Melvin Research Group

2026

October 2026

• Alejandra and Katherine’s paper, entitled “A microscale approach to investigate how exposure to fluid shear stress enhances the 1D migration of cancer cells” was accepted for publication in Biomicrofluidics

September 2026

• Gabrielle, Avery G., Jasmeen, and Charlotte present their work at the EUREKA! poster session

August 2026

• The group kicked off the semester with an ice cream social and lab trivia
• Christine Very, Ariadne Morada, Chris Jordan, Aubrey Meltzer, Gabriel Marigliano, Clara Wilson, and Amanda Spencer joined the group as undergraduate researchers through the CI program
• Avery Valz joined the lab as a new BME Ph.D. student investigating the role of biophysical deformation on altered cellular phenotypes
• Year 4 starts at Clemson for the MelvinMicroLab
• Abbey Grace presented her research at the Summer CI + UR Showcase

July 2026

• Hannah, Alli, and Julia present their research at the SPRI poster session
• High school students Callie Bernabe and Kailyn Eben visit the lab for a three-day workshop on microfluidics and chemical engineering research

June 2026

• Dr. Melvin’s collaborative paper entitled “Designing AI-enabled MEB Learning Activities” was presented at the American Society for Engineering Education Annual Meeting in Charlotte, NC
• Gabrielle Bridges, Jasmeen Chuku, Avery Gergen, and Charlotte Metcalf joined the group through the Clemson EUREKA! program
• GSSM high school students Hannah Loggie, Alli Thomas, and Julia Candeo joined the group through the Clemson SPRI program

May 2026

• Ariana, Allie, Violet, Isabella, Bella, Jovanna, Emma, and Julia graduated from Clemson with degrees in Chemical Engineering, Biomedical Engineering, Biochemistry, and Biological Sciences
• Dr. Melvin’s collaborative paper with a TREC working group, entitled “Exercise and Nutrition in Hematologic Malignancies: Translational Evidence and Emerging Interventions,” was accepted for publication in Blood Neoplasia

April 2026

• Dr. Melvin hosted the lab at his house for brunch to celebrate another great year at Clemson
• Caroline and Bree won 1st place in the FoCI Poster Competition
• 25 undergraduate researchers presented their work at the 2026 Focus on Creative Inquiry (FoCI)
• Ali and Anna’s paper, entitled “A Cell-Permeable β-Hairpin Peptide Biosensor for Real-Time, Single-Cell Quantification of Proteasome Activity,” was accepted for publication in ACS Sensors

March 2026

• Anna, Riley, Allie, Kaylee, Jessica, Katie D., Addie S., Krista, Addie V., Violet, Abbey Grace, Jim, and Ariana present their work at the American Chemical Society Annual Meeting in Atlanta, GA

February 2026

• Dr. Melvin presented an invited seminar in the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering at Princeton University entitled “Engineering preclinical tumor models and novel biosensors to study cancer drug resistance and metastatic spread”

January 2026

• Ciara Alderman, Emily Shewchuk, Josh Cruz-Ortega, and Cadence L’Heureux joined the group as undergraduate researchers through the CI program

2025

December 2025

• The lab moved to a brand new space in the Advanced Materials Innovation Complex (AMIC). We are all excited to restart research in this new space!
• Dr. Melvin hosts the group at his house for the annual holiday party and White Elephant Gift Exchange

November 2025

• Dr. Melvin’s collaborative paper with Dr. Ian Schneider at Iowa State University, entitled “Leveraging Crosslinker Diffusion to Template Stiffness Gradients in Alginate Hydrogels,” was accepted for publication in Biomedical Materials

October 2025

• • Braulio and Anowar’s paper entitled “A droplet microfluidic approach to investigate how fibroblasts alter collagen I spatial distribution and endocrine response in ER+ breast cancer” was accepted for publication in ACS Biomaterials Science and Engineering
• Allie, Abbey Grace, Katie C., and Jim presented their research at the 2025 BMES Annual Meeting in San Diego
• Dr. Melvin presented an invited seminar in the Linda and Bipin Doshi Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering at Missouri S&T University entitled “Engineering preclinical tumor models to study cancer drug resistance and metastatic spread”

