Materials Research Science and Engineering Center

Congratulations to the winners of the 2019 MRSEC Video competion.

Congratulations to all the 2019 MRSEC Undergraduate Research Cohorts.

• The 2019 MRSEC SMURF Students

  • So Min Lee, a rising senior and Biology major, who worked in Avi Rodal's lab

  • Hannah Clott, a rising sophomore and Biological Physics major, who worked in Ben Rogers's lab

  • Stephane Brody, a rising junior with Biology and Mathematics majors, who worked in Bruce Goode's lab

  • Miranda Gavitt, a rising junior and Biological Physics major, who worked in Tijana Ivanovic's lab

  • Rosh Liu, a rising senior with Physics and Mathematics majors, who worked in Seth Fraden's lab

  • Daniel Farb, a rising senior with Chemical Biology and Biology majors, who worked in Irving Epstein's lab

  • Evan Sayer, a rising senior with Biological Physics and Mathematics majors, who worked in Michael Hagan's lab

• The 2019 MRSEC REU Students

  • Janelle Mabrey, a rising sophomore and Electrical Engineering major at Hampton University, who worked in Seth Fraden's lab

  • Aaron Jones, a rising sophomore and Physics major at Hampton University, who worked in Seth Fraden's lab

  • Maurice Smith, a rising junior and Chemistry major at Hampton University, who worked in Bing Xu's lab

  • Jordan Nobles, a rising sophomore and Computer Engineering major at Hampton University, who worked in Ben Rogers's lab

  • Larry Luster, a rising junior and Chemical Engineering major at Hampton University, who returned to work in Ben Rogers's lab.

  • Sara Hamadani, a rising junior and Biology major at Wellesley College, who returned to work in Avi Rodal's Lab.

  • Johnson Agyapong, a rising senior and Biology major at Brandeis University, who worked in Seth Fraden's Lab.

  • Fox Baudelaire, a rising senior with Biological Physics and Chemical Biology majors at Brandeis University, who worked in Seth Fraden's lab.

• Congratulations to the winners of the 2018 MRSEC Video competion.
• Congratulations to the appointed 2018-2019 MRSEC Trainee Committee Members:

  • Simon Merminod (Rogers Lab)

  • John Berezney (Dogic Lab)

  • Sarah Zuraw-Weston (Dinsmore Lab, UMass Amherst)

  • ShiYu Wang (Rodal Lab)

  • Minu Varghese (Baskaran Lab)

• Congratulations to the 2018 MRSEC Undergraduate Research Cohorts.
• Congratulations to the 2018 MRSEC SMURF Students:
• Olivia Zou, a rising senior in Benjamin Roger's Lab
• Ricki Levitus, a rising junior in Bruce Goode's Lab
• Guoxi Zhu, a rising junior in Benjamin Roger's Lab
• Sophie Lou, a rising senior in Bruce Goode's Lab
• Brandon Hong, a rising senior in Bing Xu's Lab
• Youssef Fahmy, a rising senior in Seth Fraden's Lab
• Ruoshi Liu, a rising junior in Seth Fraden and Pengyu Hong's Labs

• Congratulations to the 2018 MRSEC REU Students:
  • Larry Luster, a rising sophomore and Chemical Engineering major at Hampton University, who will work in Ben Roger's Lab.
  • Claude King, a rising senior and Chemical Engineering major at Hampton University, who will work in Bruce Goode's Lab.
  • Isaac Mukooza, a rising junior and Chemistry major at Hampton University, who will work in Bing Xu's Lab.
  • Ashanti Sallee, a rising junior and Chemistry major at Hampton University, who will work in Bing Xu's Lab.
  • Lanijah Flagg, a rising sophomore and Physics major at Hampton University, who will work in Seth Fraden's Lab.
  • Sara Hamadani, a rising sophomore and Biology major from Wellesley College, who will work in Avi Rodal's Lab.
  • Dhruv Dang, a rising sophomore and Molecular and Cellular Biology major at the University of Connecticut, who will work in Tijana Ivanovic's Lab.
  • Robert Keane, a rising junior and Physics major at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, who will work in Zvonimir Dogic's Labs.

