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Dr. Shreyas Rao
Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering The University of Alabama Office: 3453 SEC Phone: (205) 348-6564 Fax: (205) 348-7558 |
What We DoThe Rao Laboratory in the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering at The University of Alabama is developing engineering tools to unravel the mechanisms associated with the role of microenvironment in cancer progression, therapeutic response and resistance.
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The University of Alabama's Science and Engineering Complex
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08/24:
Congratulations to Kasra on the acceptance of his manuscript for publication in International Journal of Biological Macromolecules!
06/24: Congratulations to Venu on the acceptance of his manuscript for publication in Biomaterials Science! 05/24: Congratulations to Sumiran on the acceptance of his manuscript for publication in Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications! 04/24: Dr. Rao presented the lab’s research and his career path as a distinguished speaker at the Ohio State’s 2024 Pelotonia Scholars Symposium! 04/24: Dr. Rao was recognized as a National Academy of Inventors (NAI) inductee during the Faculty Research Day Awards Ceremony at UA for U.S. patent 11,667,895 B2 04/24: Congratulations to Kyra on receiving an award in the Engineering/Computer Science Category at the 2024 Undergraduate Research and Creative Activity (URCA) Conference at UA! 04/24: Congratulations to lead author Raghu and co-authors Sumiran, Kasra, Pinaki, Venu, and Nick on the acceptance of their review manuscript for publication in Biomaterials Advances! 04/24: Congratulations to Sofia on receiving the Omega Chi Epsilon Outstanding Member Award; ChBE Outstanding Senior; and ChBE Outstanding Undergraduate Teaching Assistant Award and Nick on receiving the ChBE Outstanding Graduate Teaching Assistant Award at the Department’s Honors Day Ceremony! Nick was also recognized for winning the 3MT competition at the department level! 03/24: Congratulations to Sofia on receiving a 2024 Randall Outstanding Undergraduate Research Award! 03/24: Congratulations to Rachel on receiving a 2024 Randall Outstanding Undergraduate Research Award! 03/24: Congratulations to Raghu and Sumiran on the acceptance of their manuscript for publication in STAR protocols! 11/23: The lab is awarded a grant from the Breast Cancer Research Foundation of Alabama to study immune cell-mediated reawakening of dormant breast cancer brain micrometastasis! 11/23: Congratulations to Kasra and Rachel on the acceptance of their manuscript for publication in Journal of Biomedical Materials Research Part A! 09/23: Congratulations to Sofia on being selected for the 2023 Future Leaders in Chemical Engineering Symposium - A National Award Symposium for Undergraduate Researchers at North Carolina State University! 08/23: Elle Hellwarth joins the lab as a graduate student. Welcome! 08/23: Congratulations to Dr. Raghu Vamsi Kondapaneni on successfully defending his Ph.D. dissertation! 06/23: US patent (US 11,667,895 B2) titled “Methods and devices related to controlled delivery of phages as a theranostic tool” with Dr. Rao and Dr. Hatoum (now at University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign) as inventors has been granted! 05/23: Congratulations to Kasra on receiving a fellowship for 2023-24 through the Alabama Graduate Research Scholars Program! 04/23: Congratulations to Sofia on receiving the Central Alabama Section of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers Outstanding Junior (Chilton) Award; Rachel on receiving the Omega Chi Epsilon Outstanding Member Award; Kyra on receiving the ChBE Outstanding Sophomore Award; and Raghu for his selection as ChBE's graduate nominee for Engineering Council of Birmingham "Engineer of the Year" Award at the Department’s Honors Day Ceremony! 03/23: Kyra Berger joins the lab as an undergraduate researcher. Welcome! 03/23: Dr. Rao presented an invited seminar as part of the Fischell Department of Bioengineering Seminar Series at the University of Maryland, College Park, MD! Dr. Rao was chosen as the Students’ Choice seminar speaker by the Bioengineering Graduate Student Society at the University of Maryland! 