Selected as Future Leader in Chemical Engineering
Ke (Chloe) Wen, E’22, chemical engineering and biochemistry, was selected for the Future Leaders in Chemical Engineering Symposium 2022 organized by North Carolina State University. This highly selective research symposium elects the finest undergraduate researchers of the graduating class in the United States to present their research. Students are recognized for their academic achievement, research contribution, and potential in academia and industry as future leaders in chemical engineering.
Wen was invited to present the research she conducted in collaboration with graduate student Mohammad (Mo) Hamrangsekachaee on engineering mechanically tunable gelatin-based hydrogels to study glycocalyx expression in human endothelial cells. As vascular endothelial dysfunction is a hallmark of cardiovascular diseases, this study aims at designing and developing an in vitro model to mimic the complex mechanical microenvironment of endothelial cells and better understand atherosclerosis-related mechanobiology of the glycocalyx. Wen worked under the supervision and guidance of professors Sidi A. Bencherif and Eno Ebong and their doctoral student Hamrangsekachaee.
Wen is the third undergraduate student working in the Bencherif lab to be selected for this award, preceding James Sinoimeri, E’21, in 2020 and Lauren Gerbereux, E’21, in 2021.
Wen will graduate from Northeastern in December. She plans to continue studying the cellular mechanical microenvironment in graduate school with the directions of mechanobiology and biomaterials to contribute to advanced disease modeling and drug screening in pursuit of better disease cures.