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Dr. Suzanne Lightsey defends her thesis
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
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Sharma Lab Attends TERMIS-AM 2025
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
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Dr. Sharma – 2025 BME Faculty Service Excellence Award
Congratulations to Dr. Blanka Sharma for receiving the 2025 BME Faculty Service Excellence Award! On December 5th, Dr. Blanka Sharma was awarded the 2025 BME Faculty Service Excellence Award. This award is given to the BME primary faculty member who provided outstanding and dedicated service to the department. Dr. Sharma was selected for her work
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Touraj Presents as a 3MT Finalist
Congratulations to Touraj for presenting his research at 3MT! We are excited to share that Touraj Amrabadi, a Ph.D. candidate, participated in the final round of the Three Minute Thesis (3MT) competition at the University of Florida on November 6th, 2025. Previously, he delivered a concise, engaging presentation of his research in the preliminary round
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Congratulations to Touraj – 3MT® Finalist!
Congratulations to Touraj – 3MT® Finalist! We are excited to share that Ph.D. candidate Touraj Amrabadi has successfully advanced to the final round of the Three Minute Thesis (3MT®) competition at the University of Florida. Touraj delivered a compelling and concise presentation of his research and was selected as one of this year’s finalists. Developed
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Sharma Lab at NanoDay 2025
On October 9th, Touraj Amrabadi (Ph.D. Candidate – Chemical Engineering) presented his research on functionalized manganese dioxide nanoparticles as reactive oxygen species scavengers for targeting oxidative stress in osteoarthritis at NanoDay 2025. Great job, Touraj!
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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 stress in osteoarthritis. Rylee presented her
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Sharma Lab at the Tissue Engineering GRC 2025
The Biomaterials and Tissue Engineering Gordon Research Conference (GRC) was held the summer of 2025 in Barcelona, Spain. Suzanne Lightsey, a Biomedical Engineering Ph.D. candidate in the Sharma Lab, presented a poster on her research on natural killer (NK) cell infiltration in solid tumor models. She and Dr. Sharma also had the opportunity to explore
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GRACE Symposium Oral Presentation Award
On September 19, the Graduate Association of Chemical Engineers (GRACE) hosted its annual symposium to highlight outstanding research conducted within the Department of Chemical Engineering. Touraj Amrabadi, a Ph.D. candidate in Chemical Engineering and member of the Sharma Lab, presented his work titled “Functionalized MnO₂ Nanoparticles as ROS Scavengers for Targeting Oxidative Stress in Osteoarthritis.”
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Sharma Lab Retreat 2025
This year, the Sharma Lab trekked across Gainesville to Austin Cary Forest to host a lab retreat. Our lab retreats comprise of scientific sessions where each lab member gives a presentation. This year, the focus was on considering the field as a whole and identifying gaps in the literature that we may be uniquely positioned