2025
April 2025
Nikolaos Pipis was recognized as a "Mentor of Merit" from the UF Graduate School. As he states, he approaches mentoring as a matter of “paying it forward” — passing on to others the same coaching and care he got through his own ascent in academia. His focus on tailored mentorship for individual growth seeks to bring out the unique best in each of each of his mentees, since no two are alike.
April 2025
The Allen Lab attended the SFB 2025 - 50th Annual Meeting in Chicago! Nikolaos Pipis presented his PhD research through a poster at the "Fibrous Biomaterials for Tissue Engineering" session.
March 2025
Nikolaos Pipis gave an oral talk on his PhD research at the "UF Biomaterials Day 2025 Building Tomorrow with Biomaterials Today", titled "Injectable Nucleic Acid-Collagen Hydrogels: in vitro and in vivo Validation of Biocompatibility"
This research was funded by the National Institutes of Health NIH R21 (#5R21GM146088-02) award to J. B. Allen.
January 2025
Nikolaos Pipis, along with Allen lab alumnus Bryan James, PhD, lead a new manuscript published in ACS Biomaterials Science & Engineering reviewing the multifunctional nature of nucleic acid-collagen materials. Check it out!
This research was funded by the National Institutes of Health NIH R21 (#5R21GM146088-02) award to J. B. Allen.
2024
December 2024
Rachel Garner and Nikolaos Pipis represented the Allen Lab at the American Society for Gravitational and Space Research 2024 Conference in Puerto Rico!
They presented a poster titled "Modeling Hemodynamic Flow in Simulated Microgravity".
October 2024
Dr. Allen along with three of the summer AHA scholars, Barbara, Isabelle, and Andrea attended the 2024 Biomedical Engineering Society (BMES) annual conference. Each AHA scholar is presenting a poster from their summer 2024 research projects.
Congrats to the AHA summer scholars!
August 2024
Dr. Allen continues service on the Cell Press Academic Advisory Board to help support the 5th annual "Rising Black Scientist Award".
August 2024
The Allen Lab is happy to Welcome Zeyu (Eric) Liu as an incoming Ph.D. graduate student in the Materials Science and Engineering Department. Welcome Eric!
August 2024
Congratulations to Dr. Christopher Ludtka for successfully passing his dissertation defense entitled "Angiogenic Response of Vascular Cells to Simulated Microgravity". Dr. Ludtka has earned his Ph.D.!
Congrats Chris!
August 2024
Dr. Allen has taken on a new role as Associate Chair for the Materials Science and Engineering Department. Congratulations!
July 2024
Nikolaos Pipis leads a new manuscript published in ACS Omega diving further into our DNA-collagen material system and investigating its physicochemical properties.
This research was funded by the National Institutes of Health NIH R21 (#5R21GM146088-02) award to J. B. Allen.
July 2024
Nikolaos Pipis represented the Allen Lab at the TERMIS 2024 World Congress. He presented his research through a poster and a talk, and co-chaired the "Harnessing Peptide and Protein-Based Materials for Tissue Engineering" session.
June 2024
Barbara Stewart, a senior from UCF majoring in Biotechnology joins the Allen Lab! She will be mentored by Nikolaos Pipis as part of the Cardiovascular Research Summer Scholars Training Program 2024, funded by AHA.
May 2024
Christopher Ludtka leads a new paper published in Gravitational and Space Research that builds off our space flight study to review the topic of microgravity on vascular smooth muscle cells.
This work was supported by the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases award (T32 DK108736) and an award from NASA through the Florida Space Grant Consortium.
May 2024
Nikolaos Pipis leads a new manuscript published in Regenerative Engineering and Translational Medicine describing our DNA-collagen material system 🧬 and showing its tunability as a bioactive hydrogel.
This research was funded by the National Institutes of Health NIH R21 (#5R21GM146088-02) award to J. B. Allen.
May 2024
Nikolaos Pipis is now a PhD candidate after successfully passing his proposal defense titled "Nucleic Acid-Collagen Complexes as Tunable Instructive Scaffolds for Versatile Tissue Regeneration Applications: An Angiogenesis Study".
