Welcome
We are an experimental cell and tissue biomechanics laboratory focused on understanding the role of mechanics in disease initiation and progression. We are currently involved in studies utilizing in vitro models of tumor growth in order to probe the relationship between tumor cells and their biomechanical environment.
We are an interdisciplinary team of mechanical, manufacturing, materials, and biomedical engineers as well as biophysicists and biologists. If you are interested in joining our collaborative team, check out the Contact page.
- Rachel – poster
- Gilad – poster
- Rufeng, Ashok, Xiangyu, and Jonathan – talks
Emma defended her masters thesis (with actual people, socially distanced, in the auditorium! as well as others online) “The effect of substrate stiffness on healthy and neurofibromatosis type 1 Schwann cell morphology and traction stress generation”.
Francesca begins her masters project investigating time- and length scale-dependent mechanical properties of soft agarose gels.
Christina continues her undergraduate research for her masters project on in vitro modeling the mammary duct to investigate biomechanical factors of the DCIS to IDC transition in breast cancer.
Emma Brown, Christina Rogers, and Zoe Stetson complete their BS degrees in BME!
Congratulations to Samuel for his excellent presentation “Analysis of Matrix-Dependent Traction Force and Stress Generation with Traction Forcce Microscopy” winning 1st Place at the 12th Annual RPI Undergraduate Research Symposium!
Jonathan’s work on the development of a mammary duct model to investigate the influence of biomechanical factors on the transition from Ductal Carcinoma In Situ to Invasive Ductal Carcinoma was published in a special edition of Tissue Engineering Part A on Oncology and Tissue Engineering.
Dr. Mills and her lab were recognized by the RPI School of Engineering with the 2020 Research Excellence Award!
Francesca LaPinta starts an undergraduate research project working on the mechanical characterization of hydrogels
Welcome Francesca!
Health reporter Benita Zahn from WNYT interviewed Dr. Mills for a multi-part reporting piece on cancer research.
Jonathan’s research on the growth of tumor emboli was published in Integrative Biology.
The paper also features some nice mechanical characterization by Jamie. Thanks to Xiangyu and Nora and our other collaborators for their contributions!
RPI issued a press release on that publication.
Congratulations Jonathan and Jamie!
Agnes Han, a junior in mechanical engineering, starts an undergraduate research project investigating the contact guidance of NF1 and NF2 fibroblasts.
Welcome Agnes!
Emma Brown, who is finishing up her BS in BME, starts her MS thesis work in the Mills Lab studying the biomechanics of NF1 Schwann cell aggregates.
Welcome Emma!
The Mills Lab is trying to make the best of quarantine….
View Dr. Mills’s 5-minute Lightning Talk “Rapid fabrication of micro-scale collagen bundles and their application in studies of tumor cell-matrix interactions,” presented at this year’s virtual Summer Biomechanics, Bioengineering, and Biotransport Conference.
Zoe Stetson, a sophomore in biomedical engineering, joins the lab.
She and Christina Rogers will both receive NSF REU (research experience for undergraduates) stipends to develop Outreach modules for the Engineering Ambassadors program and do literature review and develop research plans for when we can return to the lab.
Welcome Zoe and congratulations to you both!
Gavin Mays graduated with BS, Jamie with MS, and Jonathan with PhD!
At RPI’s campus-wide 11th Annual Undergraduate Research Symposium Gavin Mays won 1st place for his poster, “Plexiform Neurofibroma Schwann Cells show greater cell-substrate interactions compared to Healthy Schwann Cells”. Samuel Chen received an honorable mention for his poster, “Establishing an in vitro Model for Quantitative Analysis of Breast Cancer Intra-tumoral Heterogeneity”.
Congratulations to Gavin and Samuel!
Jamie Gearhart won the MANE Department’s Michael A. Sodowsky Prize recogning outstanding scholarship and demonstrated ability in the application of mechanics.
Double congratulations Jamie!!
Samuel Chen won the Charles D. Dyce Prize, in recognition of demonstrated high scholastic ability and involvement in extracurricular activities and potential for constructive leadership.
Congratulations Samuel!!
Jamie’s master’s thesis is titled, “A study on utilizing multi-scale indentation and compression methods to robustly characterize the mechanical properties of viscoelastic materials”, and her results are integral to an upcoming paper (stay tuned).
Congratulations Jamie!
Xiangyu’s paper, “Rapid fabrication of collagen bundles mimicking tumor-associated collagen architectures” is published in Acta Biomaterialia.
