant
Lydia Uptain, University of North Alabama
“Structural and Kinetic Characterization of Double Acetylated Amyloid Beta 42 (AβKKAc)”
Mentors: Cade Rohler, Lauren Buchanan

Best Layout – $500 travel grant
Noah Baker, Lewis University
“Optical Trapping of Leached Nanoplastics for Single-Particle Analysis”
Mentors: Maxwell Ugwu, Justus Ndukaife

Best Use of Graphics – $500 travel grant
Elena Selik, Lawrence Technological University
“Stabilizing Porous Silicon Biosensors Using Thermal Hydrocarbonization”
Mentors: Soren Smail, Sharon Weiss

Fan Favorite
Ryan Svenson, University of Delaware
“Tuning the Reactivity of ROS Scavenging Microparticles Toward Durable, Disease Modifying Osteoarthritis Treatments”
Mentors: Patricia Poley, Craig Duvall

Best Tech Crew Poster
Sonam Thukral, ����ԭ��
“Development of Aluminum Nitride Thin Films Using Plasma Enhanced Atomic Layer Deposition”
Mentor: Benjamin Schmidt

Senior Tech Crew Promotion

Mica Gonzalez Mora has been promoted to Senior Tech Crew in recognition of her expertise and reliability on the cleanroom team. In her new role, Mica will help oversee Tech Crew activities by working closely with cleanroom staff to coordinate schedules and delegate tasks. She will also continue expanding her technical expertise in sputter deposition, electron beam evaporation, parylene coatings, and a wide range of cleanroom fabrication and characterization processes.

Associate Tech Crew Promotion

Rylan Hunt has been promoted to Associate Tech Crew for his contributions to several of the cleanroom’s most heavily used systems, including the dicing saw and electron beam lithography. Rylan has demonstrated a strong aptitude for learning new tools quickly, performing routine processes, and developing and troubleshooting workflows, particularly for lithography applications. In his new role, he looks forward to working more closely with users while helping improve tool documentation and day-to-day operations.

����ԭ�� VINSE Tech Crew

The VINSE Tech Crew program offers ����ԭ�� undergraduates hands-on experience in nanoscience and nanoengineering research, providing technical skills that prepare them for graduate school and careers in industry. Members gain expertise operating advanced instrumentation, performing nanofabrication and characterization processes, contributing to process development, and supporting VINSE’s research, education, and outreach missions.

Congratulations to Mica and Rylan on these well-deserved promotions.

Theodore Anyika
Graduate Student, Electrical and Computer Engineering

Theodore Anyika is a Ph.D. candidate in Electrical and Computer Engineering in Professor Justus Ndukaife’s lab, where his research sits at the intersection of nanophotonics and optofluidics. He has developed nanotweezers that use metallic and dielectric resonant nanostructures, along with various electrohydrodynamic phenomena, to trap objects far smaller than the wavelength of light. His goal is to trap and characterize nanoplastics and extracellular vesicles directly in solution, label-free and even at extremely low concentrations.

As a physics major, Theodore was always drawn to the idea of using the electromagnetic field of light to interact with physical objects. After attending a seminar on nanotweezers, he was intrigued by how many applications they could enable.

VINSE has been central to his work. Its cleanroom and characterization facilities are where he fabricates his devices, and its community has shaped how he thinks and collaborates as a researcher, including at NanoDay, where Theodore was fortunate to win first place for his poster in 2023. As a VINSE superuser, he also gives back to the community by leading user training and helping staff troubleshoot equipment. In the future, he aims to make nanoplastic characterization more cost-effective and efficient, even at low concentrations, to help overcome some of the current bottlenecks in the field.

Beyond his Ph.D., Theodore plans to transition into industry and apply the skills developed, and the VINSE Industry Affiliates mentorship program has been a great resource as he makes that move. Outside the lab, you can find him hiking, roller-skating, and seeking out daunting experiences like skydiving.

