CTSI congratulates poster competition winners of micro- and nano tech event

CTSI co-sponsored the seventh annual Micro- and Nanotechnologies for Medicine Workshop held at the UCLA Mong Auditorium from July 8-12, 2019. Organized by the Center for Minimally Invasive Therapeutics, the workshop focused on advances in micro- and nanotechnologies that are expected to open up new possibilities and applications in diagnostics, therapy, drug delivery and regenerative medicine.

During the week-long event, 52 experts presented the latest advances in the development of novel micro- and nanotechnologies and addressed a range of different challenges that are of importance to biomedicine at the interface of engineering, medicine and biological sciences. Participants learned the fundamentals and advances in three dimensional bioprinting, bioMEMS, biomaterials and tissue engineering. Attendees also had new opportunities to participate in such as the 3D Heals Translation session and pitch competition. Further, three vendors—Cellink, Nanoscribe and Black Box—displayed their machines.  

The popular poster session was held again this year and was co-sponsored by CTSI. Applicant were undergraduate and graduate students, postdoctoral scholars and scientists. Of the 45 entrants, the three top presenters were selected to each reach receive a $1,000 prize. Details on each awardee are shown below.

• UCLA CTSI Translational Science Award
  Awardee: Mahlah Poudineh, Stanford University
  "Next-Generation Enabling Technologies for Diagnosing Disease and Monitoring Therapy"
• Micromachines Award
  Awardee: Chuanzhen Zhao, UCLA
  "Implantable Aptamer Field-Effect Transistor Neuroprobes: Towards in Vivo Neurotransmitter Detection"
• Masoumeh Ghaderi Award
  Awardee: Zhaowei Chen, UCLA
  "Synthetic β-cells for Fusion-Mediated Dynamic Insulin Secretion" 

The workshop had over 170 participants and was largely comprised of junior researchers from UCLA as well as domestic and international researchers interested in micro- and nanotechnology. Drs. Ali Khademhosseini and Mehmet Dokmeci of UCLA served as the directors of the workshop.

Visit the workshop website for more information on the event.

Image source: UCLA

Image caption: At top (front row, from left): Drs. Mehmet Dokmeci, Utkan Demirci, Ali Khademhosseini and Jun Chen stand with event volunteers and participants at the 2019 workshop.
At bottom: Mahlah Poudineh receives the UCLA CTSI Translational Science Award from Dr. Mehmet Dokmeci.