Kim Lab News
2026
- 2/15/26 - Kim Lab is pleased to welcome new Undergraduate Research Assistants: Paul Davis, Derek Gust, Duong (Sofia) Phan, and Taylor Turpin. Welcome, Paul, Derek, Sofia, and Taylor!
- 1/26/26 - Alex Avera successfully defended her Ph.D. dissertation, "Biomanufactured Glioblastoma Organoids: A Scalable Platform for Modeling the Native Glioblastoma Environment." Congratulations, Alex!
- 1/6/26 - Mario Oswaldo Camilo Lizardo joins the Kim Lab as a new PhD student. Welcome, Mario!
- 1/5/26 - Wilmer Andújar and Isabella Meijia's collaboration project with Dr. Liz Papish (Chemistry) on ruthenium complexes was accepted for publication in Organometallics. Congratulations, Wil and Bella!
2025
- 12/4/25 - Lab Christmas party at John Kim's home.
- 12/4/25 - Cassidy Griffith, Alex Guirgues, and Mason Pentes presented at the 2025 RRS Live.
- 12/1/25 - We gratefully acknowledge new award from the Breast Cancer Research Foundation of Alabama (BCRFA). Through this funding, we will study the type VI collagen axis in a triple-negative breast cancer organoid model.
- 11/27/25 - We're thrilled that Alex Avera's review on bioengineering of glioblastoma organoids was accepted for publication in Pharmaceuticals. Congratulations, Alex!
- 11/10/25 - Alexandra Avera was awarded the best graduate student oral presentation award by Area 15D/E of AIChE Food, Pharmaceutical & Bioengineering Division. Congratulations, Alex!
- 10/23/25 - John Kim was awarded a new UA-BGU Joint Seed Funding to study nanobodies as novel theranostics for glioblastoma organoids with collaborator Niv Papo (Ben Gurion University).
- 9/22/25 - Alexandra Avera was awarded the W.H. Peterson Award by ACS BIOT. She was selected for giving the best student poster presentation at the ACS BIOT 2025 national conference. Congratulations, Alex!
- 8/1/25 - Adam Melvin (Clemson) and John Kim were awarded a new National Science Foundation funding (NSF CBET/EBMS #2523475) to study how biophysical stress of cell deformation affects cell proliferation and motility.
- 7/14/25 - We gratefully acknowledge new $1.59M funding from NSF (PI: Gregory Thompson; Co-PIs: P. LeClair, Y. Kim, M. Kasemeer, X. Wang) that will provide graduate fellowships to advance STEM workforce development in materials research.
- 6/13/25 - Lab alumna Jules Bates '23 received the prestigious NSF Graduate Research Fellowship. Congratulations, Jules!
- 6/4/25 - John Kim and Shreyas Rao visit Instituto de Biologia Experimental e Tecnológica (iBET), Oeiras, Portugal, with six ChBE students for the 2025 PURE BLISS Program. The students will participate in a two-month bioengineering and biotechnology research internship at iBET, funded by NSF IRES.
- 6/4/25 - Yuping Bao (PI), John Kim, and Steven Weinman were awarded a new National Science Foundation funding (NSF-CBET #2427919) to research on advanced biomanufacturing of extracellular vesicles.
- 5/6/25 - John Kim was named as Interim Head for the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering.
- 4/30/25 - Congratulations and farewell to Bella Concannon and Taylor Schnorbus for their graduation!
- 4/1/25 - Alex Guirgues and Mason Pentes presented at the 2025 Undergraduate Research & Creative Activity Conference.
- 3/25/25 - John Kim and Alex Avera attended and presented at the annual national ACS BIOT 2025 annual meeting.
- 2/19/25 - Alex Avera, together with co-authors Daniel Gibson, Macy Birge, Taylor Schnorbus, and Bella Concannon, published their project on the characterization of native extracellular matrix of patient-derived glioblastoma organoids in Tissue Engineering Part A. Congratulations!
- 1/21/25 - Amiya Ford, Cassidy Griffith, and Ella McCarthy join the Kim Lab as new undergraduate research assistants. Welcome, Amiya, Cassidy, and Ella!
- 1/20/25 - Brown et al. (2024) was selected as an Editor's Choice Article in Biomolecules.
Archived News
Last updated: 13 Mar 2026