Hung, Vilarino Complete SURF Fellowships at NIST

Two Fischell Department of Bioengineering seniors have returned to school after a research-filled summer at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). Stevephen Hung and Martin Vilarino were both awarded Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowships (SURF) to study bioengineering and nanofabrication at the federal lab. They presented the results of their work at NIST's SURF Student Colloquium in Gaithersburg, Md. in August.

Vilarino worked in the Center for Nanoscale Science and Technology, part of NIST's Energy Research Group, where he was advised by Dr. Alec Talin. In his talk, titled "The Production of Nanoparticle Arrays with Nanosphere Lithography," he described work in which he used self-assembling polystyrene nanospheres to create patterns used in the production of electronics. The goal of his project was to develop a method of assembling the nanostructures over large areas. The research, he explained, will advance the techniques used in nanoscale lithography and enable scientists to develop highly advanced chemical and biological sensors.

Hung conducted his research with the Biomaterials Group at the Material Science and Engineering Laboratory, part of NIST's Polymers Division, where he was advised by Dr. Kaushik Chatterjee and Dr. Carl Simon, Jr. Hung's presentation at the Colloquium, titled "Measuring Cell Response to Polymeric Scaffolds in 3-D Culture for Tissue Engineering of Bone," described his work in characterizing cellular response to biomaterials intended for use in scaffolds to support the growth of new tissue or bone. While most studies to date have imaged or observed cells' reactions to and growth rate in biomaterials on a flat surface, Hung observed them in the 3-D environment of an actual scaffold, which more closely replicates the conditions the cells would experience once implanted in the human body.

Published September 15, 2010