Collaboration among mission-driven scientists from multiple disciplines and perspectives is a way of life in the University of Washington research community and a recognition that the greatest challenges our world faces are bigger than any single lab or institute can solve alone.
In that spirit, more than 60 faculty and trainees from two of the largest multidisciplinary research institutes at the UW recently gathered in Foege Hall for the inaugural ISCRM – MolES Scientific Exchange – a meeting of the minds between the Institute for Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine and the Molecular Engineering and Sciences Institute.
Looking beyond incremental innovations in energy storage technology, Jie Xiao wants to catalyze a robust domestic battery industry — from mining to manufacturing.
Build a better mousetrap, the old saying goes, and the world will beat a path to your door.
Build a better battery… and the multitudes should arrive in an endless stream of autonomous electric vehicles.
Only, it’s not that simple with energy storage.
Most battery innovations begin in academic environments that are designed for discovery rather than the cost, time and scale pressures of industry.
In his new book, “How the World Flows,” Albert Folch explores the miniature liquid networks that power natural phenomena, essential innovations and advanced biomedical devices.
Rainbows and rubber trees. Aquifers and fountain pens. Gauze pads and glucose strips. Candle wicks and carburetors. Pregnancy tests and 3D printers. Dialysis machines and DNA sequencers.
What’s the common denominator?
Each is enabled by microfluidics, miniature networks of liquids whose stable properties, at tiny scale, are essential to powering the natural world — and much of the manufactured world, too.
And each is explored in Albert Folch’s new book, “How the World Flows,” which invites readers to peer through the microscope into what he calls the “Lilliputian world of fluids at small scales.”
3rd year graduate student Jane Keth holding a piece of silicon wafer in front of the Bergsman Lab high-throughput molecular layer deposition reactor. (David Bergsman / University of Washington)
November 19, 2025
Semiconductor devices are a critical component of the many electronics that power our daily lives. The technological innovations that have driven their widespread success have relied on manufacturing smaller and smaller integrated circuits to build more powerful devices. The next generation of integrated circuit development will require features smaller than 10 nanometers, something that is not currently possible in today’s commercial manufacturing landscape. Read More
UW Chemical Engineering graduate student Joelle Scott, from the Bergsman Research Group, is working toward a more sustainable and equitable future through advanced materials research, testing new methods to remove toxic forever chemicals and other contaminants from wastewater.
September 22, 2025
The University of Washington’s Institute for Molecular Engineering and Sciences recognized outstanding graduate students in the spring with distinguished dissertation, scientific achievement and service awards. The awards were presented at the MolES graduation ceremony in June, where our Ph.D. graduates were also celebrated.
Distinguished Dissertation Awards
Sarah Wait , advised by Professor of Bioengineering Andre Berndt, was recognized for groundbreaking work in molecular biosensor engineering. Her dissertation tackled the longstanding challenge of efficiently exploring the vast sequence space of fluorescent sensor proteins to identify gain-of-function mutations. Read More
The University of Washington Molecular Engineering and Sciences Institute (MolES) is excited to introduce the newest cohort of Ph.D. candidates to the Molecular Engineering program. Get to know our new students.
The modern world is built with concrete: H umans use more concrete annually than any other material besides water . Yet cement, the key component of concrete, is the source of as much as 10% of all carbon dioxide emissions worldwide.
To address this problem, researchers at the University of Washington and Microsoft developed a new type of low-carbon concrete by mixing dried, powdered seaweed with cement. Read More
Shelly Sakiyama-Elbert, professor of bioengineering and Vice Dean of Research and Graduate Education in the UW School of Medicine, for “national leadership in biomedical research, research policy, and graduate education, including pioneering novel drug delivery approaches for regenerative medicine applications in the nervous system and other tissues such as bone, cartilage, tendon and skin.”
The Molecular Analysis Facility (MAF) is a state-of-the-art characterization facility that provides high end characterization tools to all users in the Pacific Northwest and beyond.
The MAF Characterization Workshop, Aug. 4-5, includes lectures in the morning and instrument demonstrations in the afternoon. Due to the capacity of our lab space, the registration number is limited. The Molecular Analysis Facility (MAF) at the University of Washington is near the Architecture Building (across the street from the MAF) at 4000 15th Ave NE.
The demonstrations on MAF instruments will provide application examples for much of the material covered in the workshop lectures. The Read More