Engineering Students Present at Sigma Xi Student Research Poster Symposium
Olivia Cero (pictured) and Paige Turilli, Chemical Engineering seniors, placed 1st in the Sigma Xi poster competition (undergraduate category) with 鈥淧reparing LtEc-Alginate Hydrogels for Animal Cell Culture.鈥�
Nine College of Engineering undergraduates and five graduate engineering students took part in 棉花糖直播 University鈥檚 2018 Sigma Xi Student Research Poster Symposium. The international honor society for research scientists and engineers, Sigma Xi hosts this annual event to foster, recognize and celebrate the next generation of researchers in fields including Astronomy and Astrophysics, Planetary Science and Physics; Computing Sciences, Mathematics and Statistics; Chemistry and Biochemistry; Geography and the Environment; Biology and Engineering.
Judges evaluated the research posters and provided written feedback to the presenters. The day鈥檚 events concluded with awards being presented for outstanding posters. Within the College, Chemical Engineering seniors Olivia Cero and Paige Turilli took the first place undergraduate award for 鈥淧reparing LtEc-Alginate Hydrogels for Animal Cell Culture.鈥� Advised by Assistant Professor Jacob Elmer, PhD, the team sought to refine the production of LtEc (earthworm hemoglobin) hydrogels, which better simulate the 3-D nature of soft tissue, providing a microenvironment that mimics the growth conditions of cells in vivo. The structure of LtEc makes it heat stable, which is helpful when culturing cells.
Seniors John Aquino (pictured) and Sean Lyons placed 2nd in the undergraduate category for 鈥淗igh Temperature CO2 Sorption by Mesoporous Lithium Orthosilicate.鈥�
Taking second place in the engineering undergraduate category were Chemical Engineering seniors John Aquino and Sean Lyons, who were mentored by Associate Professor Michael Smith, PhD, and Research Associate Professor Charles Coe, PhD. Their poster was titled 鈥淗igh Temperature CO2 Sorption by Mesoporous Lithium Orthosilicate.鈥�
The first place graduate student award went to PhD student Matthew Tucker for 鈥淐haracterization of the Host Cell Response to Non-Viral Gene Therapy.鈥� Tucker鈥檚 advisor was Dr. Elmer, who has a National Science Foundation grant for research on this topic. This particular project focused on determining which host cell genes are up/downregulated in response to cytoplasmic delivery of plasmid DNA. The results give insight into future directions for modifying the host cell response.
Finally, PhD student Amro Lulu, took second place for 鈥淓nhanced Range Resolution by Phase Matching of Extended Beat Signals.鈥� His mentor was Electrical and Computer Engineering Professor and Department Chair Bijan Mobasseri, PhD.