VINSE will host the 15th Annual Undergraduate Research Symposium on Thursday, July 30, in the Engineering Science Building. The symposium will feature two poster sessions from 9:30-11:30 a.m. and 1:30-3:30 p.m.

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The symposium marks the culmination of a 10-week summer research experience and will showcase the work of 98 undergraduate researchers from ����ԭ�� and institutions across the United States and around the world. Students will present posters highlighting innovative research in nanoscience, engineering, biomedical science, materials science, photonics, artificial intelligence, computing, and related disciplines.

This year’s symposium features students from the following summer research programs:

• VINSE NSF-REU
• ����ԭ�� School of Engineering Undergraduate Summer Experience (VUSE)
• ����ԭ�� Institute for Surgery and Engineering (VISE)
• ����ԭ�� Internship in Biophotonics for Emerging Scholars (VIBES)
• Chemical Biology REU
• VINSE Tech Crew
• ����ԭ�� Immersion
• Wond’ry IMPACT
• SyBBURE Searle Undergraduate Research Program
• ����ԭ�� Institute for Software Integrated Systems (ISIS)

Faculty, staff, students, alumni, and friends of ����ԭ�� are invited to attend either or both poster sessions to learn about the exciting research taking place across campus and to celebrate the accomplishments of this outstanding group of undergraduate researchers. Light refreshments will be served during both sessions.

We hope you’ll join us in recognizing the hard work and achievements of this year’s summer research cohort.

Dr. Rachel Carter
Associate Professor
University of Kansas

Evidence of Interplay between Temperature and Battery Phenomena

03.24.27  |  4:10PM |

Rachel Carter is an Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Kansas. At KU she specializes in battery design optimization and globally resilient material supply chains for batteries. Prior to this role, Carter spent 9 years at the US Naval Research Laboratory, where she focused on battery safety science. Carter received both her BE and PhD from ����ԭ�� in 2013 and 2017, respectively. She was a regular user of the VINSE facilities for fabrication and characterization of battery nanomaterial architectures. Her publications record during this period lead to Nature recognizing her as a top 5 emerging Material Scientist in 2019. In 2024 Carter was honored among C&EN New’s Talented Twelve. In 2025 She received the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE) and a Department of the Navy Civilian Commendation Metal. Most recently, she gave the Kavli Foundation Emerging Leader in Chemistry Lecture at the 2026 Spring ACS meeting. Carter has published 74 papers and obtained 5 patents in her 13+ years in energy storage research and has an h-index of 39.

Dr. Thomas Werfel
Associate Professor
University of Mississippi

Patient-specific protein corona signatures predict nanoparticle uptake and therapeutic response

02.24.27  |  4:10PM |

Thomas Werfel is an Associate Professor of Biomedical Engineering at The University of Mississippi (UM). He received his PhD in Biomedical Engineering from ����ԭ�� in 2017, after which he worked as a postdoctoral researcher in Cell and Developmental Biology at ����ԭ�� School of Medicine. During his time at ����ԭ��, he studied under Dr. Craig Duvall and conducted his postdoctoral training under the direction of Dr. Rebecca Cook. In 2018, he joined the University of Mississippi (UM) as an inaugural faculty member of the Department of Biomedical Engineering. He has been recognized as a Biomaterials Science Emerging Investigator, an Emerging Scholar in Biomaterials by the Society for Biomaterials, and as an NSF CAREER award recipient. His research group is actively investigating: 1) glycopolymers for targeted drug delivery to the immune system, 2) multimodal materials for interval and sequential drug delivery, and 3) stimuli-responsive polymers for nucleic acid delivery. His group is deploying these technologies to produce new therapies for cancer, mental illness, and women’s health.