• Congratulations to the winners of the 2017 MRSEC Video competition!
• Congratulations to 2017 MRSEC Undergraduate Research Cohorts!
• Congratulations to the appointed 2017-2018 MRSEC Trainee Committee Members (formerly known as the MRSEC Student Committee):
  • Rylie Walsh (Rodal Lab) — President
  • Ben Hancock (Baskaran Lab) —Vice President
  • John Berezney (Dogic Lab)
  • Andrew Balchunas (Dogic Lab)
  • Simon Merminod (Rogers Lab)
  • Danny Goldstein (Chakraborty Lab)
• Congratulations to the 2017 MRSEC SMURF Class:
  • Zachary Sustiel, Aparna Baskaran’s Lab
  • Yanlin Li, Seth Fraden’s Lab
  • Meisui Liu, Tijana Ivanovic’s Lab
  • Ben Rosenfeld, Avi Rodal’s Lab
  • Olivia Zou, Ben Rogers’s Lab
  • Elishua Litle, Casey Wade’s Lab
  • Yanan Qin, Bing Xu’s Lab
• Congratulations to the 2017 MRSEC REU Class
  • Angela Berry, a rising junior from Hampton University who participated in the 2016 REU cohort and will return to Zvonimir Dogic’s Lab
  • David Barnes, a rising junior from Hampton University who participated in the 2016 REU cohort and will return to Casey Wade’s Lab
  • Kamile Lukosiute, a rising sophomore from Wellesley College who will be co-mentored by Aparna Baskaran and Mike Hagan
  • Michael Lostica, a rising junior from Solano Community College
  • Anne Okrah, a rising sophomore from Hampton University
  • Ciera Woodard, a rising junior from Hampton University,
  • Kessiena Ofunrein, a rising junior from Hampton University
  • Nicole Ramos, a rising senior from University of Puerto Rico at Humacao

• Paper published by Amanda Shilton, 2016 SMURF student, with help from MRSEC Professor Avi Rodal
• SciFest VI featured summer undergrad research presentations
• 2016 REU students last summer at Brandeis

• Nature News & Comment features Brandeis MRSEC research: "The Physics of Life"
• Congratulations to Charlotte Kelley and Abebu Kassie: Elected 2015-2016 Biology and Chemistry representatives of the MRSEC Student Committee!
• 2015-2016 MRSEC Student Committee:
  • Charlotte Kelley, Rodal Lab
  • Abebu Kassie, Wade Lab
  • Joia Miller, Dogic Lab
  • Gabe Redner, Hagan Lab
  • Lishibanaya Mohapatra, Kondev Lab
• MRSEC Undergrad Publication: Congrats to 2015 Summer MRSEC Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SMURF) recipient Wendy (Ruoxi) Wang on her recent publication!
• Hampton-Brandeis PREM article
• Brandeis NOW article about the Brandeis and Hampton PREM
• NSF announcement about the Brandeis and Hampton PREM partnership
• Read about SciFest 2015 on BrandeisNOW
• Check the Brandeis Blog feature on the MRSEC Science Policy event
• Career Symposium: The MRSEC Student Committee and Education Director organized a full-day career symposium for students engaged in summer undergraduate research

• Professor Jané Kondev awarded the Jeanette Lerman-Neubauer '69 Prize for Excellence in Teaching and Mentoring
• Story on the Brandeis Blog featuring MRSEC scientist Bulbul Chakraborty Lab research
• Congratulations to the 2015 MRSEC REU class:
  • Tarik Phillips, University of Florida, Dogic Lab
  • Molly Srour, Saint Olaf College, Goode Lab
  • Chunlong Huang, Bunker Hill Community College, Dogic Lab
  • Ariel Morley, Bay Path University, Rodal Lab
  • Anna Kolstad, Princeton University, Fraden Lab
  • Andrea Demos, Saint Michael's College, Haber Lab
  • Devon Powell, the New College of Florida, Xu Lab
  • Rebecca Sternberg, Brandeis University, Wade Lab
• Congratulations to the 2015 SMURF class:
  • Xiaotong Geng, Fraden Lab
  • Leonard Grazian, Hagan Lab
  • Richard Haburcak, Xu Lab
  • Julia Schiantarelli, Goode Lab
  • Ruoxi (Wendy) Wang, Haber Lab
• Congratulations to the Brandeis University MRSEC: One of 12 centers to receive the prestigious National Science Foundation funding. Read NSF's press release Funding Cutting-Edge, Collaborative Research to learn more.
• 2015 Summer Courses: The annual one-week course is “Introduction to Microfluidics Technology” (June 22 ‐ 26), held at Brandeis University and sponsored by the National Science Foundation’s Bioinspired Soft Materials Research Science and Engineering Center (MRSEC) at Brandeis. Intended for graduate students, post docs, faculty and industrial scientists and engineers interested in utilizing microfluidic technology in their work, in both physical sciences and life sciences, and does not assume any specific prerequisites.
• Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowships (SMURF): The Division of Science will offer five MRSEC Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowships for Brandeis students doing undergraduate research, sponsored by the Brandeis Materials Research Science andEngineering Center.
  • MRSEC Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowships will provide $5000 in stipend support to allow students to do summer research in MRSEC labs (housing support is not included).
  • Students who will be rising Brandeis sophomores, juniors, or seniors in Summer 2015 (classes of ’16, ’17, and ’18). No prior lab experience is required. A commitment from a Brandeis MRSEC member to serve as your mentor in Summer 2015 is required.
  • The Division of Science Summer Program will run from May 26 – July 31, 2015. Recipients are expected to be available to do full time laboratory research during that period, and must commit to presenting a poster at the final poster session on July 30, 2015. Five positions are available.
• Anique Olivier-Mason hired as the new Director of Education, Outreach and Diversity
• MRSEC Retreat, November 21, 2014: The research goal of the MRSEC is to learn how materials are incorporated in biological systems.
  • Talks: Avi Rodal and Zvonimir Dogic: "Membrane Based Materials"
  • Lunch
  • Talks: Fiodar Hilitski, Adam Johnston, Ye Zhang
  • BREW (Brainstorming Research Education Workshop): Denise LeBlanc, Steve DeCamp
  • BREW (Brainstorming Research Education Workshop): We will identify the most exciting research conducted by the MRSEC and design a hands-on activity to be presented at the Acton Discovery Museum that is suitable for 4 - 8 year old children and their parents.
• 60th New England Complex Fluids Workshop: Intended for Soft Matter academic and industrial scientists in New England to share research results, network and promote collaborations.:
  • Invited Speakers: Eric Brown (Yale), Jorn Dunkel (MIT), Alexandra Zidovska (NYU), Erkan Tuzel (WPI)

