- PhD in Biomedical Engineering – University of Minnesota - Twin Cities (2021)
- BS in Biomedical Engineering – Northwestern University (2012)
Courses:
- BIO 209 – Current Research Topics in Medical Sciences
- BIO 407 – Biomedical Devices
- BIO 495 – Research Project in Biology
- CHE 221/222/223 – General Chemistry I, II & III
- ENGR 491 – MMET Senior Projects
Research:
The Biotechnology Research (BTR) Laboratory is an interdisciplinary research group at Oregon Tech that engineers materials platforms to mimic the physiology of biological tissues. Recapitulating the physiology of tissues by moving from 2D cell culture to complex 3D architectures produces more relevant and translatable preclinical data. The primary systems studied are (1) cancer vs. normal tissues and (2) stem cell niches.
Current projects in the lab include:
- Designing and manufacturing microfluidic devices
- Modeling fluid flows within microfluidic devices using computational fluid dynamics
- Developing the capacity to produce paper microfluidic devices
- Using microfluidic devices to study intravasation (a crucial step in cancer metastasis)
- Creating collagen-hyaluronan microtissues to study the effects of elevated interstitial fluid pressure commonly observed in pancreatic cancer
- Modulating pore size of 3D scaffolds to understand the effect of pore size on stem-like phenotype in cancer
- Studying how certain food products affect immune dynamics in cancer
BTR Lab is always interested in meeting with new potential undergraduate researchers from a range of academic disciplines including but not limited to biology, imaging, nursing, mechanical engineering and computer science. Please reach out to Rachel Edwards to learn more.