RPI has issued a press release on that publication comprising a short and general video on the work in our group:
Samuel Chen, a sophomore mechanical engineering student, joins the lab.
Welcome Samuel!
Congratulations to Sarah Ahearn on her graduation with a BS degree in biomedical engineering!
Congratulations to Aly Tremblay on her graduation with an MEng in mechanical engineering and finishing up her project titled, “Spreading Behavior and Morphology of NF1 and NF2 Fibroblasts”!
And, congratulations to the lab’s first PhD: Xiangyu Gong!
We wish you all the best!
Xiangyu successfully defended his thesis titled, “A Multiscale Study Revealing the Interplay Between Tumor Growth and the Three-Dimensional Extracellular Matrix”.
Dr. Mills was recognized for her teaching with the RPI School of Engineering Classroom Excellence Award
We had a record number of abstracts accepted – both grad and undergrads – to present posters at BMES.
Xiangyu, Jonathan, Rufeng, Aly, Jamie, Sarah, and Gavin braved the van ride down to Philadelphia with Dr. Mills!
Christina Rogers, a sophomore in biomedical engineering, joins the lab. She will work with Jonathan on an in vitro model of the mammary duct to study the effects of the physcial environment on the invasive transition of ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS).
Welcome Christina!
Alina Hunecke, an undergraduate student in Biomedical Science at Reutlingen University in Germany, joins the lab to do a semester-long research project.
Welcome Alina!
Engineering Exploration is a week-long residential program for high school students (rising juniors or seniors) to experience hands-on activities that introduce them to the various engineering fields.
Sarah Ahearn serves as a group leader and mentor for a group of 24 students for the week!
Xiangyu helps out in the mechanical engineering lab!
Thank you Sarah and Xiangyu!
Micah Rambo, who recently completed his BA in Biochemistry, Biophysics, and Molecular Biology at Whimann College, joined the lab. Micah will be studying the biomechanics of tumors associated with neurofibromatosis type I.
Welcome Micah!
Sarah Ahearn and Gavin Mays, both seniors in biomedical engineering, join the lab.
Sarah will continue to build on the work of Elly Pontius and study the effects of production method on tumor spheroids.
Gavin Mays will begin an investigation into Schwann cell behavior in our 3D in vitro matrix models.
Welcome Sarah and Gavin!
Elly Pontius, Gilad Drillich, Devon Forsythe, and Peter D’Almeida all graduate with BS degrees in Biomedical Engineering.
Congratulations to you all and please keep in touch!
Ashok Williams defended his masters thesis titled “Designing 3D fiber reinforced hydrogels for in vitro cell studies” in which he describes the project he took on, in collaboration with Prof. Johnson Samuel’s lab, to develop a continuous hybrid manufacturing process to make fiber-reinforced composite hydrogels. The first hydrogel-embedded 3D random fibrous network for cell studies.
The award for Dr. Mills’s work titled, Force-Generating Mechanisms Responsible for Matrix-Dependent Compressive Mechanical Feedback During Tumor Growth, will support the lab’s research on how tumor cells transduce mechanical force and outreach efforts including engaging visits to local high school classrooms to talk about the interdisciplinary nature of cell biomechanics and mechanobiology research.
Aly Tremblay receives her BS in biomedical engineering this term as she finishes up her undergraduate requirements. Exciting news is that she’s decided to stay on at RPI and in the lab to work on her MEng project in mechanical engineering! Aly will continue with her project on studying the dynamics of cell spreading with the NF fibroblasts.
Congrats Aly!
Jaime Gearhart, a senior undergraduate student in biomedical engineering, joined the lab and will start her project (building on with the work started by Rachel Dass) on mechanical characterization of tumor spheroids and tissues using milli- and nano-scale indentation techniques.
Welcome Jaime!
Aly Tremblay and Peter D’Almeida, both senior undergraduate student in biomedical engineering, joined the lab. Aly will start a project studying the spreading of NF fibroblasts and Peter will work on the development of a microfluidic platform for incresing the efficiency of cell patterning.
Welcome Aly and Peter!
Samuel Weinstein joins the lab from Montville Township High School in Montville, NJ for a month-long research experience as part of the Rensselaer Research Program.
Update August 2018: Sam starts a lab tradition of winning the faculty-selected Best Poster Award for this year’s Renssleaer Research Program for his poster “Mechanical Characterization of In Vitro Hydrogel Models”.
Congratualtions Sam!
