August 2024 Congratulations to Dr. Leipzig, who was promoted to a full professor in the Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering Department!

August 2024 The Leipzig Lab took on the Cuyahoga Valley River for some group kayaking and a picnic lunch. Lots of birds and turtles were spotted.

July 2024 Welcome Oluwaseyi Shofolawe-Bakare as a Postdoctoral Research Associate working on the Department of Defense Spinal Cord Injury Research Program project.

April 2024 PhD candidates Katie Bradshaw, Vasanti Dhakate and Hannah Durr presented their work at the annual University of Akron Graduate Research Day.

January 2024 The Leipzig Lab took on All American Axe throwing! Dr. Leipzig schooled us all in his axe throwing abilities.

November 2023 Thank you to the Case Western Reserve University Society for Biomaterials Chapter for hosting a SFB conference. Students Vasanti Dhakate and Rounak Pokharel presented their poster on spinal cord injury, and Hannah Durr did an oral presentation on her work on infected diabetic wound healing, winning third place. Students Katie Bradshaw and Ahmed Usaid were fantastic supporters.

August 2023 Welcome Ahmed Usaid to the Leipzig Lab to pursue a PhD!

August 15, 2023 The Leipzig Lab is awarded $750,000 three year investigator-Initiated Research Award from the Fiscal Year 2022 Department of Defense Spinal Cord Injury Research Program. Project will study new regenerative medicine approaches for spinal cord injury focused on tandem stem cell delivery and CSPG inhibition. https://uakron.edu/im/news/leipzig-awarded-748k-for-department-of-defense-spinal-cord-injury-research

June-July 2023 High school students Aniya Phillips from Garfield High School and Maverick Kereszi from Ellet High School worked in the lab with Hannah Durr as part of the Zips High School Summer Research Program, and presented their work at the High School Summer Research Symposium! REU Undergraduate Student Kelly Labant from Ohio State University worked with Vasanti Dhakate, Rounak Pokharel, and Katie Bradshaw this summer on hydrogel development for NSPC culture. We are so proud of all they accomplished this summer!

June 2023 Dr. Leipzig Attended the Society for Biomaterials, Bioengineering, and Biotransport in Vale, CO to present work on the diabetic wound matrix! He had some free time to enjoy the beautiful waters of CO!

April 2023 Hannah Durr attended the 2023 TERMIS Annual Conference in Boston, MA to present work on the diabetic wound matrix.

April 2023 Mona Mansouri successfully defended her PhD. Congratulations Dr. Mansouri!

February 2023 Welcome Jessica Onyak to the lab as an animal technician!

January 2023 Welcome Rounak Pokharel and Vasanti Dhakate to the Leipzig lab, both pursuing PhDs!

December 2022 The Leipzig lab enjoyed a winter lab happy hour at Missing Falls Brewery to celebrate the end of our semester and the beginning of our holiday break!

August 2022 Welcome Katie Bradshaw to the Leipzig Lab to pursue her PhD!

June 2022 Women in Engineering Camp brought high schoolers to our lab to learn synthesis and mechanical testing of hydrogels!

June 2022: Current and graduated members of the Leipzig lab got together to enjoy the beautiful weather and some delicious food!

May 2022 Graduate students Dr. Shahrzad Abri and Dr. Dipak Pukale, and undergraduate students Rheem Attia, Zara Siddiquee, and William Imes Jr. officially graduated! Congratulations to all.

April 2022 Graduate students Mona Mansouri and Hannah Durr attended the Society for Biomaterials 2022 Annual Conference in Baltimore Maryland with Dr. Leipzig. Both completed recent findings from the laboratory in oxygenating microparticles and infected diabetic wound healing, respectively. Hannah Durr also won the Student Travel Achievement Recognition (STAR) award for her submission.

March 2022 Dipak successfully defended his PhD. Congrats Dr. Pukale!

January 2022 Shahrzad successfully defended her PhD. Congrats Dr. Abri!

September 2021 Leipzig lab was invited to the University of Akron Celebration of Community annual event to present their research in Syringomyelia and Wound Healing field to the general public and UA alumni. We are always happy to raise awareness on the importance of our reasearch.

August 2021 Graduate student Dakota Noble joins the lab to pursue a Masters! Welcome!

August 2021 During ACS 2021 conference, our graduate student Dipak Pukale presented our recent findings on the probable osmoregulation mechanism involving betaine and its transporter BGT1 in syringomyelia, a spinal cord disorder. This is an outcome of our efforts to ultimately design non-surgical therapeutic options especially pharmaceutical-based to treat this rare but devastating disorder.

August 2021 Leipzig lab had a wonderful time at Camp Y-Noah riding on a beautiful trail. Let’s say, we all did a great job on horseback riding as first-timers!