• Professors speak on Radio Boston: Professor Fraden and Professor Epstein spoke in March on Radio Boston about Alan Turing's Morphogenesis Theory. They confirmed that Turing's mathematical model of cell differentiation works.
• Professor Schmidt-Rohr joined the Chemistry department, 2013: Professor Schmidt-Rohr is a highly regarded spectroscopist with a background in both physics and chemistry.
• US-India Advanced Studies Institute on Thermalization: From Glasses to Black Holes: An intensive series of pedagogical lectures.
• MRSEC Retreat: The research goal of the MRSEC is to learn how materials are incorporated in biological systems and likewise how biological structures act as materials with highly desirable properties that can be exploited in engineering. Schedule:
  • Welcome from Dean Birren and Seth Fraden
  • Jane Kondev: "Materials science that we can learn from yeast"
  • Pizza Lunch, Shapiro Science Center Lobby

  • MRSEC talks:

    • Steve DeCamp: "Defect Dynamics in Active Nematic Liquid Crystals"

    • Gabe Redner: "Simulation Study of Defect Dynamics in an Extensile Active Nematic"

    • Charlotte Kelley: "Nervous Wreck: Bending the rules of F-BAR Induced Membrane Deformation"

  • Poster set-up, Shapiro Science Center Lobby
  • Poster Session, Shapiro Science Center Lobby, Beer Hour
    • “Using Markov State Models to Study Self-Assembly” Matthew R. Perkett, Michael F. Hagan
    • “Thermodynamic Model of Yeast Mating Type Switch” Baris Avsaroglu, Gabriel Bronk, Jungoh Ham, Susannah Gordon-Messer, James E. Haber, Jane Kondev
    • “Spheroidal Swimmers in Shear” Kaushik Balasubramanian, Aparna Baskaran “Beating Cheaters At Their Own Game” Joseph Rauch, Jane Kondev, Alvaro Sanchez
    • “Control of Actin Cable Length: Theory” Lishibanya Mohapatra, Julian Eskin, Bruce Goode, Jane Kondev
    • “Self-Organized Flagellar Beating: A Numerical Approach” Yaouen Fily, Michael F. Hagan
    • “Synchronization and Morphogenesis of Chemical Oscillators” Ning Li, Nathan Tompkins, Camille Girabawe, Michael Heymann, Irving Epstein, Seth Fraden
    • “On-Demand Picoliter Droplets Generation” Camille Girabawe, Rafael Aguade Phoenix , Seth Fraden
    • “Optical Control and Manipulation of Chemical Oscillators” Nathan Tompkins, Ning Li, Michael Heymann, Irving Epstein, Seth Fraden
    • “Rheology of Active Networks” Dan Chen, Stephen Decamp, Daniel Blair (Georgetown Univ.), Zvonimir Dogic
    • “Depletion Interaction of Microtubule Bundles” Fiodar Hilitski, Andrew Ward, Zvonimir Dogic
    • “Ruthenium Complex Based Active Soft Materials” Ye Zhang, Ning Zhou, Seth Fraden, Irving R. Epstein, Bing Xu Achini Opathalage, Michael Haymann, Seth Fraden
    • “Tunable Dynamics and Pattern Formation in an Active Suspension” Gil Henkin, Stephen Decamp, Zvonimir Dogic
    • “Pulse Coupled BZ-Oscillators with Activity Dependent Coupling Strength” Malia McAvoy, Viktor Horvath, Irving R. Epstein
    • “A Continuously Fed Unstirred Reactor for Microemulsion Systems” Delora Gaskins, Khang Nguyen, Milos Dolnik, Irving Epstein
    • “Control of actin cable length and shape: Experiment” Julian Eskin, Adam Johnston, Sarah Gannon, Bruce Goode
    • “Control of actin cable length: Theory” Lishibanya Mohapatra, Julian Eskin, Bruce Goode, Jané Kondev
    • “Studies of the dynamics of a eukaryotic subcellular organelle” Angela Niu, Lauren O’Neil (Carnegie Mellon Univ.), Michael King, Daniel Pomeranz Krummel
    • “High-resolution ultrastructural analysis of the Caenorhabditis elegans anterior sensory nervous system” David B. Doroquez, Cristina Berciu, James R. Anderson, Piali Sengupta, Daniela Nicastro Daniel Goldstein, Michael Giver
• Microfluidics Mini-Symposium: Tuesday, August 6, 2013, Harvard University Geological Lecture Hall:
  • “Paper-Based Microfluidics,” Dr. Ramses Martinez, Harvard University
  • “Microfabrication and Microfluidics Technologies for Tissue Engineering,” Dr. Mehmet Dokmeci, Harvard Medical School
  • “Droplet Microfluidics Technology Enabling Single-Molecule Interrogation for Cancer Research,” Dr. Brian Hutchinson, RainDance Technologies
  • “Less is Better than More in Microfluidics,” Professor Seth Fraden, Brandeis University
• Andor Insight Award: Professor Dogic's Lab won the Andor Insight Award for their video of "Oscillating Microtubule Bundles." See the Brandeis Science Blog page for their winning video, the competition homepage and the Dogic Lab YouTube page.

