We extend a warm welcome to new PhD students Alex Arevalos, Patrick Connell, and Matthew Sapp.  We also welcome back Brandi Scully, who decided to stay in the lab for one more year to complete an MS in Bioengineering.

Congratulations to lab alumni Libby Stephens and Jerome Saltarrelli.  Their manuscript, “Differential proteoglycan and hyaluronan distribution in calcified aortic valves“ was accepted for publication in Cardiovascular Pathology. Lab member Jit Nandi is also a co-author.

Brandi Scully has just finished her year in our lab as part of the Medical School Research Track at the Baylor College of Medicine. We’ve really enjoyed her year here at Rice where we’ve benefited from her energy and bubbly personality, as

Lab alumni Janet Barzilla and Libby Stephens received work that 2 of their manuscripts were accepted for publication. Janet’s paper, Design and validation of a novel splashing bioreactor system for use in mitral valve organ culture, will be published in

Congratulations to our lab alum Libby Stephens.  Her manuscript, “Mitral Valvular Interstitial Cell Responses To Substrate Stiffness Depend On Age And Anatomic Region” was just accepted for publication in the journal Acta Biomaterialia.  Graduate student Chris Durst is second author

Hubert won a Predoctoral Fellowship from the American Heart Association South Central Affiliate. Awesome!  Way to go! BIOE, Rice News

Congratulations to our lab alum Dr. Janet Barzilla.  Her manuscript, “Organ Culture as a Tool to Identify Early Mechanisms of Serotonergic Valve Disease” has just been accepted for publication in the Journal of Heart Valve Disease.

Jane will be the the recipient of the 2011 A. J. Durelli Award from the Society for Experimental Mechanics (SEM)! This award recognizes younger members of the Society for “significant, innovative contributions of new techniques in experimental mechanics” made early

Libby Stephens, Kerem Kalpakci, and Dan Huey have all successfully defended this past semester. Their PhDs are deserved rewards for the hard work, determination, and patience they’ve exhibited throughout their graduate careers. Congratulations to you three and best of luck