Funding News!

April 2021 Second year of NIAMs R21 awarded to continue our infected wound healing studies.

August 2020 Graduate student Hannah Durr joins the lab to pursue a PhD!

May 2020 Back on track with maximum power after the COVID-19 quarantine period with safety percautions of course!

April 2020 Grateful to receive research funding for wound healing research from the National Institute Of Arthritis And Musculoskeletal And Skin Diseases of the National Institutes of Health. This project aims to investigate the role of our oxygenating biomaterials in improving the infected diabetic wound healing process.

April 2020 Hannah successfully defended her PhD thesis with the title of: “Molecular Investigation into Spinal Cord Injury Regeneration and Therapeutic Strategies”. Congradulations Dr. Baumann!

April 2020 Leipzig Bioengineering Lab members attended Biomaterials Day Conference organized by @CWRUBME at Case Western Reserve University. Great experience!

Funding News!

Delighted to receive research funding for syringomyelia molecular research by Column of Hope (Chiari and Syringomyelia Research Foundation) and Conquer Chiari organisations. The objective of the research is to investigate the osmoregulatory role of betaine in syringomyelia pathology using in vitro models. Thank you so much Column of Hope and Conquer Chiari Team!

August 2019 Had so much fun kayaking down the Cuyahoga River. We took the 4.5 miles trip and had lunch on the river! Ready to start the Fall 2019 semester now with extra energy!

August 2019 Enjoyed our food in Sahara Grille, while saying goodbye to Mahmoud! Wish him all the best in his future career!

June 25-28 2019 28th CSF Flow Conference (Buffalo, NY)

Dr Leipzig and Dipak Pukale attended CSF Flow conference hosted by the Column of Hope organization. Dr Leipzig gave a presentation on recent metabolomics/transcriptomics findings from post-traumatic syringomyelia and a potential role of betaine and BGT-1 regulations on the syrinx formation/expansion. Whereas Dipak presented two recently implemented techniques (AGATHA for locomotion deficit and Micro-CT for syrinx size evaluation) for syringomyelia research in our lab.

June 14th, 2019 Leipzig Lab Photo Day! We are a good looking lab, aren’t we?!

June 10-14th 2019 Summer Camp 2019 organized by UAkron College of Engineering: Had a great experience mentoring High-School students on a mini research project! The purpose of the summer camp was to encourage young women to pursue STEM degrees.

April 9 2019 UA Interdisciplinary Symposium Our Graduate student Dipak Pukale received the best graduate poster award at UA Interdisciplinary Symposium in Exl centre community engagement category. He presented his current research work on molecular aspects (focus: betaine and BGT-1) on syringomyelia, a spinal cord disorder.

April 2019 Honors College senior students from the Chemical Engineering Department presented their research conducted in our lab. Trent Richwine worked on a project ‘drug release study using heparin-chitosan based nanoparticles’ with graduate student Dipak Pukale. And Kaileen Shevchuk worked the production and characterization of chitosan-based microgel using a novel microfluidic device to promote cell survival under the supervision of graduate student Mona Mansouri.

April 4 2019 Had a nice time together in Cilantro saying goodbye to Trevor! The level of joy was high, just like the spice level of the food!

December 2018 A wonderful ending to another fruitful year in Leipzig lab. Lab holiday outing in Perplexity Games Escape Room – Cleveland. Well! We escaped this time! Happy holidays everyone!

December 2018 A December full of achievements for Leipzig lab! Pritam’s commencement ceremony. Congratulations again and wish you all the best in your future career.

December 2018 Trevor successfully defended his PhD. Congrats Dr. Ham! Now you can truly enjoy your holidays!!

December 2018 Our graduate student, Dipak Pukale, presented a poster on his research (Investigating the role of betaine regulation on syringomyelia) to multidisciplinary researchers at the University of Akron, Ohio. The event was organized by the College of Engineering on occasion of Research Day.

August 2018 Pritam’s farewell party. Leipzig lab went on a picnic in Goodyear Heights Metro Park.

July 2018 Pritam successfully defended his PhD. Congrats Dr. Patil!

June 2018 Summer Camp 2018; Our graduate student, Dipak Pukale participated in the summer camp organised by the College of Engineering (UA) as a mentor. Our group won the first position in the poster presentation on the assigned project. The purpose of the camp is to introduce high school students (Girls) to the research on UA campus and to the opportunities associated with pursuing an advanced degree and to encourage them to pursue an engineering degree in the first place. High school participants: Jaclyn Turk, Taylor Ryan, Shylynne Koon, Iris Renna, Jennifer Jones.

May 2018 New graduate student Mohammad Hamrang joined Leipzig lab. Welcome Mo!

