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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
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Touraj passes his Qualifying Exam!
This summer, Touraj passed his qualifying exam by presenting his thesis proposal, titled “Functionalized MnO2 Nanoparticles for Targeting Oxidative Stress in Osteoarthritis.” Many thanks to his committee members, Dr. Rinaldi-Ramos, Dr. Sampath, and Dr. Allen for their support and feedback. Over the next several years, Touraj’s research will focus on functionalizing MnO2 nanoparticles to promote
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Bridging Cancer Research and Engineering at UF
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 out to build
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Tomas graduates with his Master’s degree!
Tomas Clavijo-Garcia graduated with his Master’s degree this Spring 2025. The Sharma Lab celebrated his accomplishment with a friendly game of trivia at V Pizza. We look forward to following his work and impact in the upcoming years! Congratulations!
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Victoria named UFHCC University Scholar
Undergraduate researcher, Victoria Consalvo, was selected as a part of the 2025 UFHCC University Scholars Program. This prestigious award is given to undergraduate students to educate the next generation of professionals on the importance of biomedical research and scientific discoveries, specifically focused on cancer. Those selected are paired with faculty mentors to complete a research