Schedule Details

Saturday, November 8, 2025

Speaker Session

Time Event Room
8:00-8:40am Check-in, light breakfast available ENGR Atrium
8:40-9:00am Opening Remarks/Introduction ENGR 103
9:00-9:50am Keynote Speaker - Dr. Chase Paterson,
"From Eyes to ELISA: An Academia to Industry Journey"
ENGR 103
10:00-11:00am Oral Presentations - See below

ENGR 103, 104,
ENGR 106
11:00-12:00pm Panel Discussion- "Career Pathways in Industry and Academia" ENGR 103
12:00-1:00pm LUNCH  
1:00-1:15pm Sponsor Presentation - Isaac Erikson, DiscGenics
"Scaling Cell Therapy: Engineering Solutions for Regenerative Medicine Manufacturing"
ENGR 103
1:15-1:30pm Sponsor Presentation - Alex Dalpe, The Nucleus Institute
"From Concept to Impact: Building Utah's Innovation Ecosystem for Biotech Advancement"
ENGR 103
1:30-3:00pm Poster Session ENGR Atrium
3:10-4:00pm Keynote Speaker - Dr. Douglas Tree
"Simulating Chemical Kinetics and Polymer Self-Assembly via Reactive Dissipative Particle Dynamics"
ENGR 103
4:10-4:30pm Awards ENGR 103
4:30-4:40pm Closing Remarks ENGR 103

Oral Presentations

  10:00-10:20am 10:20-10:40am 10:40-11:00am
Track 1- Biomedical
ENGR 103
Carter Wilkes,
"Investigation of visible light transmissivity in human tissue phantoms of variable thickness and scattering turbidity"
Daniel Zhang,
"High-Throughput Glioblastoma Invasion Profiling via Integrated Microfluidic and AI Technologies"
Ammar Mussaji,
"Redesigning a Psoriasis Therapeutic: Benvitimod Biosynthesis in E. coli and Engineering Its Novel Derivatives"
Track 2- Bioprocess & Biomanufacturing
ENGR 104
Haoran Zhang,
"Regulating E. coli cell growth for microbial biosynthesis improvement"
Sajad Karami,
"Effects of UV-A Light Dehydration on Sensory Attributes, Volatile Composition, Enzyme Activity, and Nutritional Quality of Mango, Apple, and White Button Mushrooms"
Hayat Ullah,
"Exploring Soil Microbes for Valuable Natural Products and Biosynthetic Enzymes"
Track 3- Bioenvironmental & Bio Ag
ENGR 106
Akib Al Mahir,
"Machine Learning Reveals Microbial Interactions Driving Plastic Degradation Across Plastisphere Environments"
Allondra Woods,
"Production and Waste Recovery of Alternative Construction Materials using Fungal-Based Processes"
Elise Barton,
"Lab Cultivated Chicken, No Longer Science Fiction: Use of Enzymatic Microalgae Hydrolysates for Nutrient and Growth Factor Replacement in Cellular Agriculture"