April 2018 Mahmoud Farrag, Hannah Baumann and Pritam Patil successfully presented their research at SFB.

April 2018 Trevor Ham and Shahrzad Fathollahipour presented their research posters at SFB.

April 2018 Leipzig lab joined SFB, 2018.

March 21 2018 Dr. Leipzig got “PIED“!!!

August 23 2017 Rubber Ducks game lab outing. Such a fun, sunny day, welcoming Dipak our new Graduate student!

March 24 2017 Ashley successfully defended her PhD.  Congrats Dr. Mohrman Wilkinson!

August 20 2015 Pierce Elliot Leipzig joined the world 8/20/14 at 11:00 am! 

March 11 2015 Hang successfully defended his PhD.  Congrats Dr. Li!

January 5 2015 Nic Leipzig awarded rising star award and presents at CMBE-BMES annual conference.

November 19 2014 Aleesha successfully defended her PhD. Congrats Dr. McCormick!

April 19 2014 Hang Li presents our immobilized growth factor work toward a successful spinal cord injury bridge at SFB in Denver.

April 6 2014 First Ohio steelhead! Nice fresh hen in Big Creek (Grand River tributary), caught and released.

February 12, 2014: Our oxygenated dressing technology was selected for an Ohio Third Frontier Phase I Technology Validation and Start-up Fund to begin commercialization.

January 11, 2014: Dr. Leipzig wins the Iwao Yasuda Award to recognize his service to CMBE-BMES.

December 18, 2013: Lab holiday party 2013, hoping for an even better 2014 to build upon everyone’s great accomplishments!

December 5, 2013: Graduate student Trevor Ham joins the lab, welcome!

August 19, 2013: Graduate student Pritam Patil joins the lab, welcome!

Aug 6, 2013: Tigers vs. Indians lab outing. Another victory for JV and playoff bound!!! Sorry Indians fans.

July 24, 2013: Extremely exciting news!! Our lab was awarded a three year NIH R15 from NIGMS (award R15GM104851) to study our oxygenating MACF materials in wound healing applications.

May 21, 2013: Beautiful day on the Au Sable, Dr. Leipzig caught a 12″ brook trout and lots of smaller brooks and browns.

May 14, 2013: Lab outing – biking the Towpath. Some of us are in better shape than others, Hang….

May 3, 2013: Dr. Leipzig gives an invited talk at Case Western Reserve University, reminds them of Hudson roots.

April 27, 2013: Conquer Chiari open house. Ashley and Dr. Leipzig present research to patients and community.

April 24, 2013: Dr. Leipzig is part of panel for ABIA Synergy Seminar – Biomaterials to Meet Clinical Needs in Wound Care

January 29, 2013: Our first MACF paper appears in Acta Biomaterialia. Great job Asanka and Natalie! 

January 11, 2013: Lab is awarded Phase I Technology Development Fund (TDF) funding from the Akron Bioinnovation Institute in Akron (ABIA) to develop and test fluorinated (MACF) bandages using our new invention!

January 2-5, 2013: CMBE conference at the Hapuna Beach Prince Hotel on the Big Island of Hawaii co-chaired by Dr. Nic Leipzig. Nice place, but not enough time to enjoy!! 

January 3, 2013: NIH/NIBIB award $10,000 to support the CMBE-BMES conference in Hawaii!

December 13, 2012: Undergraduate student Liza Kobelt graduates from Biology and plans to continue in graduate school, Congrats!

December 8, 2012: Lab holiday party 2012, hoping for another great year in 2013;)

November 20, 2012: NSF/CMMI award $10,000 to support the upcoming CMBE-BMES conference in Hawaii!

November 1, 2012: Exciting news!! The lab is awarded a research grant from the Conquer Chiari Foundation to study the molecular events underlying Syringomyelia.

October 31 – November 1, 2012: Hang and Aleesha give podium presentations at AIChE in Pittsburgh.

October 27, 2012: Undergraduate student Liza Kobelt gives presentation at BMES in Stem Cell Engineering session.

October 16, 2012: Aleesha, Ashley and Hang attend Neuroscience 2012 in NOLA and present their research in the poster session.

August 23, 2012: Lab outing to Sluggers and Putters, Dr. Leipzig is dominating then has his score swapped with Aleesha. Some strange backcountry Ohio rule….

July 11, 2012: Undergraduate student Liza Kobelt selected to give oral presentation on her electrical stimulation work at BMES this fall in Atlanta!

July 1, 2012: Former undergraduate student Elizabeth Endrizzi graduates and starts new job as the clinical research coordinator for Taussig Cancer Center at the Cleveland Clinic. Congrats and best of luck!