April 2024
Allen recognized for her contributions to the department with the Department of Materials Science and Engineering Excellence Award for 2023-2024. Congratulations!
March 2024
Dr. Allen is serving as Track Co-Chair for the "Biomaterials" Track for the upcoming BMES 2024 conference in Baltimore, MD. Her engagement also includes serving again on the BMES Diversity subcommittee.
February 2024
Excited we have recently been awarded an AHA Undergraduate Summer Training Grant! Excited to welcome five undergraduate students to UF this summer to work on exciting projects in Cardiovascular Science and Engineering!
January 2024
The Allen lab has received a new award from the newly established In-Space Biomanufacturing for Human Health Innovation Hub (InSpaBio) entitled "The impact of altered hemodynamics in simulated microgravity on vascular endothelial cells" in collaboration with Dr. Julio Duarte. Congratulations!
2023
November 2023
Nikolaos Pipis presented his research through a poster titled "Unlocking the Potential of Nucleic Acid-Collagen Complexes: Tunability and Biomaterial Characterization" at the Annual Pruitt Research Day, UF Department of Biomedical Engineering.
November 2023
Chris Ludtka presented his research through a poster titled "Assessment of the Functional Impacts of Simulated Microgravity on HUVECs" at the 2023 Annual Meeting of the American Society for Gravitational and Space Research.
November 2023
The Allen Lab welcomes Dr. Ana Diaz-Artiles from Texas A&M University.
OCTOBER 2023
Nikolaos Pipis presenting his oral talk titled “Engineering a Mechanically Tunable DNA-Collagen hydrogel system” at the BMES 2023 Annual Meeting.
August 2023
Dr. Allen has been promoted to Full Professor in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering. Congratulations!
August 2023
Dr. Allen has been named Genzyme Professor of Materials Science and Engineering for a second term 2023-2028. Congratulations!
May 2023
Congratulations to the Allen Lab graduate students Logan Piner and Benjamin Ryder for earning their M.S. degrees in MSE.
April 2023
Dr. Allen, Christopher Ludtka and lab alumni Bryan James have published a new invited manuscript entitled "Sex as a Biological Variable in Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine" This was an excellent team effort and is a must read! Congratulations!
March 2023
Nikolaos Pipis presented a poster of his work titled "DNA as a Tunable Building Block for Nucleic Acid-Collagen Complex Hydrogel Systems"
January 2023
Graduate student, Chris Ludtka, also an NIHF31 fellow, heads down to the Kennedy Space center (KSC) to conduct some pilot studies in simulated microgravity. The work is supported by a "Dissertation Thesis and Improvement Fellowship" to Chris from the Florida Space Grant Consortium. Congrats Chris!
January 2023
Dr. Allen has joined the editorial board of American Heart Journal Plus: Cardiology Research! Congratulations!
January 2023
Dr. Allen taking on a new role as Editor in chief for Gravitational and Space Research journal, the official journal of the American Society of Gravitational and Space Research (ASGSR). Congratulations!
2022
November 2022
Dr. Allen along with Dr. Erika Moore, Dr. Connie Mulligan from UF and Elizabeth Wayne from UW (not pictured above) have published an important manuscript entitled "Ancestry of cells must be considered in bioengineering" in Nature Review Materials. Excellent Collaboration! Congratulations!
October 2022
The Allen Lab dresses as "The Elements" for the 2022 WeBio Costume Contest.
September 2022
The Allen Lab welcomes new students and is ready for another successful academic year!
July 2022
Dr. Allen, along with collaborators Dr. Rachael Seidler, Dr. Christine Wegner, and Dr. Ana Diaz-Artiles have partnered with The Translational Research Institute for Space Health (TRISH) to support their program entitled "Boosting Spaceflight Underrepresented Researcher Equity (B-SURE)" which is designed to increase the number of underrepresented researchers conducting space health research and engaging with the broader space health community. Congratulations!
June 2022
Congratulations to the Allen Research Group for receiving a new 2 year, R21 award from The national Institutes Health, NIGMS division. This work will incvolve the fabricate and characterization of DNA based hydrogel materials. Congrats!
