Welcome to the Biological Microsystems Lab

Our lab works at the interface of biomaterials, microtechnology, and biology. We engineer 3D biopolymer hydrogels that replicate the biophysical, biochemical, and compositional heterogeneity found in native tissue.

We apply these in vitro models to investigate how cancer, endothelial, and immune cells interpret, prioritize, and respond when exposed to multiple guidance cues. We also develop modular microfluidic systems to create barrier tissue models.

Abhyankar Lab

Biological Microsystems
RIT

Recent Lab News

12/2023 – PhD students Sami and Poorya join the lab – welcome!

11/2023 – Neil’s paper “Microengineering 3D Collagen Matrices with Tumor-Mimetic Gradients in Fiber Alignment” has been accepted in Advanced Functional Materials. Well done, Neil and co-authors! Read the full paper here

10/2023 – Neil and Mehran are presenting their work at BMES 2023

08/2022 – Justin, Aidan, Lauren, and Anna present their work at the RIT Undergraduate Research Symposium

05/2022 – RIT BME co-op students Justin, Aidan, Lauren, and Anna join the lab. Welcome!

04/2023 – Vinay is granted tenure and promoted to associate professor of biomedical engineering!

04/2023 – Mehran presenting his work at SFB 2023, “Creation of 3D collagen substrate with curvature and controlled fiber alignment”

01/2023 – Mehran won the Annual Biomedical and Chemical Engineering Graduate Student Research Award

12/2022 – Mehran presenting his work at Lab-on-a-Chip and Microfluidics World Congress 2022, “A barrier tissue model with an ultrathin nanoporous membrane and open-well to flow-enhanced reconfiguration capability”

11/2022 Congrats to Neil and Mehran for passing their candidacy exams!

08/15/2022 Congrats to Adeel for defending his Ph.D. dissertation “Microengineering Aligned Collagen Substrates to Study Cell-ECM Interactions”

08/2022 – Neil is presenting his work at the SfB, “Engineering Cells and Their Microenvironments SIG” webinar for poster winners from the 2022 annual meeting

  • Title: “Microengineering 3D Collagen I Matrices with Spatially Varying Fiber Alignment Landscapes”

07/2022 – Justin and Madeleine presented posters at the RIT Undergraduate Research Symposium

07/2022 – Vinay, Adeel, and Neil attended the Signal Transduction by Engineered Extracellular Matrices GRC in New Hampshire.

05/2022 – RIT BME co-op students Justin and Madeleine join the lab for the summer. Welcome!

04/2022 – Adeel and Neil presented their work at the Society for Biomaterials (SfB) Meeting in Baltimore, MD.

  • Neil win a poster award! 

01/2022 – Adeel and Neil present their work at the Biophysical Society Meeting in San Francisco, CA.

01/2022 – Adeel won the Annual Biomedical and Chemical Engineering Graduate Student Research Award