Ashok Williams and Rachel Dass are first and second authors, respectively, on a paper of collaborative work with Prof. Johnson Samuel’s group on a novel 3D fiber-reinforced hydrogel ECM in vitro model in Frontiers of Physiology.
Congratulations!
Rachel Dass won a Graduate Student Travel Award to present her work at the 2018 BMES: Advanced Biomanufacturing Special Interest Group meeting August 23 & 24 at WPI! Her poster is titled, “Toward Morphologically Relevant Extracellular Matrix in Vitro Models: 3D Reinforced Hydrogels “.
Congratulations on a job well done, Rachel!
Gilad Drillich, an undergraduate student dual majoring in biomedical and mechanical engineering, joins the lab. He will work on Matlab coding for data analysis and image processing.
Xiangyu presented his reseach progress and plan for completing his PhD work to his committee and passed his candidacy exam.
Congratulations PhD Candidate!
Xiangyu’s first paper, “Large-scale patterning of single cells and cell clusters in hydrogels,” was published in Scientific Reports.
Congratulations Xiangyu!
Devon Forsythe, an undergraduate student in biomedical engineering, joins the lab. He will work with Sebastian Barrutia on cell invasion assays and with Xiangyu on image analysis.
Welcome Devon!
Jonathan presented his reseach progress and plan for completing his PhD work to his committee and passed his candidacy exam.
Congratulations PhD Candidate!
Rachel Dass receives her BS in mechanical engineering this term as she finishes up her undergraduate requirements. Exciting news is that she’s decided to stay on at RPI and in the lab to work on her MS in biomedical engineering! Rachel will work on characterizing soft materials and tissues using the microcompression system.
Way to go Rachel!
Xiangyu wins RPI’s Founders Award of Excellence.
The award honors “students who embody qualities of creativity, discovery, leadership, and the values of pride and responsibility at Rensselaer.”
Dr. Mills, Xiangyu, Jonathan, Ashok, Rufeng, and Rachel travel as a group to Phoenix for the BMES Annual Meeting. All students had a wonderful experience and did a great job presenting their posters.
Congratulations!
Trijal Koduri joins the lab for a month-long research experience as part of the Rensselaer Research Program.
Update August 2017: Trijal wins the Outstanding Poster Presentation award for this year’s Renssleaer Research Program for his poster “Tumor growth in response to cell density”. Congratulations Trijal!
Nora Herzog, an undergraduate student in Cell Biology and Neuroscience at Rutgers University will join the lab as a research assistant and work with Jonathan Kulwatno on studying the growth of tumor emboli in in vitro model lympatic vessels. Welcome Nora! Andrew Nicholas, a senior mechanical engineering student at RPI, joins the lab for the summer to work on Matlab coding for image processing and analysis. Welcome Andrew! Elizabeth “Elly” Pontius, a sophomore biomedical engineering student at RPI, joins the lab and will study tumor spheroid production methods. Welcome Elly!
Sebastian Barrutia, an undergraduate student dual majoring in biomedical and mechanical engineering joins the lab. His experimental project will be on cell invasion into collagen matrices and he will develop Matlab image processing code. Welcome Sebastian!
Ihsan Nordin will do his MEng project in the lab. He will study the effects of cell density on the growth of aggregates in agarose gels. Welcome Ihsan!
Rufeng Ma (MS in mechanical engineering from Beijing Jiaotong University) and Robert Altman (MS in mechanical engineering from RPI) joined the lab to work on projects in mechanosensing of NF fibroblasts and microfluidic cell patterning, respectively.
Welcome Rufeng and Robert!
Jonathan Kulwatno, who recently earned an MS in biomedical engineering from RPI, joins the lab.
Jonathan will develop in vitro models of ductal and vessel structures.
Welcome Jonathan!
Ashok Williams (BS in mechanical engineering from UMBC) joins the lab and will work on the electrospinning project.
Welcome Ashok!
Rachel Dass joins the lab to work on the electrospining project in collaboration with Prof. Johnson Samuel’s lab
James Sherman, Andrew Chi, Jeffrey Chen, and Alexis Hill all join the Mills Lab to do undergraduate research projects. James Sherman is working on developing an electrospinning setup for creating 3D ECM-mimicking environments. Andrew Chi and Alexis Hill are fabricating and mechanically characterizing agarose-collage co-gels.
Xiangyu Gong, who recently received his MS in manufacturing from Rutgers University, joins Dr. Mills as her first graduate student.
After learning cell culture and working in a wet lab, Xiangyu will work on a 3D cell patterning project.
Welcome Xiangyu!
© 2015 Kristen Mills. Statements.