• Asst. Professor Thomas was the recipient of the 2013 Brandeis Strage Award in March. Thomas’ group attended the AAAS Family Science Days in February 2013 and presented activities related to acid/base chemistry and thin films. Her undergraduate John Shen '13, who was working on a MRSEC-funded project, completed a senior honors thesis on the project and was awarded high honors in the chemistry department for his work.
• Professor Haber attended and spoke at several meetings in 2012:
  • Keystone Replication and Recombination (March 2013)
  • BMC Epigenetics conference (Boston, March 2013)
  • FASEB Summer Conference on nYeast Chromosomes (July 2012)
  • EMBO Workshop on Recombination (May 2012)
  • Gordon Research Conference on Chromatin (May 2012)
  • Haber organized the Brandeis Café Science that presents Brandeis scientists, including MRSEC scientists, to the community, a monthly meeting
  • He also spoke to parents of Brandeis students at Fall Fest 2012.
• Baris Avsaroglu, Professor Haber’s Lab, attended the ASCB 2012 annual meeting. Title of the paper: "Rabl Organization of Chromosomes in the Yeast Nucleus." .
• Active Matter Workshop: A one-day workshop was held on Wednesday, February 20, 2013 and hosted by Professor A. Samadani. The workshop contained 2 hours of talks, two 2-hour long hands-on sessions and dinner in the Faculty Club. The sessions were organized and run by graduate students and postdocs. The first hands-on session included experiments with different model organisms, such as chlamydomonas, e-coli and sea urchin sperm. The second hands-on session included modeling and simulating active material.
• Ye Zhang won Materials Research Society Poster Award on November 29, 2012: Ye Zhang is a postdoctoral fellow from Professor Bing Xu's research group at Brandeis.
  • Collaboration between Brandeis MRSEC and Robot Research Initiative (RRI) August 10, 2012: Dr. Jong-Oh Park and Dr. Sukho Park, Director and Principal Investigator of the RRI, respectively, visited Brandeis as part of an inauguration ceremony of the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the Brandeis MRSEC. The RRI is a world leader in the field of robotics, focusing on microscale engineering applications and surgery, while the Brandeis MRSEC program focuses on biomaterials and active matter. The two institutions have agreed to work together to transform cutting-edge biophysical science into engineering applications for drug delivery. Collaboration between the two institutions was first established on March 1, 2012, with a three-year subcontract (KRW 120,000,000 / yr) awarded to the MRSEC by the RRI for the development of micro-swimming robots based on synthetic cilia (PI: Dongshin Kim, co-PI: Zvonimir Dogic).
  • Dr. Fraden welcomed the new memorandum, saying that it would fortify the collaboration efforts of both institutions. As part of the exchange program laid out by the MOU, Dr. Sukho Park is planning to visit Brandeis in 2013 to spend a year working on the development of micro-actuators based on microtubules and active hydrogels. There are opportunities for the exchange of students between our two universities.

• Z Bootcamp Workshop: July 13, 2011, full day workshop

• The Brandeis Materials Research Laboratory was established by the award of a highly competitive $7.8 million grant from the National Science Foundation to the University.