01/23: Paromita Sarker joins the lab as a graduate student. Welcome! 12/22: Dr. Rao’s co-edited book titled “Biomaterial Based Approaches to Study the Tumour Microenvironment” has been published! 12/22: Dr. Rao presented an invited seminar as part of the Edwin L. Steele Laboratories for Tumor Biology Seminar Series at Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School. 09/22: Congratulations to Raghu on the acceptance of his manuscript for publication in Advanced Biology!! 08/22: Congratulations to Raghu and Rachel on the acceptance of their manuscript for publication in AIChE Journal! 08/22: Dr. Rao is selected to serve on the medical advisory council of Breast Cancer Research Foundation of Alabama! 08/22: The lab welcomes graduate student Nick Lenart and undergraduate student Sofia Luna! 06/22: Congratulations to Pinaki (and coauthors Raghu and Brandon) on the acceptance of their manuscript for publication in Biotechnology Progress! 05/22: Congratulations to Raghu on receiving a fellowship for 2022-23 through the Alabama Graduate Research Scholars Program! 05/22: Congratulations to Dr. Pinaki Nakod on successfully defending her Ph.D. dissertation! 4/22: Congratulations to Madee on receiving the Outstanding Service to the Department Award and Rachel Warren on receiving the Omega Chi Epsilon Outstanding Member Award at the Department’s Honors Day Ceremony! 4/22: Dr. Rao received the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering Outstanding Research Impact Award! 04/22: Congratulations to former UG researcher Payton Stone on receiving the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship! 03/22: Dr. Sumiran Gurung joins the lab as a postdoctoral research associate. Welcome! 12/21: The lab is awarded a grant from the Breast Cancer Research Foundation of Alabama to develop breast cancer patient derived blood-brain barrier models to assess metastatic potential. This is in collaboration with Prof. Brandon Kim (Biological Sciences)! 12/21: Dr. Venu Yakati joins the lab as a postdoctoral research associate. Welcome! 11/21: Congratulations to Isaiah Roberts (Howard University, former REU student) on winning 1st place in the Undergraduate Student Poster Competition in the Food, Pharmaceutical, and Biotechnology Category at the 2021 AIChE Annual Meeting! 7/21: Congratulations to Pinaki on the acceptance of her article for publication in Cellular and Molecular Bioengineering! 7/21: Congratulations to Kasra on the acceptance of his review article for publication in Journal of Materials Chemistry B! 06/21: Dr. Rao’s American Cancer Society Research Scholar Award is highlighted in UA news! 5/21: The lab welcomes Isaiah Roberts from Howard University as part of the Interdisciplinary Convergence to Advance the Biotechnological and Bioscience Workforce REU program! 4/21: Congratulations to Emma on receiving the Omega Chi Epsilon Outstanding Member Award and the Capstone Engineering Society Outstanding Senior Award and Raghu on receiving the American Institute of Chemists Graduate Award at the Department’s Honors Day Ceremony! 4/21: Dr. Rao received the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering Outstanding Research Impact Award! 4/21: Dr. Rao has been awarded tenure and promotion to Associate Professor effective 08/16/21 4/21: The lab is awarded a Research Scholar grant from the American Cancer Society. Read the press release here! 03/21: Dr. Rao’s METAvivor Early Career Investigator Award is highlighted in METAvivor news! 3/21: Congratulations to Madee on receiving Honorable Mention for her NSF GRFP application! 1/21: Dr. Rao presented an invited lecture as part of All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) Short Term Online Course – Advances in Biomaterials and Tissue Engineering organized by Profs. Pradhan and Muthuvijayan, Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Chennai, India. 12/20: The lab is awarded a grant from METAvivor as part of their Early Career Investigator Award program. Read the press release here! 09/20: Congratulations to Raghu on the acceptance of his manuscript for publication in Biomaterials Science! 08/20: Dr. Rao presented an invited virtual seminar as part of the Biomedical Engineering Seminar Series at The Ohio State University. 08/20: Dr. Rao presented an invited virtual seminar as part of the Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering Seminar Series at Vanderbilt University. 