Congratulations to Ryan B. Felix on being recognized by Maryland Today for his research in AI-powered bioprinting. The video highlights how his research can transform healthcare and tissue engineering.
In the video, Dr. John P. Fisher, Principal Investigator of the Tissue Engineering & Biomaterials Laboratory, explains how bioprinted tissues could transform medical treatments. The video also features Lab Technician Dylan Jesner, who has helped collect printing data used to train the AI models.
The integration of AI into bioprinting can have a dramatic difference, particularly in what we can print and the efficiency with which we can print it.
– Dr. John P. Fisher
For in situ bioprinting, time is of the essence. As Ryan explains, AI can adjust printing parameters needed to bioprint on the fly. Watch the video below to learn more about the future of AI-powered bioprinting!
Congratulations to Martin Carrasco, who was recently selected for the Mickey Dale Family Foundation Endowed Distinguished Graduate Fellowship in Bioengineering! See below for a snippet of the story:
The A. James Clark School of Engineering at the University of Maryland, College Park (UMCP) and the University of Maryland School of Medicine (UMSOM) at the University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB) are proud to announce the selection of Martin Carrasco as the first inaugural Mickey Dale Family Foundation Endowed Distinguished Graduate Fellowship in Bioengineering.
This new fellowship, made possible through the Mickey Dale Family Foundation, supports UMCP and UMSOM’s shared mission to revolutionize organ transplantation and bring the world closer to a future where no one waits for an organ. As a second-year Ph.D. student in bioengineering, Carrasco brings both technical expertise and fresh perspective to this new role.
His work with John P. Fisher, chair of the Fischell Department of Bioengineering and Distinguished University Professor at UMCP, focuses on developing a two-chamber kidney bioreactor, a small-scale device designed to culture kidney-specific cells in a biomimetic environment. This system helps mature kidney cells to more closely resemble their natural function inside the body, a step critical to advancing tissue engineering applications and eventually creating viable kidney constructs for transplantation.
Carrasco will be co-advised by Dr. Fisher and Dr. Raphael P.H. Meier, Associate Professor of Surgery at UMSOM and Liver, Kidney, and Pancreas Transplant Surgeon at the University of Maryland Medical Center.
“This fellowship is an investment in the future of transplantation science,” says Fisher. “By empowering young researchers like Martin, we’re building the foundation for innovations that will not only advance the science of organ engineering but also directly improve patient care. Martin’s work exemplifies the collaborative spirit between engineering and medicine that is essential to eliminating the transplant waiting list.”
On the clinical side, Carrasco will collaborate with Meier, whose research explores the use of mesenchymal stem cells to treat organ failure. Carrasco’s bioreactor platform could one day be adapted to “precondition” stem cells for use in therapies targeting end-stage kidney disease, building on Meier’s work with liver and pancreas applications.
“As bioengineers, it’s easy to get lost in the benchwork and forget that the ultimate goal is to help patients,” Carrasco says. “Translational projects like these are a reminder of that. I’d encourage students not to be afraid of entering a space they’re unfamiliar with. Sometimes the best opportunities come from trying something new.”
This year’s retreat carried special significance by taking place at CTEM, a collaborative hub uniting the University of Maryland, College Park (UMCP), and the University of Maryland School of Medicine (UMSOM). The two institutions are working together to improve health care and patient outcomes by bridging engineering, computer science, and medicine. As the proud home of CTEM, UMCP and UMSOM are leading efforts to address urgent health challenges and develop innovations that improve lives.
The Fischell Fellowship, named in honor of inventor and department namesake Dr. Robert E. Fischell, recognizes outstanding graduate students who are pursuing applied research and product design with the potential to transform human health.
Fourth-year doctoral candidate Ryan B. Felix, jointly advised by BIOE Department Chair and Professor John P. Fisher and UMSOM Professor Peter Hu, is driven by the intersection of artificial intelligence and health care. His research focuses on developing AI-powered decision support tools for clinician use and advancing autonomous medical robotics. With the support of the fellowship, Felix plans to build technologies for rapid prototyping of complex tissue constructs for regenerative medicine and pharmaceutical testing, as well as AI-driven tools that help clinicians during the early stages of trauma care.
“Dr. Robert E. Fischell is our department’s namesake for good reason, and receiving this fellowship in his honor is both humbling and gratifying,” Felix said. “As engineers, our responsibility is to create something that truly benefits patients. The Fischell Fellowship will help me move closer to that goal.”
Felix was drawn to BIOE for its nationally recognized program and its proximity to institutions such as NIH, FDA, and Johns Hopkins. He credits Maryland’s unique ecosystem of research and entrepreneurship for offering an ideal environment to make translational contributions to human health.
As we near the end of the semester, it is important to look back and reflect on our lab members’ accomplishments this spring. Marylyn presented her research titled, “Machine Learning-Powered Support for Extrusion Bioprinting” at undergraduate research day on campus. (See picture below for her research poster). Another one of our other undergrads, Niva, won the ASPIRE award this semester! The ASPIRE program seeks to broaden the educational experience of undergraduate engineering students through direct involvement in real-world engineering projects. The ASPIRE award offers students the resources needed to engage in meaningful research under the guidance of an engineering faculty or staff mentor.
Graduate students Ryan, Lexi, and Pieper will also give oral presentations at the International Biomedical Engineering conference in Greece in late May, so look forward to another update later on their trip.
Kristen Bradish, Julia Fitlin, Sarang Han, and Paige Wilcox are all graduating this semester with undergraduate degrees in engineering. As Kristen has been the lab website manager for the past three years, undergraduate Henry will now take over website updates.
Shannon has published her last paper from the lab! “Osteoblast-Mesenchymal Stem Cell Coculture Drives In Vitro Osteogenesis in 3D Bioprinted Periosteum” is now online in Tissue Engineering Part A! This work was led by PhD student Shannon McLoughlin and her undergraduate student Paige Wilcox. They explored which cell types are critical to incorporate into tissue-engineered periosteum to enhance osteogenesis in the adjacent bone tissue. This was modeled in 2D and 3D bioprinted co-cultures. They observed that a mixed population of osteoblasts and mesenchymal stem cells upregulates runt-related transcription factor (RUNX2) expression and matrix mineralization, which are key markers of bone matrix development. Congratulations to all the authors, and check out the paper at: https://doi.org/10.1089/ten.tea.2025.0038!
Congrats to everyone on their accomplishments this spring!
On March 13th, Shannon McLoughlin successfully defended her dissertation and was awarded her PhD! Shannon started in the lab in the fall of 2019 right after finishing her undergraduate degree in Bioengineering at Syracuse University. Shannon earned the Clark Doctoral Fellowship and began her research in 4D bioprinting for the generation of tissue-engineered periosteum. Her work was published in a review paper in ACS Applied Bio Materials, as well as 3 first-author publications in Advanced Healthcare Materials, the Journal of Biomedical Materials Research Part A, and Tissue Engineering Part A (In press). She also published a book chapter and 7 other co-authored publications throughout her time in the lab. Shannon presented her research at 8 different international and national conferences, including in Italy and New Zealand! Her graduate research also awarded her the Fischell Doctoral Fellowship in the fall of 2023. Beyond her work in the lab, Shannon served on the BIOE Graduate Student Society board (BGSS) for 3 years, participated in various mentoring programs, and was the social media editor for the Tissue Engineering Journals. After graduation, she intends to work in industry to further her research skills and interests. Congrats, Shannon!
