Postdoc Tingting Wang will be leaving the lab for a medical affairs position at Alcon here in Irvine. Congratulations, Tingting! Congratulations are also in order to graduating MS student Eric Somogyi for completing his thesis.

Tingting and Eric joined the lab for one last hurrah:

From the Liu and Haun labs, warm wishes for a happy holiday season and a joyful and illuminating new year!

Liu-Haun Holiday Party 2012

Members of the Liu Lab will be presenting at the 2012 BMES Annual Meeting in Atlanta.

• Yoon Kyung Kim (P-Th-A-37) will present her work on "Engineering Immunomodulatory Surfaces to Mitigate the Host Response to Biomaterials."
• Frances Ni (P-Fri-A-184) will discuss "A micropatterning approach to investigate the role of cell shape on macrophage polarization."
• Finally, Tingting Wang (OP-Fri-2-5) will present on "Topographical Modulation of Macrophage Phenotype by Shrink-film Multi-scale Wrinkles."

We’ll look forward to seeing you!

The results of the Liu Lab's hotly contested first annual pumpkin carving contest are in!

Here are proud winners Frances and Chase with their victorious gourd, featuring an anteater on the front (zot!) and a proud UCI inscription on the reverse:

The winning design came from a strong field of squash:

including an animated Pac-Man scene.

Thanks to Professors Botvinick and Kheradvar for judging!

Dr. Liu is awarded a 2012 NIH Director’s New Innovator Award! Her proposal, entitled “Engineering Biomaterials to Exert Molecular Control of Immune Cell Function,” is focused on developing immunomodulatory biomaterials for cell encapsulation.

Welcome to our new undergraduate lab member, Neto Sosa!

Dr. Liu receives an I3 pilot award from the School of Engineering! This collaborative project with Prof. Szu Wang, Prof. Andrea Tenner, and Prof. Aileen Anderson will focus on development of materials for spinal cord regeneration.

Welcome to our new lab members Tim Smith and Seunghyun Ha!