News and Outreach

UNT 2025 Summer Camp

December 2025

In June, we had the joy of hosting three amazing cohorts - a total of 18 students - as part of our hands-on Summer Camp at UNT Biomedical Engineering Department. From cell culturing and BioMEMS to robotics and EEG signal processing, students explored a range of cutting-edge topics in the biomedical field.

A huge thank you to the National Science Foundation (NSF) Micro Nano Technology Education Center (MNT-EC) (Jared Ashcroft) for sponsoring this enriching experience - your support helps us inspire the next generation of biomedical innovators!

Special shoutout to our dedicated BMEN graduate students who mentored and guided our campers every step of the way. Your passion, patience, and leadership made all the difference.

We’re proud to be building future scientists - one experiment at a time!

Student Graduation!

December 2025

This year, our lab celebrated the graduation of two outstanding master’s students, Emily Carney (Spring 2025) and Andrea Escobar Martinez (Fall 2025).
Both made important contributions to our NIH-funded project focused on studying enzymatic responsive short peptides in drug-resistant breast cancer. Their dedication, creativity, and hard work have been truly inspiring. I’m very proud of their accomplishments and excited to see all the great things they will achieve in the future!

40th Southern Biomedical Engineering Conference held in Louisiana State University Health Shreveport

September 2024

The PI Presented as Keynote Speaker in the Biomaterials section chaired by Dr. Melanie Ecker.

46th annual IEEE EMBC conference held in Orlando (July 2024)

July 2024

The PI, Dr. Habibi and graduate students Emily Carney, Robert Powell, Farzaneh Fouladgar presented at the 46 th annual IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society conference in Orlando. Our graduate students presented three papers, showcasing the lab’s latest research in cancer drug discovery, magnetic devices, and mesenchymal stem cell tissue engineering.

2024 URE summer camp

June 2024

The Nanomedicine lab has partnered with MNT-EC to host high school, community college, and undergraduate students for a one-week nanobiotechnology summer camp.

This year’s summer camp was hosted in June 2024 by the BMEN Nanomedicine Lab at UNT. This enriching program brought together 13 talented students from across the nation, who enthusiastically engaged in various aspects of nanobiotechnology research. It was truly a pleasure working with each of these students this week.

A big shoutout to our awesome graduate students for doing an amazing job mentoring the participants (Emily Carney, Robert Powell, Farzaneh Fouladgar, Daniel Johnson, Camrie Johnson, Vishalakshi Irukuvarjula) and to the entire UNT Biomedical Engineering Department team for their invaluable support in hosting this camp. Additionally, we express our gratitude to the National Science Foundation (NSF) Micro Nano Technology Education Center (MNT-EC) (Jared Ashcroft) for sponsoring this enriching activity.

Dr. Habibi received NIH award

August 2023

Dr. Habibi has received  NIH award  for her research on a novel approach involving enzyme stimulation of peptides to target drug-resistant breast cancers. We heartfully thank  Dr. Vijay Vaidyanathan, Chair of the Biomedical Engineering Department at UNT, and the dedicated research office for their invaluable support in reaching this milestone. Also, special thanks to The National Institutes of Health for investing in innovative cancer treatment solutions.

Receiving the Seed funding: Collaborations of COS-CENG @ UNT

May 2023

We are thrilled to announce the successful acquisition of seed funding for our research collaboration project, which brings together the COS-CENG department at UNT. This project is a collaboration between Dr. Neda Habibi from BMEN, and Dr. Yuzhe Xiao from the Department of Physics, which focuses on the development of quantum-engineered metal nanoparticles for the enhancement of optical and biosensor films." Special thanks to Dr. Andrey Voevodin, Associate Dean of Research at CENG and Dr. Ed Dzialowski, Associate Dean of Research at COS for initiating this collaborative opportunity between two colleges.

Summer Camp 2023 Undergraduate Research in Nanobiotechnology

June 2023

MNT-CURN is a collaboration of community colleges and universities funded by NSF, to provide research experience to undergraduate students. The URE summer camp was held at BMEN UNT's Nanomedicine lab in the summer of 2023. This engaging program brought together 13 talented students from across the nation, who enthusiastically delved into various aspects of nanobiotechnology research. We extend our heartfelt appreciation to our exceptional graduate students (Yashesh varun Kasani, Forough Ghasem Zadeh Moslabeh, Emily Carney, Trevor Exley, Farzaneh Fouladgar, Robert Powell) and the entire BMEN team for their invaluable support in hosting this camp. Additionally, we express our gratitude to the NSF MNT-EC for sponsoring this enriching activity.
#NSF Micro Nano Technology Education Center (MNT-EC), Jared Ashcroft, Russell Swift