University of Arizona Biomedical Engineering

We had an amazing time at our Student Recognition Event at Snakes & Lattes, honoring the accomplishments, hard work, and dedication of our graduating BMEs! From board games and great conversations to delicious food and drinks, it was the perfect way to celebrate an incredible group of students before their next chapter begins.🎓

Congratulations to all of our graduates! We can’t wait to see the impact you’ll make in the world of biomedical engineering 💙✨

From innovative medical technologies to real-world healthcare solutions, our Biomedical Engineering seniors spent the last year designing, building, testing, troubleshooting, and presenting projects that showcase the very best of engineering at the University of Arizona.
At Craig M. Berge Design Day, the culminating showcase of the senior capstone experience, students present their work to faculty, industry professionals, alumni, and the public after months of collaboration and hands-on problem solving. Design Day highlights the creativity, resilience, and impact of Wildcat engineers as they take ideas from concept to prototype and compete for innovation awards and recognition.

This year, Biomedical Engineering students had an incredible showing — out of 21 biomedical-related teams, 12 awards were earned across more than 20 categories. We are so proud of our seniors for representing BME with excellence, innovation, teamwork, and dedication.

Congratulations to all of our graduating seniors on an outstanding capstone year and an unforgettable Design Day. Bear Down! 💙❤️

🚨BME Seminar🚨

Title: Dosing in a Complex World: The Tumor Microenvironment as a Modulator of Therapeutic Response

🗓️ Monday, April 27th
⏰ 12-1 pm
📍 Keating 103 or DM us for the Zoom link

👩‍🔬Dr. Jasmine Foo
* Associate Head
* Northrop Professor and Distinguished McKnight University Professor
* School of Mathematics, University of Minnesota

🎤Hosts:
* Dr. Swarna Ganesh
* Dr. Kellen Chen

Join us to learn about how the tumor microenvironment (TME) influences cancer therapy response and why it plays a critical role in determining whether treatments succeed or fail. This seminar will explore how mathematical and computational models can be used to understand complex interactions between tumor cells, immune cells, and surrounding stromal tissue, and how these interactions shape patient outcomes. You will learn about modeling approaches for bispecific T cell engagers that recruit a patient’s own T cells to target cancer cells, including how variability in response can emerge, how dosing thresholds affect treatment effectiveness, and how potential biomarkers of response can be identified. The talk will also examine drug-induced stromal-mediated resistance in colorectal cancer and how interactions between drugs, tumor cells, and stromal environments can produce unexpected dose-response patterns that complicate treatment design. Together, these insights highlight how mechanistic modeling can inform more effective and personalized dosing strategies in cancer therapy.

And keep up with all things BME on our Blue Sky: https://bsky.app/profile/uarizonabme.bsky.social ✨

🧪BME Alumni Panel: How to Land Your First Job

Join us for an exciting virtual panel featuring BME alumni sharing real-world advice on breaking into the industry and landing that first job 💼

🗓 Wednesday, April 22, 2026
⏰ 4:00 – 5:00 PM
🔗 https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86378379508
📌 Meeting ID: 863 7837 9508

Hear from our amazing alumni:
• Marissa Pier (Roche)
• Hasina Shir (Baymar Solutions)
• Duffy Elmer (SynCardia)
• Katrina Peron (Critical Path Institute)

Moderated by Celine Cohn (AZ Technica)

Whether you’re job searching or just getting started, this is your chance to gain insider tips, ask questions, and connect with those who’ve been in your shoes. Don’t miss it!

🚨 BME Seminar Series — Career Talk

Curious about careers beyond academia? Join us for a seminar with Exponent to explore opportunities in engineering & scientific consulting.

🎤 Featuring:

Leah Kaplan, PhD (Vehicle Engineering)

Luca Fuller, PhD (Biomechanics)

Alyssa Oberman, PhD (Biomechanics)

📅 Monday, March 23
⏰ 12:00 – 1:00 PM
📍 Keating 103
💻 Zoom available
🍽️ Food provided

Learn how engineers and scientists tackle real-world challenges across disciplines and make an impact from day one.

