Translational Microfluidics Laboratory

Wen's recent work investigating the formation and propagation of vascular malformations was chosen by the editor as an article to highlight in a special issue focused on Mechanomedicine. Wen and other members of the lab used microfluidic models of vascular malformations to understand how fluid transport and hemodynamics contributes to lesion growth and disease pathogenesis. Check out the work here: https://pubs.aip.org/aip/apb/article/9/1/016106/3333897/Dysfunctional-mechanot

A recently accepted comprehensive review of lymphatic-on-chip models highlights advances and challenges in humanized models of the lymphatic system. An advanced copy of the article to be published in Annual Review of Biomedical Engineering was recently posted on the journal's website: https://www.annualreviews.org/content/journals/10.1146/annurev-bioeng-110222-100246

Congrats to Akash Bhowmik, a summer undergraduate researcher in our lab, who won 1st place for an undergraduate poster at the 2024 Triangle Computational and Applied Mathematics Symposium. Awesome work!

UNC office of technology commercialization recently highlighted the humanized ECM developed by the Polacheck Lab. Shout out to Elizabeth and Ryan for their awesome work pushing this technology forward! More information .

Bill recently joined the scientific advisory board for Jellatech, an innovative startup company founded to revolutionize human protein production. More information here .

Awesome talk by an awesome post-bac in our lab, Aanya Sawhney on cell mechanics of vascular malformations in the vascular bioengineering session at BMES 2024 !

Dr. Polacheck receives a 2024 Young Innovator Award from the Cell and Molecular Bioengineering special interest group of the Biomedical Engineering Society based on the fantastic work of Chloe Whitworth.

Congratulations to Polacheck Lab undergraduate, Abel Abraham, for winning the 2024 Henderson Medal from the Department of Mathematics at UNC. This medal is awarded by the Department of Mathematics to undergraduate students for excellence in Mathematics: specifically in demonstrating a high degree of mathematical ability and the greatest promise of originality in the field. Well-deserved!

Elizabeth is the first PhD student to graduate from the Polacheck Lab. She walked at the departmental commencement on Friday, May 10. Congratulations, Dr. Doherty; we'll miss you!

Abel gives a talk on his computational flow modeling project with the lab at the BME seminar. Great job, Abel!

Elizabeth defended her thesis on Cell-Derived Matrix platforms for microphysiological modeling of Vascular Ehlers-Danlos syndrome. Congratulations, Dr. Doherty!

Chloe gives an oral presentation on P300's modulation of endothelial mechanotransduction of fluid shear stress. Elizabeth gave a poster presentation on the generation of human vasculature-on-chip systems using cell-derived matrix hydrogels. Congratulations, Chloe and Elizabeth!

It was a year filled with new people and collaborations, myriad achievements, and countless hurdles overcome. Congratulations!

Our lab was featured as the 'Lab of the Month' for the North American Vascular Biology Organization (NAVBO). You can find the writeup...

Elizabeth had a busy month and flew from San Francisco for the IVBM meeting to College Station, TX for the Society for Engineering...

Chloe and Elizabeth traveled to San Francisco to present their work at the International Vascular Biology Meeting. Elizabeth presented a...

Mitesh, Sarah, and Bill traveled to San Antonio to present recent work from the lab and catch up with colleagues. Mitesh presented a...