News from the lab

Mikayla is awarded an NSF GRFP!

Posted on May 30, 2024

Mikayla was awarded the prestigious NSF Graduate Research Fellowship for her research on biophysical mechanisms of lymphocyte cytoskeletal dynamics. The NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP) supports outstanding graduate students in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) disciplines who are pursuing research-based master’s and doctoral degrees at accredited United States... [Read More]

Student awards and recognition

Posted on April 15, 2023

Frank received an honorable mention for his NSF Graduate Research Fellowship application. Vishavdeep and Frank both were awarded the Biophysics Award for Research Excellence. Aashli received the Zain-Ul-Abedin Memorial Fellowship Award for her research on biophysical mechanisms of lymphocyte cytotoxicity. Congratulations all! [Read More]

Congratulations, Dr. Wagh!

Posted on March 15, 2023

Kaustubh gave a fantastic talk in a successful defense of his PhD thesis! A new phase in the collaboration on with the Hager lab at NIH. [Read More]

Vishavdeep wins the best poster award at the UMD Bioscience Day

Posted on October 15, 2022

Vishavdeep wins the best poster award at the UMD Bioscience day (Biochemistry/Biophysics category) for his poster “Competition between Actin Treadmilling and Myosin Contractility regulates the formation of Actomyosin Rings.” This collaborative experiment/modeling work (with Papoian lab) is accepted for publication in eLife. [Read More]

Arpita is awarded an NSF Transitions grant

NSF Transitions

Posted on January 1, 2022

Arpita receives a Transitions to Excellence Award from the National Science Foundation’s Division of Molecular and Cellular Biosciences. This program helps established researchers to expand or make a transition in their research programs via a sabbatical leave or similar mechanism of professional development and then develop that research program in... [Read More]

Arpita is elected as APS Fellow!

APS Fellowship

Posted on November 1, 2021

Arpita was elected as a Fellow of the American Physical Society sponsored by the Division of Biological Physics for her contributions to understanding mechanisms of biological force generation and how these forces enable immune cells to respond to the physical properties of their environment, bearing insights into the complex and... [Read More]

Ivan's paper on actin-microtubule interactions is accepted in MBoC

Posted on April 1, 2021

Ivan’s paper studying actin-microtubule interactions during T-cell activation has been accepted to appear in the “Forces in cells and tissues” special issue of Molecular Biology of the Cell. Great collaboration with Hari Shroff at NIBIB who helped with all the advanced imaging methods. Abstract below: Abstract: Activation of T... [Read More]

David gets the NIH/CCR Outstanding Ph.D. Student award!

Posted on March 2, 2021

David is selected as a co-recipient of the NIH Center for Cancer Research (CCR), National Cancer Institute (NCI), Outstanding Ph.D. Student Award. He was a part of the NCI-UMD Partnership for Integrative Cancer Research. The Center established the award in recognition of their contribution as a group, and to highlight... [Read More]

Nate is off to graduate school!

Posted on February 20, 2021

Nate Rogers will be joining the Biophysics Ph.D. program at University of Michigan this fall. Nate worked on optimizing traction force microscopy and microtubule shape dynamics. [Read More]

David's paper in Nucleic Acids Research

Published as a Breakthrough Article

Posted on February 10, 2021

David’s paper on transcription factor dynamics is published as a “Breakthrough Article” in Nucleic Acids Research. What began as an improved photo-bleaching correction for single molecule dynamics in the nucleus evolved into an exciting new finding! Transcription factors (TF) must engage with chromatin to regulate gene expression. Single-molecule tracking makes... [Read More]

David's paper in Molecular Cell

Intrinsically disordered regions lead to confined diffusion of transcription factors

Posted on January 15, 2021

David’s paper on the confined diffusion of transcription factors is published in Molecular Cell. Transcription factors (TF) must engage with chromatin to regulate gene expression. Single-molecule tracking makes it possible to follow individual TF molecules inside nuclei of live cells, where they diffuse and interact with chromatin. Current interpretation of... [Read More]

Lab hikes

Posted on October 20, 2020

Taking advantage of the crisp and wonderful Fall weather for masked lab hikes! Met up at Centennial Park near Ellicott City, MD. It was the first time we saw each other since the beginning of the pandemic and lab shutdowns. [Read More]