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Mai Ngo

Mai Ngo

Assistant Professor
gscholar website
lab website

Mai Ngo joined UW-Madison in August 2024 as an Assistant Professor in Chemical and Biological Engineering. Previously, she was an NIH NRSA postdoctoral fellow at Boston University. Under the mentorship of Professor Christopher Chen, she utilized tissue engineering and cell engineering tools to build vascularized tissues by controlling paracrine signaling. Previously, Professor Ngo obtained her Ph.D. in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. As a member of Professor Brendan Harley’s lab, she developed vascularized tissue models of brain cancer. During graduate school, she was an Illinois Distinguished Fellow and a NSF Graduate Research Fellow. Her research has been recognized by several awards, such as the BMES Career Development Award and the CMBE Graduate Student Shooting Star Award; additionally, she has been recognized as a University of Washington DYSS seminar speaker and as a MIT ChemE Rising Star. Professor Ngo received her B.S. in Chemical Engineering from Virginia Tech.

Department

Chemical & Biological Engineering

Contact

Engineering Hall
1415 Engineering Dr
Madison, WI

  • PhD 2021, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
  • BS 2015, Virginia Tech

  • Tissue engineering
  • cell engineering
  • mammalian synthetic biology
  • cell-cell communication
  • regeneration
  • vascularized tissues
  • stem cells
  • cancer

  • 2022 National Institutes of Health, NRSA Postdoctoral Fellow
  • 2021 University of Washington, Distinguished Young Scholars Seminar Participant
  • 2021 Boston University, Kilachand Postdoctoral Fellowship
  • 2020 University of Illinois, Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering Graduate Research Symposium, 1st Place Oral Presentation
  • 2020 Biomedical Engineering Society, Career Development Award
  • 2020 University of Illinois, Dissertation Completion Fellowship
  • 2020 Cell and Molecular Bioengineering Special Interest Group, Graduate Student Shooting Star Award
  • 2019 MIT, ChemE Rising Star
  • 2019 University of Illinois, Tissue Microenvironment Day Symposium, Outstanding Research Poster Award
  • 2018 University of Illinois, Mavis Future Faculty Fellowship
  • 2018 University of Illinois, School of Chemical Sciences, Teaching Award
  • 2018 Signal Transduction by Engineered Extracellular Matrices Gordon Research Seminar, Travel Award
  • 2017 University of Illinois, Graduate College Conference Travel Award
  • 2016 National Science Foundation, NSF Graduate Research Fellowship
  • 2015 University of Illinois, Illinois Distinguished Fellowship
  • 2015 University of Illinois, Parr Fellowship
  • 2014 Tau Beta Pi, Tau Beta Pi Scholar

  • Uroz, M., Stoddard, A. E., Sutherland, B. P., Courbot, O., Oria, R., Li, L., Ravasio, C. R., Ngo, M., Yang, J., Tefft, J. B., Eyckmans, J., Han, X., Elosegui-Artola, A., Weaver, V. M., & Chen, C. S. (2024). Differential stiffness between brain vasculature and parenchyma promotes metastatic infiltration through vessel co-option. Nature Cell Biology, 26(12), 2144-2153 https://doi.org/10.1038/s41556-024-01532-6
  • Ngo, M., Sarkaria, J. N., & Harley, B. A. (2022). Perivascular Stromal Cells Instruct Glioblastoma Invasion, Proliferation, and Therapeutic Response within an Engineered Brain Perivascular Niche Model. Advanced Science, 9(31) https://doi.org/10.1002/advs.202201888
  • Ngo, M., Barnhouse, V. R., Gilchrist, A. E., Mahadik, B. P., Hunter, C. J., Hensold, J. N., Petrikas, N., & Harley, B. A. (2021). Hydrogels Containing Gradients in Vascular Density Reveal Dose-Dependent Role of Angiocrine Cues on Stem Cell Behavior. Advanced Functional Materials, 31(51) https://doi.org/10.1002/adfm.202101541
  • Gilchrist, A. E., Serrano, J. F., Ngo, M., Hrnjak, Z., Kim, S., & Harley, B. A. (2021). Encapsulation of murine hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells in a thiol-crosslinked maleimide-functionalized gelatin hydrogel. Acta Biomaterialia, 131, 138-148 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actbio.2021.06.028
  • Ngo, M., Karvelis, E., & Harley, B. A. (2020). Multidimensional hydrogel models reveal endothelial network angiocrine signals increase glioblastoma cell number, invasion, and temozolomide resistance. Integrative biology : quantitative biosciences from nano to macro, 12(6), 139-149 https://doi.org/10.1093/intbio/zyaa010
  • Ngo, M., & Harley, B. A. (2019). Perivascular signals alter global gene expression profile of glioblastoma and response to temozolomide in a gelatin hydrogel. Biomaterials, 198, 122-134 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biomaterials.2018.06.013
  • Hunter, C., Ngo, M., & Harley, B. (2019). Developing a spatially-defined biomaterial model of the glioblastoma perivascular niche. In Transactions of the Annual Meeting of the Society for Biomaterials and the Annual International Biomaterials Symposium (p. 627). ISBN/ISSN: [9781510883901]
  • Ngo, M., & Harley, B. A. (2017). The Influence of Hyaluronic Acid and Glioblastoma Cell Coculture on the Formation of Endothelial Cell Networks in Gelatin Hydrogels. Advanced Healthcare Materials, 6(22) https://doi.org/10.1002/adhm.201700687
  • Ngo, M., Dickmann, J. S., Hassler, J. C., & Kiran, E. (2016). A new experimental system for combinatorial exploration of foaming of polymers in carbon dioxide: The gradient foaming of PMMA. Journal of Supercritical Fluids, 109, 1-19 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.supflu.2015.09.030

  • CBE 426 - Mass Transfer Operations (Spring 2025)
  • CBE 599 - Special Problems (Spring 2025)
  • CBE 890 - Pre-Dissertator's Research (Spring 2025)
  • CBE 426 - Mass Transfer Operations (Fall 2024)
  • CBE 599 - Special Problems (Fall 2024)