We have open postdoctoral research positions (2023)!
Granular Hydrogels for Regenerative Engineering (NIH R01 and R56)
The applicants must have a profound background in the following areas:
(a) Biomaterials (hydrogel design, synthesis, processing, and characterization)
(b) In vitro techniques (2D and 3D cell culture models, cytotoxicity assays, angiogenesis assays, axonogenesis, 3D imaging, immunohistochemistry, immunoimaging, and protein and gene expression analyses)
(c) In vivo models (small animal models, e.g., subq and wound healing, in vivo imaging, and tissue evaluation)
Please apply via LINK1 and forward your application package to Dr. Sheikhi via email.
Mentees' Awards
Zaman Ataie (Ph.D. candidate): 2023 Diefenderfer Graduate Fellowship in Entrepreneurship, 2023-
Saman Zavari (Ph.D. candidate): Leighton Riess Graduate Fellowship in Engineering, 2023-
Shang-Lin Yeh (Ph.D. candidate): (1) Excellence in Research and Mentorship Award, Department of Chemical Engineering, (2) 2022 Diefenderfer Graduate Fellowship in Entrepreneurship, 2022-
Mica Pitcher (Ph.D. candidate): (1) NASA PSGC Graduate Research Fellowship, (2) Energy and Environmental Sustainability Laboratories Seed Grant, (3) Second year Chemistry Graduate Student Award, (4) Chemistry Graduate Student Teaching Award, (5) Marlin G. Geiger Scholarship, 2020-2022
Roya Koshani (Postdoc): Innovation Fellowship, Center for Medical Innovation, 2022
Alexander Kedzierski (M.Sc. student): 1st place in both scientific and computational/modeling categories, The 14th annual Materials Visualization Competition (MVC14) competition, 2022
Naveen Narasimhalu (B.Sc. student): (1) The Erickson Discovery Grant, (2) Center of Excellence in Industrial Biotechnology - Innovation Scholarship, 2022
Dawson Alexander (B.Sc. student): The Biofellowship, Department of Chemical Engineering, 2022
Sam Arora (B.Sc. student): David and Shirley Wormley Excellence Fund for the support of World Class Engineers, 2022
Patricia Wamea (M.Sc. student),: Best Paper Award, Department of Chemical Engineering, 2021
Colin James Gallagher (B.Sc. student): The Biofellowship, Department of Chemical Engineering, 2021
Shambhavi Datta Chowdhury (B.Sc. student): (1) MCREU (Multi- Campus Research experience for undergrads) overall winner (first position for all categories- peer review, faculty review, poster, presentation), (2) College of Engineering (Dr. David & Mrs. Shirley Wormley fund for excellence), Equity Scholars program for undergraduate research, 2021-2023
David Kennedy (B.Sc. student): The Erickson Discovery Grant, 2020
Amir is the Technical Program Chair of 2023 International Conference on Nanotechnology for Renewable Materials, June 12-16, Vancouver, BC, Canada
Amir delivered a Keynote at the National Graduate Research Polymer Conference 2023
June 29th – July 1st, 2023
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI
June 29th – July 1st, 2023
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI
2023 AIChE Annual Meeting
Amir will be chairing several sessions at the 2023 AIChE Annual Meeting!
Session ID 53292: Hydrogel Biomaterials I: Cell-Instructive Platforms
Session ID 53293: Hydrogel Biomaterials II: Emerging Applications
Session ID 52240: Hydrogel Biomaterials III: Design and Characterization
Session ID 53207: Scaling Up: Approaches for Streamlining Biomanufacturing Time to and Output of Product
1) NIH R56 (1R56EB032672, NIBIB, $800 k) 2) NIH R01 (R01NS121150, NINDS, $2.29 M)
How Can Bio-Based Soft Materials and Biomaterials Impact Society?
Soaring population growth, imbalance supplies and demands, shortage of ready-to-use remedies, and urbanization have introduced unprecedented challenges to satisfying the world’s essential needs for water, healthcare, food, and energy. Designing new material platforms inspired by the following questions may take us one step closer to finding solutions to these needs:
1) How can natural bioproducts be micro-/nanoengineered to overcome the persistent bottlenecks of current synthetic materials?
2) How can the sophisticated structure-property relationships in nature be mimicked to address everyday life challenges?
Our Contributions
Our team endeavors are geared towards addressing some of the quintessential challenges of the 21st century in biomedicine and the environment by designing novel soft material platforms (e.g., hydrogels and colloidal systems) via micro- and nanoengineering techniques. In 2019, Dr. Amir Sheikhi founded the Bio-Soft Materials Laboratory (B-SMaL) at Penn State Chemical Engineering to develop transformative and/or translational bio-derived soft materials and biomaterials that can set the stage for the adoption of affordable, widespread technologies with immediate benefits for humans and ecosystems.