Congratulations to Thibault Colombani and team (Loek Eggermont, Zachary Rogers, Lindsay G. A. McKay, Laura E. Avena, Rebecca I. Johnson, Nadia Storm, Anthony Griffiths, and Prof. Sidi Bencherif) on their recent publication, reporting the design of immunomodulatory oxygen-generating cryogels as a novel platform to boost COVID-19 vaccines and generate significant neutralizing vaccine-driven antibody titers against SARS-CoV-2.
Aisha Svihla, BS/MS student in Bioengineering, recently received the PEAK Experiences Summit Award for her project entitled, “Oxygen-controlling cell culture (OCC) Systems”. The Office of Undergraduate Research and Fellowships grants this award to individuals who have demonstrated a passion for research and a high level of sophistication and skill developed from previous academic endeavors.
With her project, Aisha aims to develop a tool that allows biomedical scientists to culture their cells in physiologically relevant oxygen concentrations (e.g., concentrations in the human body), as standard cell culture practices do not control oxygen.
Hannah Boyce, chemical engineering undergraduate, was recently awarded Northeastern’s Huntington 100, an award that recognizes students that embody the mission, ideals and values of Northeastern.
In addition, Elizabeth (Liz) Fink, chemical engineering undergraduate, was recently accepted into MIT’s Ph.D. chemical engineering program.
Thibault Colombani, Zachary Rogers, Loek Eggermont and Sidi Bencherif recently published a review article in Emergent Materials that highlights the roles that biomaterials play in developing COVID-19 therapeutic strategies. These include developing drug screening models, antiviral therapies, delivery systems, cellular nanovesicles and vaccines.
Lauren
recently received the PEAK
Experiences Summit Research Award for her project entitled, “Development of a Gene Therapy
Platform for Treatment of Normocytic Normochromic Anemia.” The Office of Undergraduate
Research and Fellowships grants this award to individuals who have demonstrated
a passion for research and a high level of sophistication and skill developed
from previous academic endeavors.
Lauren will develop a gene therapy platform to treat normocytic normochromic anemia, a common complication of chronic kidney disease (CKD). This particular form of anemia is defined by a deficiency in erythropoietin (EPO), a hormone responsible for stimulating red blood cell production, as a result of failing kidneys. To tackle this problem, Lauren’s project seeks to generate a new treatment for this disease that is minimally invasive and more convenient for the patient with long-term expression of EPO.
Photo of Lauren changing cell culture media in a laminar flow hood.
Congrats Lauren! More information can be found here.
Congrats to Prof. Bencherif for being named as one of the 2021 Rising Stars by the Cellular and Molecular Bioengineering (CMBE) Special Interest Group (SIG) within the Biomedical Engineering Society (BMES). In recognition of his achievement, Bencherif was invited to present our work and receive the award at the 2021 CMBE Conference held virtually on January 22, 2021.
For more information on CMBE, you can visit the BMES website here. For more information about this story, you can visit the COE website here.
Zach Rogers, PhD student, was recently awarded the Alpha Fund Prototype Grant for his proposal, “Hypoxia-inducing cryogels for two-dimensional cell culture”. The Alpha Fund, which is sponsored by both Northeastern’s venture accelerator IDEA and the Center for Research Innovation (CRI) aims to help early-stage innovations to test their concept and gain market feedback.
Congratulations Zach! More information can be found here.
Dr. Loek Eggermont, postdoctoral associate in the Bencherif Lab, recently gave a talk titled, ” Boosting Regulatory T-cell Induction with Immunoinstructive Cryogel Scaffolds” at the 2020 Immune Modulation and Engineering Symposium organized by Drexel University. Loek was awarded for giving an excellent talk at this conference.
More information can be found here. Congratulations Loek!
Congratulations to Prof. Bencherif who was named as one of the 2021 Biomaterials Science Emerging Investigators. This nomination recognizes the very best work from biomaterials scientists in the early stages of their independent careers.
Photo of Prof. Sidi A. Bencherif | Credit: Adam Glanzman Copyright Northeastern University
James was selected for the Future Leaders in Chemical Engineering Symposium organized by North Carolina State University. James was invited to present his research on the use of Hypoxia-Inducing Cryogels for Preclinical Anticancer Drug Screening.
Posted: May 17, 2021 by bencheriflab
Bencherif Lab publishes “Biomaterials and oxygen join forces to shape the immune response and boost COVID-19 vaccines” in Advanced Science
Congratulations to Thibault Colombani and team (Loek Eggermont, Zachary Rogers, Lindsay G. A. McKay, Laura E. Avena, Rebecca I. Johnson, Nadia Storm, Anthony Griffiths, and Prof. Sidi Bencherif) on their recent publication, reporting the design of immunomodulatory oxygen-generating cryogels as a novel platform to boost COVID-19 vaccines and generate significant neutralizing vaccine-driven antibody titers against SARS-CoV-2.