September 2025

• Dr. Melvin’s collaborative paper with Christopher Chen, Lisa Bullard, and Sandy Pettit, entitled “How We Teach Teaching: A Snapshot of Graduate Student Instructor Duties and Training in Chemical Engineering,” was accepted for publication in Chemical Engineering Education

August 2025

• Caroline Coffey, Jacob Gibson, Anna Mossing, Isabella Andrews, Kaylee Wilson, Bryce Havens, and Makenna Remillard joined the group as undergraduate researchers through the CI program
• Year 3 starts at Clemson for the MelvinMicroLab
• Dr. Melvin is awarded an NSF grant entitled “Collaborative Research: Microfluidic Investigation on The Effect of Deformation on the Proliferation and Motility of Single Cells”. This proposal is in collaboration with Dr. John Kim at the University of Alabama. We are looking forward to a great year three!

July 2025

• Morgan, Priya, and Aiden present their summer research at the SPRI poster session

June 2025

• Braulio’s paper, entitled “Droplet microfluidics integrated with machine learning reveals how adipose-derived stem cells modulate endocrine response and tumor heterogeneity in ER+ breast cancer”, is accepted for publication in Lab on a Chip
• Madison Morris and Sara Bourini joined the group through the Clemson EUREKA! program
• GSSM high school students Morgan Cluppert, Priya Patel, and Aiden Senkier joined the group through the Clemson SPRI program

May 2025

• SPRI alumni Grace Zhang and Audrey Howard win the NAVS Humane Science Award at the 2025 International Science Fair
• Braulio, Erica, Riley C., Riley D., Sophia, Margaret, Zoe, and Lily graduate from Clemson

April 2025

• Anna wins 1st place in the Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering Graduate Poster Competition
• Anna and Riley present their research at the Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering Graduate Poster Competition
• Ariana, Abbey Grace, Addie S., Allie, Katie D., and Jim are accepted into the 2025 Clemson CI+UR summer research program. Congratulations!
• Katie D., Riley C., and Claire won 2nd place in the CSRF Poster Competition
• All 30 undergraduate researchers presented their work at the 2025 Focus on Creative Inquiry (FoCI)

March 2025

• Braulio successfully defended his dissertation. Congratulations Dr. Ortega Quesada!
• Caroline presented her research at the 2025 AIChE Regional Meeting at USF
• Allie, Margaret, Riley C., Katie D., and Erica presented their research at the 2024 ACS Annual Meeting in San Diego
• SPRI lab alumni Grace Zhang and Audrey Howard took first place at the regional science fair and quality to present their research at ISEF

February 2025

• LSU lab alum Laurel Fishburn visits the lab at Clemson
• Anna Chadwick successfully passed her oral exam and is now a Ph.D. candidate!
• Dr. Melvin presents at the Clemson CECAS STEM Day

January 2025

• Katherine Brennan, Jovanna Castillo, Karina Chun, Cammi Dauksza, Ava LiVigni, Holly McGee, Jessica Olerud, Claire Sitarski, and Scott Woodyard joined the group as undergraduate researchers through the CI program

2024

December 2024

• Our collaborative paper with Dr. Naohiro Kato (LSU Biological Sciences), entitled “COP5/HKR1 changes ciliary beat pattern and biases cell steering during chemotaxis in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii”, is accepted for publication in Scientific Reports
• The lab celebrates a great semester with our first holiday party at Clemson

October 2024

• Erica Wood won 2nd place in the Food, Pharmaceutical, and Bioengineering Poster Competition at AIChE 2024
• Braulio, Erica, Julia, Emma, and Addie V. presented their research at the 2024 AIChE Annual Meeting in San Diego
• Addie S., Krista, Katie D., Riley C., Jim, Riley D., Katherine, Margaret, Izzy, and Ariana presented their research at the 2024 BMES Annual Meeting in Baltimore
• Braulio and Riley O. presented their work at MicroTAS 2024 in Montreal

September 2024

• Addie V., Abbey Grace, and Nate presented at the EUERKA! poster session
• Braulio gave a department seminar at the Universidad de Costa Rica
• Braulio, Anna, and Riley O. won the first annual lab trivia competition

