Category: Research

Sharma Lab Undergraduate Researchers Present at Pruitt Research Day 2026 Sharma Lab undergraduate researchers Victoria Consalvo and Natalia Munetones Martinez presented work from their senior thesis projects at Pruitt Research Day 2026. Natalia presented her work on characterizing 3D chondrocyte pellet cultures and began establishing a protocol for their use in understanding senescence in chondrocytes. […]

Sharma Lab at Biomaterials Day 2026 On March 10, the Sharma Lab attended a regional Biomaterials Day hosted at the University of Florida. Eight universities across Florida attended talks from both invited academic and industry speakers, as well as student speakers from many of the attending universities. Rylee Newport (Ph.D. Candidate – Biomedical Engineering) presented […]

Rylee passes her Qualifying Exam! This spring, Rylee Newport passed her qualifying exam by presenting her thesis proposal, titled “Tunable Biomaterials for Investigating NK cell Migration Parameters in Solid Tumors.” Many thanks to her committee members, Dr. Edward Phelps, Dr. Carlos Rinaldi-Ramos, Dr. Cherie Stabler, and Dr. Ryan Thomas for their support and feedback. As […]

Congratulations to Dr. Suzanne Lightsey on the successful defense of her thesis and graduation! During the Fall 2025 semester, Dr. Suzanne Lightsey successfully defended her thesis, Engineered Biomaterials for Investigating Natural Killer Cell Infiltration. Her work aimed to further our understanding of how Natural Killer (NK) cells interact with the extracellular matrices (ECM) of tumors […]

Congratulations to Rylee Newport and Dr. Suzanne Lightsey on presenting at TERMIS-AM 2025! In November, 2025, Sharma Lab members Rylee Newport and Dr. Suzanne Lightsey presented their research at TERMIS-AM 2025 in Detroit, MI. The focus of the conference was “Next Generation Tools for Regenerative Medicine.” Rylee Newport presented a poster on her work, 3D […]

Sharma Lab at Pruitt Research Day On September 29th, Touraj Amrabadi (Ph.D. Candidate – Chemical Engineering) and Rylee Newport (Ph.D. Student – Biomedical Engineering) presented their research at Pruitt Research Day in poster presentations. Touraj shared his work on manganese dioxide nanoparticles, and how they are used as reactive oxygen species scavengers to target oxidative […]

A collaborative approach Over the past two years, Dr. Sharma and Dr. Rinaldi-Ramos have led an exciting initiative to connect the cancer research and engineering communities at the University of Florida. Recognizing that many investigators shared overlapping goals, but were siloed due to UF’s large campus and the breadth of its research enterprise, they set […]

Sharma Lab sweeps at the 2025 Biomaterials Day On Thursday, March 13th, the Sharma Lab disseminated their research at the 14th Annual UF Biomaterials Day. The theme of this year’s Biomaterials Day was “Building Tomorrow with Biomaterials Today.” Suzanne, a fifth year PhD student, gave a podium presentation on her research and Rylee, Tomas, Touraj, and […]

Sharma Lab at the UFHCC Research Showcase The UF Health Cancer Center held their annual Research Showcase on February 12th at the Reitz Union Grand Ballroom. The event showcased the center’s multidisciplinary approach to solving the problem of cancer, with research ranging from basic mechanisms of disease, to cancer prevention and screening, to new cancer […]

Dr. Sharma was recently featured in the Gainesville Sun and UF News. Please see an excerpt from the article below: Equipped with a cutting-edge nanoparticle imaging technology, federal funds and a quest to quash pain, researchers at the University of Florida are working to revolutionize osteoarthritis treatments. Central to the research is the Magnetic Particle […]