Dr. Yimin Luo has been awarded the Otis Williams Postdoctoral Fellowship in Bioengineering in support of her project, “Dynamic Cell Response and Reordering of Liquid Crystalline Substrates”. Dr. Luo will leverage her background in liquid crystal engineering and microscopy, combined with the world-class characterization tools at BioPACIFIC MIP and the synthesis expertise of her collaborators, to fabricate novel material platforms to monitor and control cell activities. The liquid-crystalline materials she develops through this award will allow her to investigate how external stimuli, including molecular orientation and topological defects, influence how cells move and remodel their environment.

Working with Professors Megan Valentine and Matthew Helgeson at BioPACIFIC MIP, Dr. Luo has been instrumental in the development of the high-throughput micro-rheology platform.