September 6, 2016 – Former NMDG member and Surface Science Lab (SSL) student researcher Katie Yocham was recently honored as the recipient of the Faculty Choice Award at the annual Idaho INBRE (Idaho IDeA Network of Biomedical Research Excellence) Conference. Katie was chosen from among more than 100 student presenters, and was one of 10 Boise State students awarded a 2016 INBRE Fellowship. Katie’s INBRE-sponsored research focused on the mechanical properties of engineered musculoskeletal tissue. She was co-advised by Dr. Trevor Lujan, who directs the Northwest Tissue Mechanics Laboratory within Boise State’s Mechanical & Biomedical Engineering Department, and NMDG alumnus turned professor, Dr. Dave Estrada of Boise State’s Micron School of Materials Science and Engineering. Katie is currently finishing up her undergraduate degree while in the accelerated Master’s of Science in Mechanical & Biomedical Engineering.
Katie’s research in Dr. Estrada’s lab also recently resulted in a peer-reviewed publication in the American Chemical Society’s Biomaterials Science and Engineering journal. Dr. Kurtis Cantley of the Boise State Electrical and Computer Engineering Department and members of his group contributed to the project as well. The article, entitled “Graphene Foam as a 3-dimensional Platform for Myotube Growth”, was highlighted in another recent Boise State Update article: Graphene Flexes Muscles. In addition to INBRE, the work was generously funded by the M. J. Murdock Charitable Trust, the National Science Foundation, the Idaho State Board of Education, and Lori and Duane Stueckle.