Congratulations to Kasturi, Loek, Zach, Halimatu, Thibault and Prof. Bencherif for their recent publication, “Antimicrobial Hydrogels: Key Considerations and Engineering Strategies for Biomedical Applications” in Racing for the Surface, Pathogenesis of Implant Infection and Advanced Antimicrobial Strategies. This book chapter describes the most recent advances in designing and applying antimicrobial hydrogels towards mitigating healthcare-associated infections from biomedical implants.

Check out the chapter here and the book here.

Zach, Thibault, and Prof. Bencherif recently received a GapFund360 award for their project entitled “Hypoxia-inducing cryogels: a hassle-free and low-cost hypoxic cell culture solution”.

The GapFund360 program funds and supports inventions with high potential and helps Northeastern’s researchers bridge the gap between promising lab results and demonstrating a commercially viable prototype. The GapFund360 award is especially designed to catalyze Northeastern’s state-of-the-art technologies by advancing innovation through prototyping, validation, and industry input. The ultimate goal is to move technology from lab to license, to idea to impact, as quickly and efficiently as possible.

Find more information here and see the news story here .

Professor Bencherif and graduate student Zachary Rogers recently received a 2020 ACORN Innovation Award for their project entitled “Hypoxia-inducing cryogels as a fast and inexpensive technology for hypoxic cell culture conditions”.

The MA Acorn Innovation Fund is intended to support the demonstration of the viability of a technology developed at Massachusetts research universities. Awards can be used to further develop a prototype or to gather additional data to demonstrate proof of concept or to obtain data that shows how the technology compares to existing technologies and what the competitive advantages are.

Find more information here and see our other news story here.

A news story about a technology we developed a few years ago…. which has been making a big impact in the Biomedical field since! More info can be found in our latest review article.

James Sinoimeri has been invited to present his research on hypoxia-inducing cryogels (HICs) representing the Northeastern Section of the American Chemical Society (NESACS) as a formal guest of the Jungchemikerforum (Young Chemists Committee, JCF) of the Gesellschaft Deutscher Chemiker (German Chemical Society, GDCh).

The GDCh is the largest chemical society in continental Europe with members from both academia and industry. The GDCh supports chemistry in teaching, research, application, and promotes the greater understanding of chemistry in the public. For a full week in late March 2020, James will be joining 11 other distinguished student delegates and 3 senior chemists in Cologne, Germany to visit German academic and industrial research facilities, to disseminate research at the prestigious GDCh Spring Symposium, and to engage in a wide variety of social events with students from across Germany and around the world.

Congratulations, James!

More information can be found here.

Congratulations to Zach Rogers and Prof. Bencherif for their recent publication in Gels titled, “Cryogelation and Cryogels”. This editorial summarizes the Special Issue, “Cryogelation and Cryogels” and discusses the application of cryogels in the biomedical field.

Check it out here.

The Bencherif Lab recently launched their own YouTube channel, which will cover our latest research. Our first video shows how injectable cryogels are applicable towards several biomedical applications.

Check out our channel here.

Zach Rogers, PhD student, was recently awarded the Alpha Fund Prototype Grant for his proposal, “Hypoxia-inducing cryogels as a fast and inexpensive technology for hypoxic cell culture conditions.” The Alpha Fund, which is sponsored by both Northeastern’s venture accelerator IDEA and the Center for Research Innovation (CRI) aims to help early-stage innovations to test their concept and gain market feedback.

Congratulations Zach!

Congratulations to Loek Eggermont, Zach Rogers, Thibault Colombani, Adnan Memic and Sidi Bencherif on their recent publication, which highlights recent progress on the design of injectable cryogels and their application in the biomedical field.

Check it out here.

Prof. Bencherif was invited to give a keynote lecture at the symposium: Opportunities and Challenges in Biomaterials Research in Wenzhou, China on October 26, 2019. This symposium was part of the 2019 World Young Scientist Summit organized by the Wenzhou Institute of University of Chinese Academy of Sciences.

The meeting was unprecedented in China for its focus on young researchers and scholars, and covered all possible academic areas. This World Young Scientist Summit was supported by the highest levels of politicians. Chinese President Xi Jinping sent a congratulatory letter to the Summit, with a key message that China is very pleased to support young scientists. Nobel Prize laureates, the Vice President of the Chinese Academy of Science and Technology (CAST), high-level authorities from the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), and ranking members of local governments and prominent businessmen were all invited to the Summit.