News

Dr. Cole DeForest receives renewed funding from NIH for studying biology in 4D

July 29, 2026

July 29, 2026 | UW Chemical Engineering Cole DeForest — MolES director of education and Weyerhaeuser endowed professor of Chemical Engineering and Bioengineering — received a funding extension of five years from the National Institutes of Health. The grant will support his lab in developing methods for studying human development and disease progression. Learn more about [...]

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Q&A: How UW researchers are using AI to speed up drug discovery and development

July 27, 2026

July 27, 2026 | UW News The newly launched Institute for Innovations in Drug Delivery and Disposition (I2D3) brings together expertise from across the University of Washington, including two MolES faculty leaders: Gaurav Bhardwaj, an associate professor of medicinal chemistry who oversees the Institute’s AI-enabled molecular design: and Marco Pravetoni, a professor of psychiatry and behavioral science [...]

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Dr. Jorge Marchand receives NIH funding to grow the “biocatalytic toolkit” for therapeutics

July 22, 2026

July 22, 2026 | UW Chemical Engineering Jorge Marchand, MolES faculty member and assistant professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering, has received the prestigious Maximizing Investigator’s Research Award (MIRA) from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Designed to provide highly talented and promising investigators with stable funding,  this five-year grant will support Dr. Marchand’s research [...]

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Gamble re-appointed director of Molecular Analysis Facility

July 14, 2026

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UW’s ISCRM–MolES Pilot Awards fuel cross-disciplinary innovation

June 26, 2026

June 26, 2026 The Institute for Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine (ISCRM) and Molecular Engineering & Sciences Institute (MolES) awarded two UW faculty-led teams Pilot Fellowship Funding. “These awards support projects initiated through the 2026 ISCRM-MolES Scientific Exchange and are intended to launch new collaborations between the two institutes to develop technologies that will address the root [...]

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Celebrating MolES graduates

June 17, 2026

On June 8 in Kane Hall, the UW Molecular Engineering and Sciences Institute (MolES) held a hooding ceremony for eight of our 2025-2026 molecular engineering PhD graduates.     Congratulations, Class of 2025–2026!   Gabrielle Balistreri | Chemical Engineering, Material Science Engineering Advised by Elizabeth Nance and Eleftheria Roumeli  Gabrielle’s thesis, Sustainably Sourced Bacterial Cellulose Nanoparticles for Targeted Drug Delivery, was completed in the winter of 2026.   Samantha Borje | Electrical & Computer Engineering Advised [...]

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MolES honors students with awards for research and service

June 12, 2026

June 12, 2026 The University of Washington’s Institute for Molecular Engineering and Sciences (MolES) recognized outstanding students with its annual MolES Student Awards.    Distinguished Dissertation Awards Gizem Gökçe-Alpkılıç, PhD, advised by Guarav Bhardwaj, was recognized for her exceptional contribution in advancing a research direction at the interface of medicinal chemistry, protein engineering, chemical biology, and artificial intelligence.   “Her work helped establish experimental and computational workflows that are now being used by [...]

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Engineering the Future

June 10, 2026

June 11, 2026 | By by Malavika Jagannathan, University Marketing & CommunicationsPhotos credits: Mark Stone and provided by Gizem Gökçe-Alpkılıç Equipped with her molecular engineering doctorate, recent grad Gizem Gökçe-Alpkılıç is using AI-powered tools to create proteins and solve global challenges, like drug-resistant infection. As a young child, Gizem Gökçe-Alpkılıç asked her parents for a [...]

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2026 MolES Catalyst Awards support collaborative microbial research initiatives  

May 27, 2026

May 27, 2026 Three University of Washington faculty-led teams received the Molecular Engineering and Sciences Institute’s (MolES’s) 2026 Catalyst Awards. These awards seed new research initiatives and support preliminary data generation. Each team will receive $5,000 in award funding to help launch their collaborative research. In April, participants in the MolES-sponsored Microbial Engineering Scientific Exchange [...]

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UW research team creates a new type of optical chip

May 21, 2026

A research team led by Arka Majumdar, MolES faculty member and UW Electrical & Computer Engineering (ECE) and Physics professor, has engineered a new type of optical microchip. This programmable photonic integrated circuit was fabricated in the Washington Nanofabrication Facility (WNF) and is low power, electrically reconfigurable, and can be mass-produced. Read more about this [...]

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AIMBE Recognizes Leader in Cytometry and Biomedical Engineering: Daniel T. Chiu, Ph.D.

May 4, 2026

May 4, 2026 The American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE) recently elected Daniel T. Chiu — professor of Bioengineering, Joint A. Bruce Montgomery Professor of Chemistry, and MolES faculty member — to the AIMBE College of Fellows Class of 2026. Dr. Chiu is recognized for his work in developing nanomaterials that have transformed single-molecule [...]

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NIH-funded team led by Berndt lab aims to supercharge protein sensor engineering

April 29, 2026

April 29, 2026 Congratulations to Berndt lab on receiving an $11 million grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) BRAIN Initiative. In an article produced by the Institute for Stem-Cell & Regenerative Medicine (ISCRM) and UW Medicine, learn how MolES faculty members Andre Berndt, associate professor in the Department of Bioengineering, and Doug Fowler, [...]

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MolES Student Spotlight: Daniel Mendoza

April 27, 2026

April 27, 2026 Q: What is your hometown?A: I’m originally from San Jose, California. Q: What are the three rotations you have been part of during your first year?A: First rotation: Bioengineering (creating logic-responsive hydrogels out of cross-linked proteins in the Cole DeForest lab. Second rotation: Materials Science (tuning the mechanical properties of bacterial cellulose [...]

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MolES’ Scientific Exchange sparks microbial engineering collaborations

April 21, 2026

April 21, 2026 On April 8, the University of Washington Molecular Engineering and Sciences (MolES) Institute hosted a Scientific Exchange on Microbial Engineering to catalyze new collaborations, share tools and expertise, and seed pilot projects.  Held in Foege Hall, the event convened 20 scientists from the Fred Hutch, Institute for Systems Biology (ISB), Pacific Northwest [...]

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Shijie Cao’s PRIME Lab Receives NSF CAREER Award

April 17, 2026

April 17, 2026 Shijie Cao, assistant professor in the Department of Pharmaceutics, leads the PRIME Lab (Pharmaceutical Research in Immune & Microbiome Engineering Laboratory) at MolES. The lab’s research on the gut microbiome and the compounds it produces was recently recognized with a National Science Foundation (NSF) CAREER Award. In this profile produced by UW [...]

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Golder Lab Research Aims to Keep Plastics Out of Landfills

April 9, 2026

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Suzie H. Pun Appointed Editor-in-Chief of ACS Nano Medicine

April 1, 2026

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Three MolES Faculty Researchers named AAAS Fellows

March 31, 2026

March 31, 2026 | Full UW News Release The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) has named MolES faculty members David Baker, Maitreya Dunham and David J. Masiello AAAS Fellows.  They are among 449 newly elected fellows from around the world, who are recognized for their “scientifically and socially distinguished achievements” in science [...]

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A mentor’s support turns curiosity into courage, doubt into discovery

March 23, 2026

March 23, 2026 Dr. Ayọ̀kúnlé Ọlánrewájú’s commitment to access connects students to meaningful research opportunities. In a profile produced by University of Washington Undergraduate Academic Affairs, learn how his mentorship and philosophy shapes research skills and professional confidence in undergraduates.  [...]

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David Baker elected to National Academy of Engineering

March 3, 2026

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