Check it out here for more information:
Posted: April 29, 2021 by bencheriflab
Aisha wins PEAK Experiences Summit Research Award
Aisha Svihla, BS/MS student in Bioengineering, recently received the PEAK Experiences Summit Award for her project entitled, “Oxygen-controlling cell culture (OCC) Systems”. The Office of Undergraduate Research and Fellowships grants this award to individuals who have demonstrated a passion for research and a high level of sophistication and skill developed from previous academic endeavors.
With her project, Aisha aims to develop a tool that allows biomedical scientists to culture their cells in physiologically relevant oxygen concentrations (e.g., concentrations in the human body), as standard cell culture practices do not control oxygen.
Congrats Aisha!
Posted: April 8, 2021 by bencheriflab
Congratulations to Bencherif Lab undergraduates
Hannah Boyce, chemical engineering undergraduate, was recently awarded Northeastern’s Huntington 100, an award that recognizes students that embody the mission, ideals and values of Northeastern.
In addition, Elizabeth (Liz) Fink, chemical engineering undergraduate, was recently accepted into MIT’s Ph.D. chemical engineering program.
Congratulations Hannah and Liz!
Posted: April 6, 2021 by bencheriflab
Bencherif Lab publishes “Harnessing biomaterials for therapeutic strategies against COVID-19” in Emergent Materials
Thibault Colombani, Zachary Rogers, Loek Eggermont and Sidi Bencherif recently published a review article in Emergent Materials that highlights the roles that biomaterials play in developing COVID-19 therapeutic strategies. These include developing drug screening models, antiviral therapies, delivery systems, cellular nanovesicles and vaccines.
Check it out here.
Posted: February 10, 2021 by bencheriflab
Lauren Gerbereux wins PEAK Experiences Summit Award
Lauren recently received the PEAK Experiences Summit Research Award for her project entitled, “Development of a Gene Therapy Platform for Treatment of Normocytic Normochromic Anemia.” The Office of Undergraduate Research and Fellowships grants this award to individuals who have demonstrated a passion for research and a high level of sophistication and skill developed from previous academic endeavors.
Lauren will develop a gene therapy platform to treat normocytic normochromic anemia, a common complication of chronic kidney disease (CKD). This particular form of anemia is defined by a deficiency in erythropoietin (EPO), a hormone responsible for stimulating red blood cell production, as a result of failing kidneys. To tackle this problem, Lauren’s project seeks to generate a new treatment for this disease that is minimally invasive and more convenient for the patient with long-term expression of EPO.
Congrats Lauren! More information can be found here.
Posted: January 9, 2021 by bencheriflab
Prof. Bencherif Named 2021 BMES CMBE Rising Star
Congrats to Prof. Bencherif for being named as one of the 2021 Rising Stars by the Cellular and Molecular Bioengineering (CMBE) Special Interest Group (SIG) within the Biomedical Engineering Society (BMES). In recognition of his achievement, Bencherif was invited to present our work and receive the award at the 2021 CMBE Conference held virtually on January 22, 2021.
For more information on CMBE, you can visit the BMES website here. For more information about this story, you can visit the COE website here.
Posted: January 4, 2021 by bencheriflab
Zach wins Second Alpha Fund Prototype Grant
Zach Rogers, PhD student, was recently awarded the Alpha Fund Prototype Grant for his proposal, “Hypoxia-inducing cryogels for two-dimensional cell culture”. The Alpha Fund, which is sponsored by both Northeastern’s venture accelerator IDEA and the Center for Research Innovation (CRI) aims to help early-stage innovations to test their concept and gain market feedback.
Congratulations Zach! More information can be found here.
Posted: November 16, 2020 by bencheriflab
Loek Gives Award-Winning Talk at the 2020 Immune Modulation and Engineering Symposium
Dr. Loek Eggermont, postdoctoral associate in the Bencherif Lab, recently gave a talk titled, ” Boosting Regulatory T-cell Induction with Immunoinstructive Cryogel Scaffolds” at the 2020 Immune Modulation and Engineering Symposium organized by Drexel University. Loek was awarded for giving an excellent talk at this conference.
More information can be found here. Congratulations Loek!
Posted: November 2, 2020 by bencheriflab
Prof. Bencherif – Among the 2021 Biomaterials Science Emerging Investigators
Congratulations to Prof. Bencherif who was named as one of the 2021 Biomaterials Science Emerging Investigators. This nomination recognizes the very best work from biomaterials scientists in the early stages of their independent careers.
Copyright Northeastern University
Read more:
Emerging Investigators 2021
News Story
Posted: October 30, 2020 by bencheriflab
James Selected as Future Leader in Chemical Engineering
James was selected for the Future Leaders in Chemical Engineering Symposium organized by North Carolina State University. James was invited to present his research on the use of Hypoxia-Inducing Cryogels for Preclinical Anticancer Drug Screening.
Congrats, James!
More info can be found here.