May 2022
Dr. Allen has been invited to join the Academic Advisory Board for Cell Press, Rising Black Scientist Award. She is thrilled to serve in this important role!
May 2022
A paper led by graduate student, Heather Ursino has been published entitled "Hemocompatibility of All-trans Retinoic Acid–Loaded Citrate Polymer Coatings for Vascular Stents" in the journal Regenerative Engineering & Translational Medicine
May 2022
Today we celebrate the commencement of both Dr. Jeremy Elias and Dr. Bisheng Zhang who both recently finished their Ph.D. degrees under the mentorship of Dr. Allen. Congratulations!
Congratulations to Bisheng Zhang for successfully defending his doctoral dissertation entitled "Exploration of poly diol-co-citrate coated drug delivering stent system". Congratulations!
March 2022
Congratulations to Jeremy Elias for successfully defending his doctoral dissertation entitled "Investigating Organic and Inorganic Additives and Crosslinks in Biomimetic Interpenetrating Composites". Jeremy was Co-advised by Dr. Laurie Gower. Congratulations!
February 2022
Dr. Allen was celebrated by the University of Florida Biomedical Engineering Program during Black History Month! In her highlight she talks about the inspirational women in her family, who paved the way to greatness!
January 2022
The Allen lab has contributed a chapter with the book "Tissue Engineering Using Ceramics and Polymers" entitled "Bone Tissue Engineering". Great team effort, Congrats!
2021
October 2021
Congratulations to Dr. Allen for being elected a fellow of the Biomedical Engineering Society for significant contributions and service to BMES and to the field of Tissue Engineering!
April 2021
Dr. Allen highlighted in the series "Faces of Cell" which increases the visibility of Cell Press authors who are members of underrepresented groups. Congrats!
March 2021
Alex Barbosa and Paxton Guerin accepted into UF Undergraduate Scholars Program!
Congratulations MSE Undergraduate Alex Barbosa and BME Undergraduate Paxton Guerin for being accepted to the prestigious University of Florida Undergraduate Scholars Program!
Congratulations Dr. Bryan James! Bryan successfully defended his dissertation titled, “Engineering complex microenvironments & their applications to sex-specific mechanobiology and biomaterial development”. Way to Go!
February 2021
Dr. Allen is included in the University of Florida Biomedical Engineering Program's special issue "Amplifying Black Voices" in honor of Black History Month!
February 2021
Just Accepted review in NPJ Microgravity! Congratulations to Chris Ludtka, a PhD student in the Allen Lab, and Dr. Josephine Allen who recently collaborated with Dr. Erika Moore and one of her PhD students, Justin Silberman, on a comprehensive review of microgravity studies that have been conducted over the last several decades on monocytes and macrophages.
2020
October 2020
Congratulations to Ph.D. candidate/NIH F31 Fellow Bryan James for his research article, “Self-assembled VEGF-R2 targeting DNA aptamer-collagen fibers stimulate an angiogenic-like endothelial cell phenotype,” being published in the journal, Materials Science & Engineering: C. This work was made possible by contributions from both third year BME undergraduate student, Sophia Saenz, and high school student Anastacia van Gent during her summer in the Allen Lab as part of the SSTP program.
October 2020
Dr. Allen and Ph.D. candidate and NIH F31 Fellow Bryan James have an essay published entitled, “Let’s Talk About Sex- Biological Sex Is Underreported in Biomaterial Studies,” in the journal, Advanced Healthcare Materials. This work was made possible by contributions from third year BME undergraduate student, Paxton Guerin. Great work team!
October 2020
Congratulations to Bryan James on being awarded a prestigious graduate student fellowship from the Foundation for Women’s Wellness! This recognition is in support of Bryan and his research focused on uncovering sex-based differences in vascular mechanobiology.
August 2020
Allen Lab Welcomes New Masters Student Kari Ross! Kari is a first year graduate student in Biomedical Engineering. She is a double gator, having just finished her bachelors in Materials Science Engineering. She will be working on a DNA-Collagen Hydrogel for application in wound healing. Welcome Kari!!