Welcome back from Spring Break, BME buddies!! ☀️🌵

Hope you all got the rest you deserved—now let’s kick things off strong *and* keep the fun going 😌

We’re heading out on a BME hike this weekend and you’re invited!! Come get some fresh air, touch grass (maybe), and hang with your fellow BMEs 🥾🌄

📍 **Where:** Sabino Canyon
🗓 **When:** Sunday, March 22
⏰ **Meet:** 7:30 AM @ AME Parking Lot

**Trails:** Sabino Lake, Creek Trail, Rattlesnake Trail & Esperero Trail

🚗 **RSVP:** Fill out the spreadsheet (link in bio!) with your U of A email, phone number, and whether you need a ride

💧 Bring water, sun protection, and your lovely selves!

Can’t wait to see you there 💛
— Kusuma, Megan, Ally & the BUMs

🚨BME Virtual Seminar🚨

Title: BME Virtual Career Fair

🗓️ Monday, February 23rd
⏰ 12-1 pm
📍 Zoom! Dm this Instagram account for the link!

👩‍🔬Ronika Leang, PhD
👨‍🔬Nathan Chan, PhD
👩‍🔬Olivia Chang, PhD
👨‍🔬Sharath Sundararaj, PhD
👩‍🔬Sally Winkler, PhD

🎤Hosts:
* Dr. Swarna Ganesh
* Dr. Kellen Chen

Join us to learn about diverse scientific career paths at AbbVie, specifically within the Development Sciences Tissue Materials Science Team in Plastic Surgery, from a panel of Principal and Senior Scientists with backgrounds spanning molecular biology, immunology, bioengineering, biomaterials, regenerative medicine, stem cell biology, and data science. Through their experiences at AbbVie and prior roles at companies like Allergan, Abbott Laboratories, Johnson & Johnson, Calico Life Sciences, Stryker, and Wright Medical, you’ll gain insight into how advanced degrees translate into industry roles, what day-to-day research looks like in biotech, how interdisciplinary training strengthens innovation in biomaterials and cell therapy, and how to navigate the transition from undergraduate and graduate education into impactful careers in pharmaceutical and medical device development.

🎓 Big congrats and big brains incoming! 🎓

Join us in celebrating Simona Merlini as she defends her PhD dissertation:

🧠 Title: Risk and Progression Profiling in Late-Onset Alzheimer’s Disease through Temporal Pattern Mining
📅 Date: Monday, February 23
⏰ Time: 3:00 PM
📍 Location: HSIB 322
💻 Zoom: DM us for the link

Simona’s work explores how risk factors like hypertension, diabetes, and depression interact over time, using advanced temporal pattern mining to uncover s*x- and APOE-specific pathways in Alzheimer’s disease. Translation: it’s smart, it’s important, and it’s the kind of research that actually changes how we think about prevention and progression.

Come support Simona and check out some seriously cool science. Bonus points for academic hype energy. 🧪✨

🚨BME Seminar🚨

Title: Dip and Taste Microbiome Samples and Environmental Toxicants to Detect, Classify, and Understand Their Molecular Interactions with Human Proteins and Cells

🗓️ Monday, February 2nd
⏰ 12-1 pm
📍 Keating Rm 103

👨‍🔬Dr. Jeong-Yeol Yoon
* Professor, Biomedical Engineering
* The University of Arizona

🎤Hosts:
* Dr. Swarna Ganesh
* Dr. Kellen Chen

Join us to learn about innovative biosensing approaches for detecting complex targets, such as microbiome samples, PFAS, and nanoplastics, that traditional bioreceptors cannot capture. This seminar will explore how paper-based microfluidic chips, smartphone measurements, and machine learning work together to identify and classify these challenging environmental and biological samples. Attendees will gain insight into how these interactions with plasma proteins and human cells may influence physiology and disease development. The talk will also highlight future directions, including organ-on-a-chip models to study interactions in the kidney, liver, and blood–brain barrier.

Being a poster judge is a great way to get involved at BME Research Day! Your time spent with our student presenters is incredibly valuable and greatly appreciated. If you’re a BME grad student, alumni, faculty, or postdoc, reach out to [email protected] on how to get involved. Let’s help make this year’s event better than ever!🎉