Ongoing Research Projects

Bioengineering students at George Mason University have unique opportunities to choose from a variety of research opportunities.

All students, including Freshmen, are able to work in one of our many labs during the summer or during the academic year. Some projects are for credit as independent studies and count as a Bioengineering Technical Elective (BENG 395), some are paid, and some are volunteer positions. Our students can apply to one of the listed projects or can work with our faculty directly to find a suitable research opportunity. Our faculty members also mentor Undergraduate Research and and Scholarship program (URSP) and Aspiring Scientist Summer Internship Program (ASSIP) students.

Over the course of the last 5 years Bioengineering students have held up to 10 percent of all Mason’s URSPs, semester depending, which is hugely successful considering the Bioengineering department’s size relative to the Mason’s student population. Our students work on important and timely medical issues applying and honing their skills to solve major world challenges.

Our faculty members and students in ongoing research projects include:

Ongoing student research projects include:

Professor Giorgio Ascoli

• Knowledge base of neuron types in the hippocampus (Summer 2021 – present)
  Samhitha Somavarapu, Bioengineering–Neuroscience, Freshman
  Kiran Zaidi, Junior-Neuroscience (College of Sciences)
• Neuromorphology data standardization (Summer 2021–present)
  Gabriela Torrico, Bioengineering sophomore
  Tanish Singh, Junior–Biology (College of Sciences)
• Meta-analysis of neuromorphological models (Summer 2021–present)
  Kashmala Mahmood, Sophomore–Biology (College of Sciences)
• Literature mining for quantitative neuroanatomy (Summer 2021–present)
  Muhammad Zaryyab Sardar, Sophomore–Chemistry (College of Sciences)
• Metadata annotation for brain regions and cell types (Summer 2021–present)
  Alaa Guennouni, Sophomore–Neuroscience (College of Sciences)

Professor Kim Blackwell

• Analysis of patch clamp electrophysiology data in python (Fall 2022-Current – Sujung Rodriguez)

Professor Juan Cebral

Professor Parag Chitnis

• Development of an IR-LED Drive Circuit for Photoacoustic Microscopy  (Fall 2020)
  Kanwal Ahmad, Electrical and Computer Engineering student
• Image-reconstruction Algorithms for Photoacoustic Tomography (Fall 2020)
  Matthias Eyassu, Computer Science Junior

Professor Caroline Hoemann

• Methods to detect injury-induced remodeling of the cartilage-bone interface ex vivo. 
  Liana Baker, Senior (BIOL499, Senior Research project)  
• Matrix Metalloproteinase-9 (MMP-9) Activation Mechanisms in the Context of Immune Responses to Polytrauma  
  Mahadin Ahmed, Junior (OSCAR scholarship, Fall 2021) 

Professor Nathalia Peixoto

Professor Remi Veneziano