News
September 2021
Dr. Hettiaratchi wins a Faculty Research Mentor Award!
Dr. Hettiaratchi wins a Faculty Research Mentor Award from the Center for Undergraduate Research and Engagement! Thanks to our undergrad researchers for the nomination!
Welcome Yan Carlos Pacheco!
We are excited to welcome Yan Carlos Pacheco, our newest bioengineering graduate student, to the lab! Yan joins us from the University of Florida where he recently completed a B.S. in Biomedical Engineering. Yan is co-advised by Dr. Nick Willett and will be working on biomaterials for bone repair.
Welcome Lily and Simon!
We're excited to welcome two new undergraduate researchers to the lab: Lily Mozipo and Simon Oh. Lily will be working with Veronica on hydrogel chemistry, and Simon will be working with John on affinity binding partners.
July 2021
The Knight Campus Receives a Second $500 Million Gift from Phil and Penny Knight
See more details and the video of the official announcement here! This gift will fund the next phase of the new campus, enabling further expansion of bioengineering and applied scientific research at the University of Oregon, including training additional students, hiring new faculty members, and a second building.
June 2021
Congratulations John!
Congratulations to John O'Hara-Smith for being awarded a T32 fellowship through the Molecular Biology and Biophysics Training Program!
Welcome Veronica and John!
We're so excited to welcome Veronica Spaulding (Chemistry) and John O'Hara-Smith (Institute of Molecular Biology) as the newest graduate students in the Hettiaratchi Lab! They bring their unique expertise in chemistry and biology to our interdisciplinary work.
Congratulations Henry!
Congratulations to Henry Hochstatter for being granted a University of Oregon SPUR summer fellowship!
Congratulations Ireland!
Ireland Johnson is featured on the Knight Campus website as a Maybelle Clark Macdonald Scholar!
April 2021
Spring is here!
We welcome Veronica Spaulding and Ethan Kimmett as new graduate rotation students in the lab!
March 2021
Medical Research Foundation New Investigator Award
The lab receives a Medical Research Foundation New Investigator Award to develop a biomaterial to support re-vascularization of damaged tissues!
Congratulations Hons!
Congratulations to Hons Rajabzadeh for winning an Undergraduate Research Opportunity Program (UROP) Mini-grant! This funding will support his senior thesis project on developing hyaluronic acid hydrogels for neuro-modulation.
January 2021
The Hettiaratchi Lab is 1 year old!
We published our first review paper, led by graduate student Jonathan Dorogin, in the 2021 Emerging Investigators issue of Biomaterials Science.
We welcome rotation students Andres Guerrero and Wyatt Parks from the department of chemistry and biochemistry to the lab!
Congratulations Jonathan and Ireland!
Congratulations to Ireland Johnson for being named a Knight Campus Undergraduate Scholar! This award will fund a full year of Ireland's research on biomaterials for bone regeneration in the Hettiaratchi Lab.
Graduate student Jonathan Dorogin is featured on the website for the new UO-OSU Bioengineering Graduate Program.
September 2020
The Hettiaratchi Lab moves into the new Knight Campus building
September was an exciting month for the Hettiaratchi Lab! The lab moves into the new Knight Campus building! We're very quickly getting set up to do science in our new space.
We welcome Jonathan Dorogin, our first graduate student in Bioengineering, and John O'Hara Smith, rotating graduate student from the Department of Biology! We also welcome undergraduate researcher Henry Hochstatter from the Clark Honors College, who is majoring in human physiology.
August 2020
Altered enzyme offers hope for spinal injury and stroke
Our new paper on re-engineering an enzyme to degrade the glial scar following stroke and spinal cord injury is published in Science Advances!
You can find the complete story in Around the O.
July 2020
Congratulations Ireland and Annie!
Congratulations to Ireland Johnson and her mentor Annie Gilbert for winning the Peter O'Day Fellowship in Biological Sciences!
Ireland's project will focus on improving the versatility of demineralized bone matrix as a treatment for bone injury.
June 2020
The lab receives a Collins Medical Trust grant!
The Hettiaratchi Lab receives a grant from the Collins Medical Trust to develop a biomaterial strategy to improve protein delivery to large bone fractures!
We're setting up in our temporary space
It's starting to look more like a real lab! We've been unpacking boxes and getting ready to get back to work.
March 2020
First shipment of equipment arrives in the lab!
We welcome rotation student, Dillon Willis, from the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, and undergraduates, Branden Henry, Hons Rajabzadeh, and Ireland Johnson to the lab!
The lab may be closed, but we're still receiving orders! Here's all the boxes have that arrived so far with new equipment to set up.
January 2020
First shipment of equipment arrives in the lab!
The lab officially opens its doors!
The Hettiaratchi Lab receives a UO-OHSU Collaborative Seed Grant to develop vascularized and innervated bone grafts with Dr. Luiz Bertassoni. We're looking forward to starting this collaboration!
Our new paper on heparin-based biomaterials for protein delivery to repair large bone defects in rats is out in Science Advances. Check out the story in Around the O!November 2019
Oregon Bioengineering Symposium
Marian presents at the inaugural Oregon Bioengineering Symposium at Oregon State University.