Members
Principal Investigator
Liheng Cai
Assistant Professor of Materials Science and Engineering
Assistant Professor of Chemical Engineering
Assistant Professor of Biomedical Engineering (by courtesy)
Assistant Professor of Chemistry (by courtesy)
My lab’s research lies at the interface of soft (bio)materials and biology. We seek to understand and control the interactions between soft (bio)materials and living systems to solve challenges in sustainability and health. We do this using a combination of experimental and theoretical approaches.
Post-doctoral Researcher
Shahryar Ramezani Bajgiran
Graduate Research Assistants
Riley Dickson
Riley joined the lab as a Ph.D. student in Fall 2020. He is from Dallas, Texas where he attended the University of Texas at Dallas as a Biomedical Engineering major. He is researching bacteria-mucus interactions in the respiratory system, factors that promote respiratory infections, and bacterial motility.
Riley enjoys playing basketball, football, and chess in his spare time.
Baiqiang Huang
Baiqiang Huang joined the lab in 2021 as a Ph.D. student in the Department of Material Science and Engineering at UVA. He received his B.S. in Polymer Science & Engineering at Zhejiang University. He is working on bottlebrush polymers and networks, as well as applying them as novel resins for 3D printing of responsive architectures and devices for biomedical applications.
Baiqiang is from China. He likes sports, especially basketball.
Myoeum Kim
Myoeum Kim joined the lab in May 2021 as a Ph.D. student in the Department of Material Science and Engineering at UVA. She received her M.S. in Mechanical Engineering at the University of Akron and her previous research was 3D printing natural rubber. She is now working on dynamics of associative polymers and 3D printing of adaptive soft materials.
Myoeum is from Korea. She spent her spare time with her dog, working out, and watching movies.
Xiaoxiao Ma
Xiaoxiao Ma joined the lab in the Fall 2022 as a graduate student in Material Science and Engineering Department. She received her bachelor degree in Polymer Engineering at Donghua University in China and a Master degree in Bioengineering at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Currently, she works on voxelated bioprinting of highly functional 3D tissue mimics.
Emmanuel Oduro
Emmanuel Oduro joined the Soft Biomatter Lab in Fall 2023 as a Ph.D. student in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering. He received bachelor's degree in Materials Science and Engineering from the University of Ghana, Legon. His bachelor's degree research focused on Fabricating Water Swellable Elastomers for advanced applications and currently he is working on designing polymer materials for advanced applications and 3D printing of Adaptive Soft materials (yet to be decided).
Emmanuel is from Ghana. He spends his free time working out and having a walk.
Jinchang Zhu
Starting from spring 2020, Jinchang has been working in Cai Lab as a Ph.D. student at the department of Materials Science and Engineering. Prior to that, he received a bachelor degree in Polymer Materials and Engineering from Beijing University of Chemical Technology and a master degree from Johns Hopkins University; his previous research focused on biomaterials and therapeutics delivery. His research is focused on voxelated bioprinting of highly functional 3D tissue mimics.
Jinchang comes from Suzhou, China. In his spare time, he is a PC enthusiast and an anime fan.
Weining Zhang
MSE, G1
Ning Ran
ChE, G1
Sara Olsen
ChE, G1
Muskan Aslam
BME, Rotational PhD student
Pu (Bruce) Zhang
MAE
Undergraduate Research Assistants
Zoe Benton
Zoe joined the Soft Biomatter Lab in Fall 2023 as a second year undergraduate Mechanical Engineering major from Leesburg, Virginia. She is researching energy dissipation of stereolithography printed associative elastomers.
In her free time, Zoe enjoys theater, painting, and watching movies.