Lee Wright, Ph.D. '11
LDW80
SBES | Virginia Tech

Research: Lee's Ph.D. Dissertation was entitled "Tissue Engineering Cartilage with a Composite Electrospun and Hydrogel Scaffold".

Valerie Walters, M.S. '11
WALTERSV
Engineering Science & Mechanics
Virginia Tech

Research: Valerie's M.S. Thesis was entitled "Design and Analysis of a Collagenous Anterior Cruciate Ligament Replacement". Valerie will be working with Kollmorgen, a Danaher company located in Radford, VA.

Danielle Paynter, B.S. '11
DPAYNTER
Chemical Engineering
Virginia Tech

Danielle worked as an undergraduate researcher to investigate the regenerative effects of prolotherapy with the incorporation of carbon nanohorns. Danielle is currently working with the Office of Naval Research.

Tea Andric, B.S.
TEA
Doctoral Student
SBES | Virginia Tech

Research: Tea is developing a scaffold for bone tissue engineering that mimics the structure and organization of osteons in cortical bone.

Albert Kwansa, B.S.
ALKWANSA
Doctoral Student
SBES | Virginia Tech

Research: Albert is studying the biomechanics of tendon collagen type I and its native crosslinks through molecular modeling and experimental work.

Kristin McKeon Fischer, M.S.
KMCKEON
Doctoral Student
SBES | Virginia Tech

Research: Kristin is creating a conductive polymer scaffold to be used in skeletal muscle-peripheral nerve implants.

Cara Buchanan, B.S.
CFBUCHAN
Doctoral Student
SBES | Virginia Tech
Co-advised by Dr. M.N. Rylander

Research: Cara is developing an in vitro cancer model of a lactiferous duct for studying ductal carcinoma.

Chris Szot, B.S.
SZOTC
Doctoral Student
SBES | Virginia Tech
Co-advised by Dr. M.N. Rylander

Research: Chris is developing an in vitro cancer model to study the development and mechanisms of tumor angiogenesis.

Yvonne Empson, B.S.
BSMECHIC
Doctoral Student
SBES | Virginia Tech

Research: Yvonne is working towards a non-surgical, permanent, joint-stabilizing therapy for ligaments and tendons.

Emmanuel Ekwueme, B.S.
eekwueme@eden.rutgers.edu
Doctoral Student
Biomedical Engineering| Rutgers University        2009-10 VT PREP Scholar    

Research: Emmanuel is working on a novel therapy for ligament healing.

Brittany Taylor, B.S.
Master's Student                                                 Biomedical Engineering| Rutgers University            2010-11 VT PREP Scholar                                               
Research: Brittany is working on the development and characterization of scaffolds for bone tissue engineering.

Dan Flagg
DFLAGG21
Junior
Materials Science & Engineering
Virginia Tech
VT BBSI Student '10

Research: Dan has been working towards the development of nanoactuators for skeletal muscle tissue engineering.

Anneke Nelson
AKNELSON
Junior
Materials Science & Engineering
Virginia Tech

Research: Anneke is investigating methods to improve the yield of collagen type I extracted from bovine Achilles tendon (B.A.T.), and the fabrication and characterization of reconstituted B.A.T. collagen films/membranes.

Josh Galvin
Electrical Engineering
Virginia Tech

Josh worked as an undergraduate researcher.

Abasha Lewis, B.S. '08
Chemical Engineering
Virginia Tech

Abasha worked as an undergraduate researcher on the muscle tissue engineering project. Abasha is currently a graduate student at Johns Hopkins University in the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering.

Rachel Young, B.S. '08
Engineering Science & Mechanics
Virginia Tech

Rachel worked as an undergraduate researcher on the cartilage tissue engineering project. Rachel is currently a biomedical engineering patent examiner with the United States Patent and Trademark Office.

Alana Sampson, B.S. '10
Chemical Engineering
Virginia Tech
VT BBSI Student '09

Alana worked as an undergraduate researcher on the bone tissue engineering project to develop artificial osteons. Alana was a PREP scholar in the Wake Forest University School of Medicine and is now a graduate student at Virginia Tech.

Arielle Strong
APSTRONG
Sophomore
Engineering Science & Mechanics
Virginia Tech

Research: Arielle worked as an undergraduate researcher on the cartilage tissue engineering project.

Marshall Abbott
ABBOTTMS
Junior
Chemical Engineering | Virginia Tech

Research: Marshall worked as an undergraduate researcher on various projects (a rotating spool system to collect and air-dry collagen fibers, an anti-vibration table for mechanical testing, and a wear machine).

Gabrielle Stiff
2010 Elizabeth Fennell Youth Chance Research Fellow
Rising Junior
Giles High School
Giles Co., VA

Gabrielle worked with Emmanuel on a prolotherapy-based in vitro cell study, as well as on the use of carbon nanostructures to help stabilize tendons studied in vitro.

Donnie Damon Jr.
2010 Elizabeth Fennell Youth Chance Research Fellow
Rising Senior
University High School
Newark, NJ

Donnie is interested in game design and development. This summer, Donnie worked with Albert and Valerie to strengthen self-assembled collagen type I fibers via synthetic crosslinking.

Mina Fouad
2010 Elizabeth Fennell Youth Chance Research Fellow
Rising Senior
University High School
Newark, NJ

Mina is interested in biomedical and mechanical engineering. This summer, Mina worked with Lee to improve the elasticity of electrospun scaffolds for cartilage tissue engineering.

Eemahni Cooper
Rising Sophomore
Chemical Engineering
Virginia Tech

Research: Eemahni worked as an undergraduate researcher on the bone tissue engineering project.

Katherine (Katie) Degen
VT BBSI Student '10
Rising Junior
Biomedical Engineering
University of Virginia

Katherine worked as an undergraduate researcher on the bone tissue engineering project, specifically, to fabricate & characterize electrospun, osteon-like bone scaffolds.