Dr. Bozhi Tian
University of Chicago

Nano-enabled Photostimulation for Bioelectronic Medicine

04.07.27  |  4:10PM |

Photostimulation has emerged as a powerful strategy for interrogating and modulating biological systems with high spatiotemporal precision. Recent advances in nanoscience have transformed this field by enabling precise engineering of semiconductor, plasmonic, and bioelectronic interfaces at the nanoscale, where optical energy is converted into localized electrical, electrochemical, and ionic signals. This presentation will discuss how rational nanomaterials design reveals new mechanisms for photostimulation beyond conventional optogenetic and photothermal approaches. Topics will include photogenerated capacitive currents, faradaic charge transfer, interfacial electrochemical reactions, and hot-carrier-mediated bioelectronic interactions, highlighting how nanoscale architecture governs charge transport, energy conversion, and biological responses. Particular emphasis will be placed on semiconductor and plasmonic nanostructures that establish fundamentally new paradigms for optical control of living systems.

The talk will further demonstrate how these advances are enabling wireless bioelectronic interfaces for previously inaccessible anatomical targets. Examples will include optical modulation of peripheral nerves, spinal circuits, cardiac tissues, and respiratory control pathways using implantable semiconductor platforms engineered from the nanoscale upward. These studies illustrate how innovations in nanomaterials, interfacial electrochemistry, and device engineering are creating new opportunities for bioelectronic medicine, providing minimally invasive strategies for sensing, therapy, and closed-loop physiological regulation. More broadly, they establish a framework in which nanoscience serves as the foundation for next-generation photostimulation technologies that bridge materials science, optoelectronics, and biomedicine.

Bio. Dr. Bozhi Tian earned his Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry from Harvard University and completed postdoctoral training in regenerative medicine at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He is currently a professor at the University of Chicago, where his research bridges physical chemistry and bioelectronics to advance both fundamental understanding and practical applications at bioelectrical interfaces. His work has enabled the creation of novel semiconductor-based materials and electronic systems designed to probe subcellular dynamics and explore the translational potential of bioelectrical platforms. His lab is particularly active in emerging areas such as photoelectroceuticals, living bioelectronics, and sustainable healthcare technologies. Dr. Tian’s contributions have been recognized with many honors, including the Raymond and Beverly Sackler International Prize in the Physical Sciences and the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE).

Previous speakers include:

• , University of Texas, Austin, 2026
• , University of Pennsylvania, 2025
• , Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2024
• , University of California, Berkeley, 2023
• , Stanford University, 2022
• , Northwestern University, 2020
• , Rice University, 2019
• , Harvard University, 2018
• , Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2018
• , University of California, Los Angeles, 2016
• , University of Toronto, 2015
• , Georgia Institute of Technology, 2014

Congratulations to Rachel Moen in the Ethan Lippmann research group! Rachel’s paper, “Hydrogel Embedding of Mesenchymal Stem Cells Supports Extracellular Vesicle Production,” published in Biotechnology and Bioengineering, has been selected as this week’s Spotlight Publication.

Extracellular vesicles (EVs) derived from adherent cells are promising therapeutics for a wide variety of diseases. Previous studies have shown that mesenchymal stem cell (MSC)-derived EVs have many applications in wound healing and regenerative medicine. Specifically, MSC-derived EVs are safer than cell-based therapies because they do not involve the administration of live cells to patients. However, a lack of scalable workflows for producing EVs from 2D adherent sources is a major current limitation of the field. One proposed method for culture scale-up is to encapsulate MSCs in a gelatin methacryloyl (GelMA) hydrogel, which provides a 3D matrix that better mimics the in vivo microenvironment of human cells and can be shaped into spherical beads or thin films to support growth of shear-sensitive cells inside bioreactors. To establish proof of concept, we embedded MSCs in a layer of GelMA hydrogel to assess the production rate, molecular properties, and functional characteristics of EVs collected from 3D cultures. Hydrogel-encapsulated MSCs yielded a greater number of EVs per volume of culture compared to traditionally grown unencapsulated MSCs, and 3D cultures produced EVs with improved functionality in a scratch assay relative to vehicle treatment. These findings support the hypothesis that GelMA can be used to support scalable manufacturing of bioactive EVs from adherent cell sources.

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