June 2020
Congratulations to Ph.D. candidate/NIH F31 Fellow Bryan James for his research article, “Mineralized DNA-Collagen Complex-Based Biomaterials for Bone Tissue Engineering,” published in the journal, International Journal of Biological Macromolecules. This work was made possible by contributions from Biomedical Engineering undergraduate student Paxton Guerin and UF biology graduate 19’ Zion Iverson.
May 2020
Congratulations to Ph.D. candidate/NIH F31 Fellow Bryan James for his research article, “MechanoBioTester: A Decoupled Multistimulus Cell Culture Device for Studying Complex Microenvironments In Vitro,” being published in the journal, ACS Biomaterials Science & Engineering. This work was made possible by contributions from Electrical Engineering undergraduate student Nicolas Montoya. Former MSE undergraduates students Chris Cotter and Scott Parker both helped in the early stages of the MechanoBioTester’s design and development for their senior thesis projects. Former REU student Jeffrey Butler contributed to developing the process for the stretch validation of the MechanoBioTester chamber.
May 2020
Congratulations to Nirja Shah on completing her Undergraduate Honors Thesis titled, “A 3D Hydrogel Model to Assess Endothelial Cell-Macrophage Interactions in Simulated Microgravity”. Nirja has been mentored by graduate student Chris Ludtka. She will be part of the UF College of Medicine Class of 2024.
May 2020
Congratulations to Gantt Meredith for completing his undergraduate studies in Biomedical Engineering! He participated in the Allen Research Group and was the Secretary for the UF Chapter of the Society For Biomaterials during 2019-2020. Now, Gantt is heading to The George Washington University in the fall to pursue his Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering. Good Luck!
April 2020
Congratulations BME Undergraduate Sophia Saenz for being accepted to the prestigious University of Florida Undergraduate Scholars Program!
March 2020
Dr. Josephine Allen Elected to The American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE) College of Fellows! Election to the AIMBE College of Fellows is among the highest professional distinctions accorded to a medical and biological engineer. The College of Fellows is comprised of the top 2% of medical and biological engineers. Congratulations!
Archive News
Bryan James represented the Allen Lab at the TERMIS-AM Annual Meeting. He presented a poster of his work on, “A Decoupled Multi-Stimulus Bioreactor for Studying Complex Chemo-Mechanical Microenvironments In Vitro“.
December 18, 2019
Congratulations to Ph.D. candidate/NIH F31 Fellow Bryan James for his research article, “Oligomer Length Defines the Self-Assembly of Single-Stranded DNA–Collagen Complex Fibers,” being published in the journal, ACS Biomaterials Science & Engineering. DOI: 10.1021/acsbiomaterials.9b01435
2019 BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING SOCIETY (BMES) ANNUAL MEETING, PHILADELPHIA, PA
Bryan James represented the Allen Lab at the 2019 BMES Annual Meeting. He presented a poster of his work on, “A Decoupled Multi-Stimulus Bioreactor for Studying Complex Chemo-Mechanical Microenvironments In Vitro“.
June 23, 2019
Congratulations to Dr. Allen and Dr. Moore for being awarded a research grant from the Space Research Initiative (SRI), entitled “A 3D hydrogel model to assess endothelial cell-macrophage interactions in simulated microgravity”.
June 12, 2019
After several years of planning, optimizations and numerous launch attempts, the Allen lab has successfully launched their research on cardiovascular cells to the International Space Station (ISS).
April
2019 SOCIETY FOR BIOMATERIALS (SFB) ANNUAL MEETING, SEATTLE, WA
Bryan James represented the Allen Lab at the 2019 SFB Annual Meeting. He presented a poster of his work on, “A Decoupled Multi-Stimulus Bioreactor for Studying Complex Chemo-Mechanical Microenvironments In Vitro“. Additionally, Bryan competed as part of the UF SFB Student Chapter in the SFB Biomaterials Education Challenge for which he won 1st place for his poster, “Osseous biomaterials: When your bone needs help healing”. For 1st place, the UF SFB Student Chapter received an award of $1,500.
8TH ANNUAL UF BIOMATERIALS DAY, GAINESVILLE, FL
Nicolas Montoya represented the Allen Lab at the student organized Biomaterials Day Symposium. He presented a poster of his work on, “A Decoupled Multi-Stimulus Bioreactor for Studying Complex Chemo-Mechanical Microenvironments In Vitro“. Bryan James was one of the organizers of the event with the other UF SFB Student Chapter elected board members.
