BME 2025 Year in Review

Students

A BME Design team stepped forward to help a teen with muscular dystrophy.

Undergraduates help solve clinical radiology challenges.

PhD candidate Adam Vareberg received a Grainger Wisconsin Distinguished Graduate Fellowship.

Anna Tommasi’s research in the Saha lab pushes CRISPR-edited CAR-T cells closer to the clinic.

The department had four students earn a Hilldale Undergraduate Fellowship.

The Biomedical Engineering Department was excited to award $551,750 in scholarships to 164 BME undergraduate students for the 2025-26 academic year.

Alumni

Kristin Myers Peng (BSBME ’02) was honored with a College of Engineering Distinguished Achievement Award.

Sarah Sandock (BSBME ’12, MSBME ’13) was honored with a College of Engineering Early Career Award.

We welcomed 160 new BME alumni into our community during 2025! With 116 bachelor’s degrees, 31 master’s degrees, and 13 PhDs awarded, this group represents the future of biomedical engineering innovation.

From tissue engineering to medical imaging, our doctoral graduates have dedicated their time to solving complex healthcare challenges. See their diverse research areas below.

Ali Abbaspour, PI: Pam Kreeger
Influence of Metastatic Fibrillar Collagen on High Grade Serous Ovarian Cancer Tumor Progression

Margot Amitrano, PI: William Murphy
Screening Synthetic Hydrogels for iPSC-Derived Cardiomyocyte Differentiation and Maturation

Lesley Arant, PIs: Darryl Thelen and Josh Roth
Development and Validation of Methods for Measuring Ligament Mechanics with Applications in Osteoarthritic Knees

Sarah Boutom, PIs: Randolph Ashton, Sean Palecek, Eric Shusta,
Mechanisms Regulating Induction of Blood-Brain Barrier Properties in a Human Pluripotent Stem Cell-Derived Model System

Melissa Champer, PI: Paul Campagnola
SHG Imaging and Machine Learning Methods for Feature Extraction and Analysis Tool Development

Rex Chin-Hao Chen, PIs: Kip Ludwig, Justin Williams
Refining Immediate Biomarker Techniques for Assessing Target Engagement in Neuromodulation

Ashlesha Deshmukh, PI: Kip Ludwig
To Stress or Not to Stress: That is the Question

Terry Juang, PI: David Beebe
Integrated Microscale Platforms for Sample-Sparing Assays, Unlocking Maximum Insight with Minimal Input

Daniel Pearce, PI: Colleen Witzenburg
Full-Field Measurements Reveal the Cardioprotective Benefits of Late Reperfusion Therapy During Post-Infarction Inflammation

Benjamin Robinson, PI: Paul Campagnola
Improving Second Harmonic Generation Imaging Techniques for Use in Fibrotic Disease Research

Frank Seipel, PI: Randolph Ashton
Bioengineering Scalable Models of Human Central Nervous System Development and Disease

Madeline Smerchansky, PI: Kris Saha
Systems Biology Approach to Engineering the Multicellular Lymphopoietic Niche

Albert Wang, PI: Melissa Skala
G-Protein γ Subunit 2 (GNG2) as a Key Suppressor of Brain Metastasis in Lung Adenocarcinoma via Regulation of Cell Motility and Altered Adhesion Signaling

Faculty Updates and Awards

We welcomed four outstanding new faculty members this fall:

• Assistant Professor Dhananjay Bhaskar plays with the ‘shape’ of data.
• Professor David Dean creates new tools for skeletal reconstruction.
• Assistant Professor Yang Lu brings AI to biology.
• Assistant Professor Duc-Huy Nguyen builds organs on organ-on-a-chip models to study the liver.

With a CAREER Award, Assistant Professor Colleen Witzenburg examines the mechanics behind changes of heart.

Assistant Professor Josh Brockman received a $1.86 million NIH MIRA grant.

Assistant Professor Filiz Yesilkoy was a recipient of the Vilas Faculty Early Career Investigator Award.

Assistant Professor Aarushi Bhargava received a WARF Cardiology Challenge Grant.

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