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ISCRM MolES Funding Awards
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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MolES graduates and PIs
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 awards
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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Gizem Gökçe-Alpkılıç headshot
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 Catalyst Award recipients
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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Chip MolES
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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AMBIE award
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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BERNDT lab
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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Microbial Scientific Exchange researchers
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 headshot with NSF logo
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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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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Ayokunle Olanrewaju_MolES
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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Exchange-Group-Photo-1024x576
ISCRM and MoIES Scientific Exchange Fosters Cross-Institute Collaboration

February 3, 2026

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. [...]

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better-batteries-jie-900x540_2
Building batteries better

January 26, 2026

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. [...]

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albert-foch-new-book
Microfluidics for the masses

January 5, 2026

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.” [...]

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Jane Keth EUV Photolithography story
UW team uses extreme ultraviolet photolithography to create next-generation integrated circuits

November 19, 2025

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, [...]

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scott-in-lab
Advancing water treatment for a sustainable future

October 6, 2025

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. [...]

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