August 2024

• Lily Harshaw, Allison Donohue, Katie Cancro, Violet Lorei, and Zoe Swatland join the group as undergraduate researchers through the CI program
• Erica, Riley D, Margaret, Addie S, and Reagan present their work at the Clemson Summer CI+UR undergraduate research symposium

July 2024

• Addie Vondersaar, Nate Thomas, and Abbey Grace Pickrel join the group through the Clemson EUREKA! Program
• Grace, Audrey, and Sydney present their summer research at the SPRI poster session

June 2024

• GSSM high school students Grace Zhang, Audrey Howard, Mariana Mikhael, and Sydney LaSala join the group through the Clemson SPRI program
• Ali Rahnama and team’s paper entitled “A microfluidic approach to study variations in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii alkaline phosphatase activity in response to phosphate availability” is accepted for publication in Analyst
• High school student Emily Powell joins the group as a summer volunteer
• Our collaborative paper with Dr. Liz Martin (Tulane), entitled “Loss of hormone receptor expression after exposure to fluid shear stress in breast cancer cell lines”, has been accepted for publication in IJMS

May 2024

• Lab ice cream social to celebrate a successful first semester at Clemson

April 2024

• Braulio Ortega Quesada passed his oral exam and is now a Ph.D. candidate. Congrats, Braulio!
• All 18 CI students present their work at the 2024 Focus on Creative Inquiry (FoCI) research symposium
• Riley DeBock and Jim Marturano were awarded 1st Place in the FoCI printed poster competition. Great job!
• Braulio, Anna, and Riley present their work at the Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering Graduate Poster Symposium
• Anna Chadwick is awarded 3rd place in the ChBE grad poster symposium
• Jack Bedell successfully defends his honors thesis. Congrats!
• Calley Chauvin presents her work at the LSU Discover Day undergraduate research symposium and is awarded 3rd place in the STEM poster competition

March 2024

• Alejandra Ham successfully defends her M.S. thesis. Congrats Alejandra!
• Dr. Melvin gives a seminar to Clemson Bioengineering
• Dr. Melvin gives a virtual seminar at the Clemson Center for Human Genetics
• Margaret Zendzian, Riley DeBock, Erica Wood, Addie Schaaf, and Reagan Moore are accepted into the Clemson CI+UR summer research program. Congratulations!
• Alejandra Ham presents her work at the ACS Annual Spring Meeting in the BIOT division

February 2024

• Dr. Melvin gives a guest lecture at the AIChE meeting

January 2024

• 18 new undergraduates joined the lab through the Clemson Creative Inquiry (CI) program. Welcome to Addie, Krista, Margaret, Izzy, Riley D, Jim, Reagan, Sophia, Riley C, Katie, Erica, Julia, Emma, Ariana, Katherine, Caroline, Aleks, and Bella!
• MelvinMicroLab at Clemson is officially up and running! Let the mad science begin.
• First group meeting of the semester.

2023

December 2023

• Ali Rahnama graduated from LSU with his Ph.D. Congrats, Dr. Ali!
• Laurel and Andrew give their final CHE 3900 presentations
• Final lab outing at LSU, as the MelvinMicroLab is shut down
• Braulio Ortega Quesada and team’s paper entitled “A modular microfluidic platform to study how fluid shear stress alters estrogen receptor phenotype in ER+ breast cancer cells” is accepted for publication in Microsystems and Nanoengineering. Great job, team!

November 2023

• Equipment and consumables have started arriving to start up the lab

October 2023

• First-year graduate students Anna Chadwick and Riley Osbourn joined the group

September 2023

• Anowar Khan, Dr. John Pojman (LSU Chemistry), and Dr. Melvin are awarded a patent entitled “Methods and compositions for thiol-acrylate based materials for 3D cell culturing in a microfluidic device”

August 2023

• Dr. Melvin joins the faculty at Clemson University in the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
• Dr. Ali Rahnama successfully defends his thesis. Congrats Ali!
• Ali Rahnama presents two talks at the ACS Annual Fall Meeting in the BIOT division
• Calley Chauvin receives an LSU Discover Day stipend to continue her research at LSU. Congrats Calley!
• Hannah Hymel’s paper entitled “Incorporating a β-hairpin sequence motif to increase intracellular stability of a peptide-based PROTAC” is accepted for publication in the Biochemical Engineering Journal