06/30: Congratulations to former undergraduate students Kasie and Payton (co-first authors) and Nicole (co-author) on the acceptance of their manuscript for publication in European Polymer Journal! 05/20: The lab is awarded a pilot grant from the Alabama Life Research Institute to investigate controlled phage delivery for drug resistant infections in collaboration with Prof. Asma Hatoum! 05/20: Congratulations to Pinaki on receiving a fellowship for 2020-21 through the Alabama Graduate Research Scholars Program! 05/20: Congratulations to Dr. Akshay Narkhede on successfully defending his Ph.D. dissertation! 04/20: Congratulations to Kasie on receiving the American Institute of Chemists Senior Award and the Omega Chi Epsilon Outstanding Member Award as well as Emma on receiving the ChBE Outstanding Junior Award! 04/20: Congratulations to Madee on the acceptance of her review article for publication in Biotechnology and Bioengineering! 03/20: Congratulations to Kasie on receiving a 2020 Randall Outstanding Undergraduate Research Award! 3/20: Congratulations to Brandon on receiving a 2020 Randall Outstanding Undergraduate Research Award! 2/20: Congratulations to Akshay and former undergraduate student James on the acceptance of their manuscript for publication in Acta Biomaterialia! 2/20: Dr. Rao presented an invited seminar as part of the Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering Seminar Series at University of Nebraska-Lincoln. 2/20: Congratulations to Akshay on being selected as a nominee for the College of Engineering for UA's Outstanding Research by a Doctoral Student Award! 2/20: Dr. Rao presented an invited seminar as part of the Biomedical Engineering Seminar Series at Saint Louis University. 11/19: Congratulations to Payton on winning 2nd place in the Undergraduate Student Poster Competition in the Materials Engineering and Sciences Category at the 2019 AIChE Annual Meeting! 10/19: Congratulations to Pinaki on the acceptance of her manuscript for publication in Biotechnology and Bioengineering! 09/19: Congratulations to Kasie on being selected for the 2019 Future Leaders in Chemical Engineering Symposium - A National Award Symposium for Undergraduate Researchers at North Carolina State University! 08/19: Madeline and Kasra join the lab as graduate students. Welcome! 08/19: Rachel joins the lab as an undergraduate student as part of the Emerging Scholars Program. Welcome! 08/19: Payton joins the lab as an undergraduate student. Payton worked as a REU student in the lab in summer. Welcome! 05/19: Congratulations to Pinaki on receiving a fellowship for 2019-20 through the Alabama Graduate Research Scholars Program! 4/19: Dr. Rao presented an invited seminar as part of the Physical Sciences in Oncology Center Seminar Series at the University of Pennsylvania. 4/19: Congratulations to Akshay (and co-author Kasie) on the acceptance of their manuscript for publication in ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces! 4/19: Congratulations to Nicole on receiving the Engineering Council of Birmingham Outstanding Senior Award, James on receiving the American Institute of Chemists Senior Award, Kasie on receiving the ChBE Outstanding Junior Award, and Emma on receiving the AIChE Donald F. Othmer Sophomore Academic Excellence Award at the Department’s Honors Day Ceremony! 3/19: Congratulations to Nicole on receiving a 2019 Randall Outstanding Undergraduate Research Award! 1/19: The lab is awarded a grant from the Breast Cancer Research Foundation of Alabama to study drug resistance in triple negative breast cancer. This is in collaboration with Prof. Lalita Shevde-Samant (Pathology) at the University of Alabama at Birmingham! 1/19: Congratulations to Akshay on receiving a UA Graduate Council Fellowship for 2019-20 academic year! 1/19: The lab hosted two high school students as part of “Scientist for a day” in Fall 2018. Check out the article and highlight in UA news! 1/19: UG researcher Zach joins the lab. Welcome! 12/18: Congratulations to Raghu and Akshay on the acceptance of the review article “Bioengineered models to study tumor dormancy” in the Journal of Biological Engineering! 11/18: Dr. Rao’s NSF CAREER award is highlighted by the William G. Lowrie Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at The Ohio State University. Read the article here! 10/18: Congratulations to Nicole on being selected for the 2018 Future Leaders in Chemical Engineering Symposium - A National Award Symposium for Undergraduate Researchers at North Carolina State University! 