2018 BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING SOCIETY (BMES) ANNUAL MEETING, ATLANTA, GA
Bryan James represented the Allen Lab at the 2018 BMES national conference. He presented a poster of his work on “Spatial Command of PDMS Optical and Mechanical Properties by Controlled Diffusion-Reaction Processes”.
2018 CTSI TRAINING AND PILOT AWARD RESEARCH DAY, GAINESVILLE, FL
Graduate student Krista Dulany participated in the CTSI Training and Pilot Award Research Day to present the research planned for her CTSI Pilot Trainee Award on the “Investigation of Free Radical Scavenging Nanocomposite Scaffolds for Bone Tissue Regeneration” where she will study the effects of free radical scavenging scaffolds on Human Osteoblast cells placed under oxidative stress as well as a preliminary in-vivo biocompatibility study.
SOCIETY FOR BIOMATERIALS ANNUAL MEETING 2018, ATLANTA, GA
The entire Allen Lab attended SFB 2018 held in Atlanta, GA. Graduate students Allison Goins and Krista Dulany presented research posters on their current work, Engineering Blood Vessels through Dynamic Culture of Biomimetic Scaffolds and Fabrication of a Free Radical Scavenging Nanocomposite for Bone Tissue Regeneration, respectively. Krista was also selected to give a Rapid Fire Presentation on her research. Dr. Allen co-organized a symposium entitled “Biomaterials for Regenerative Engineering Application.”
SOCIETY FOR BIOMATERIALS ANNUAL MEETING 2017, MINNEAPOLIS, MN
Undergraduate student, Taylor Repetto, presented her poster on a novel tri-component polymeric electrospun scaffold for vascular tissue engineering at SFB’s Annual meeting.
UF SOCIETY FOR BIOMATERIALS BIOMATERIALS DAY 2017, GAINESVILLE, FL
Ph.D. Candidate, Krista Dulany, and Undergraduate student, Taylor Repetto, present posters on their research at UF Society for Biomaterials Biomaterials Day 2017.
1st Annual Diversity Graduate Research Symposium, Gainesville, FL
Ph.D. Candidates, Allison Goins and Krista Dulany, present posters on their research at the Diversity Graduate Symposium. Allison presented her research on fabricating electrospun scaffolds for wound healing and Krista Dulany presented her work on the fabrication of a free radical scavenging nanocomposite scaffold for bone regeneration.
January
January 9, 2017
Congratulations to the Allen Lab for being selected for the Space Research Initiative and the Florida Space Institute to conduct research aboard the International Space Station U.S. National Laboratory.
November 21, 2016
The Allen lab is proud to announce that we were awarded the NASA funded GeneLab Innovation Awards for Translational Systems Biology.
5TH ANNUAL PRUITT RESEARCH DAY, GAINESVILLE, FL
Ph.D. candidate, Allison Goins presented a poster on her research on electrospun scaffolds for wound healing and Pruitt Research Day.
AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR SPACE AND GRAVITATIONAL RESEARCH (ASGSR), CLEVELAND, OH
Dr. Allen giving her talk Microgravity Effects on The Effect of Simulated Microgravity on the Function of Vascular Stem Cells at ASGSR
BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING SOCIETY CONFERENCE, MINNEAPOLIS, MN
Students Allison Goins and Vidhya Ramaswamy represent the Allen Lab at BMES with posters. Allison was also selected to give a podium talk on her work with wound dressings.
INSTITUTE FOR CELL & TISSUE SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING SYMPOSIUM, GAINESVILLE, FL
Students Elliott Dirr, Allison Goins, and Vidhya Ramaswamy present their posters at the first annual ICTSE Symposium.
BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING SOCIETY CONFERENCE, TAMPA, FL
Students Elliott Dirr and Vidhya Ramaswamy present their work at BMES.
BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING SOCIETY CONFERENCE, SAN ANTONIO, TX
Vidhya Ramaswamy gives a talk at BMES as well as presents a poster.