June 14, 2012: Dr. Leipzig gives an invited talk at NEOMED.

May 14, 2012: Graduate student Natalie Fountas-Davis joins the lab, welcome!

April 21, 2012: Liza wins 2nd place for her paper presentation at the Regional AIChE conference, congrats!

April 21, 2012: Elizabeth and Liza present their exciting research at the Regional AIChE conference at the University of Akron.

April 14, 2012: Elizabeth and Liza present their exciting research at the Ohio Academy of Science at Ashland University.

March 30, 2012: High school student Marissa Tomin earns a superior rating and qualified for the state science fair on research she has been performing in the lab since August, 2011.  She also earned an award from the Yale Science and Engineering Association for the Most Outstanding Eleventh Grade Exhibit in Computer Science, Engineering, Physics, or Chemistry. Awesome work!

March 23, 2012: Dr. Leipzig gives an invited talk at Brown University.

March 1, 2012: Aleesha’s review paper selected for cover art and appears in March issue of ABME.

February 10, 2012: Asanka leaves for new research position in Oklahoma, good luck!!

January 26, 2012: Dr. Leipzig presents at the ABIA/MDDC IDEATION session sharing innovative lab research.

January 6, 2012: Asanka is selected to speak about his research at the SPBRM conference, receives travel award.

December 28, 2011: Aleesha’s review paper is accepted to ABME.

December 16, 2011: Lab holiday party 2011, unfortunately no worms was played 🙁 However, a rousing game of Cranium was played.

December 9, 2011: Aleesha receives 2012 Akron CBE Departmental graduate research award, congrats!

December 2, 2011: Our minibook covering CNS tissue engineering is officially published online (see Publications page). 120 pgs! 

November 14, 2011: Hang wins a poster award at the National Center for Regenerative Medicine retreat in Cleveland, congratulations!

October 26, 2011: Dr. Leipzig presents at the Fall 2011 Biomaterials Symposium in Akron.

October 12-15, 2011: Aleesha, Ashley and Hang attend and present at the BMES Annual Meeting in Hartford, CT.

October 11, 2011: Davis Eric Leipzig is born! 8 lbs 12 oz and 21 inches and growing…

September 23, 2011: Hang Li, Asanka Wijekoon and Ashley Wilkinson present posters at the 2011 Summa Research Forum.

September 19, 2011: Hang Li, Aleesha McCormick and Ashley Wilkinson are selected for the BMES 2011 travel award, congratulations!

August 22, 2011: Undergraduate student Natalie Jarmusik joins the lab, welcome!

August 11, 2011: Lab outing to baseball game of the Detroit Tigers vs. the Cleveland Indians. Justin Verlander picked his 17th victory of the season and career win #100.

June 20, 2011: Undergraduate student Alexandra Antonas joins the lab for the summer, welcome!

May 10, 2011: Dr. Leipzig gives an invited talk at Ohio University.

May 2, 2011:  Ashley Wilkinson wins advisory board poster competition, great job everyone!

April 26, 2011: Dr. Leipzig gives an invited talk at the University of Kansas.

March 25, 2011:  Front page article on our new lab with group picture in the CBE Spring newsletter.

March 4, 2011: Dr. Leipzig is awarded the 2011 University of Akron Summer Research Fellowship.

February 14, 2011: Dr. Asanka Wijekoon joins the lab as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow, welcome!

January 24, 2011: Undergraduate student Liza Kobelt joins the lab, welcome!

January 22, 2011: Lab snow-tubing and holiday party. Dr. Leipzig dominates in worms.

December 10, 2010: New lab construction is completed, Leipzig Group formally enters full operation!!!!!!

December 10, 2010: Ashley Wilkinson awarded the CBE outstanding TA award, great work!

October 27, 2010: Hang Li, Aleesha McCormick and Ashley Wilkinson present a poster at the first Akron Biomaterials Symposium.

September 1, 2010: Undergraduate student Elizabeth Endrizzi joins the lab, welcome!

June 14, 2010: New lab construction begins!!!!

May 10, 2010: Graduate student Ashley Wilkinson joins the group to pursue a PhD, welcome!

April 19, 2010: Graduate student Aleesha McCormick joins the group to pursue a PhD, welcome!

February 1, 2010: Undergraduate student Colin Szeles joins the lab, welcome!

December 15, 2009: First lab holiday party with Dr. Cheng, Dr. Monty, Hang, and Alvaro.

October 9, 2009: Dr. Leipzig presents his abstract in a podium presentation at the 2009 BMES conference in Pittsburgh, PA.

September 1, 2009: Graduate student Hang Li joins the group to pursue a PhD, welcome!

August 22, 2009:  Dr. Leipzig officially begins at the University of Akron.