8/18: UG researcher Emma joins the lab as part of the Randall Research Scholars Program. Welcome! 8/18: Raghu joins the lab as a graduate student. Welcome! 7/18: Dr. Rao presented a module on hydrogel biomaterials for the Leaders Exploring Academic Possibilities (LEAP) Program hosted by UA Early College. 7/18: Congratulations to Nicole (and coauthor Akshay) on the acceptance of their manuscript for publication in the Journal of Biomaterials Science, Polymer Edition! 5/18: Dr. Rao’s NSF CAREER award is highlighted in UA News! 5/18: Congratulations to Pinaki on the acceptance of her review article for publication in Cancer Letters! 4/18: Congratulations to Akshay on receiving the American Institute of Chemists Graduate Award at the Department’s Honors Day Ceremony! 4/18: Congratulations to Nicole on receiving the ChBE Outstanding Junior and Kasie on receiving the ChBE Outstanding Sophomore award at the Department’s Honors Day Ceremony! 3/18: The lab is awarded an NSF CAREER grant to develop biomimetic in vitro environments to study dormancy in brain metastatic breast cancer cells! 2/18: Congratulations to Akshay (and coauthors James and Riley) on the acceptance of their manuscript for publication in the Journal of Biomedical Materials Research: Part A. 11/17: The lab hosts two high school students from Hillcrest High School as part of “Scientist for a day” program! Check out the article in WVUA23 here! 08/17: UG researcher Brandon joins the lab as part of the Randall Research Scholars Program. Welcome! 07/17: Dr. Rao’s article demonstrating synergistic effect of Eribulin and a CDK inhibitor for treating triple negative breast cancer is accepted for publication in Oncotarget! 07/17: Pinaki joins the lab as a graduate student after completing her M.S. from North Carolina State University. Welcome! 06/17: Dr. Rao presented a module titled “Jell-O like Materials for Biomedical Applications” at the 41st Annual Southeastern Consortium for Minorities in Engineering (SECME) K-12 STEM Summer Institute hosted by UA. 06/17: Dr. Rao has been named a Reichhold-Shumaker Assistant Professor in the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering at UA. 05/17: Congratulations to Akshay on receiving a fellowship for 2017-18 through the Alabama Graduate Research Scholars Program!! 04/17: Congratulations to Akshay for acceptance of his review article for publication in International Journal of Cancer! 04/17: The lab is awarded a UA Research Grants Committee (RGC) Level 1 award! 11/16: Anne receives an SGA undergraduate research grant. Congratulations Anne! 11/16: The lab hosts a high school student as part of "Scientist For A Day" program! Check out the article in Tuscaloosa news here! 08/16: Dr. Rao gives a guest lecture to high school students at Central High School about the lab’s research in studying cancer biology using engineered biomaterials! 08/16: The lab is awarded an NSF grant in collaboration with the Kim lab at UA to examine microenvironmental regulation of glioblastoma stem cells using biomimetic materials! 07/16: Akshay joins the lab as a graduate student. Welcome! 07/16: Dr. Rao’s postdoctoral work on developing scaffolds for capturing metastatic breast cancer cells is accepted for publication in Cancer Research! 05/16: The lab welcomes REU student David Yaroshevsky from Georgia Tech who will be working in the Rao and Unnikrishnan labs at UA on a collaborative project in the area of cellular mechanics. 04/16: The lab is awarded a UA system collaborative research initiation award. This is in collaboration with Prof. Lalita Shevde-Samant (Pathology) at the University of Alabama at Birmingham! 01/16: UG researcher Courtney joins the lab as part of the Emerging Scholars Program. Welcome! 11/15: Dr. Rao gives an invited talk as a part of the Cell Signaling and Tumor Progression theme of the Comprehensive Cancer Center at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. 11/15: Dr. Rao gives a Sigma Xi seminar at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. 09/15: UG researchers Mary, Anne, Riley, and John join the lab. Welcome! 08/15: Dr. Rao joins UA after a postdoctoral position at the University of Michigan. |
