Elizabeth Vargis
Biological Engineering
Associate Professor

Contact Information
Office Location: ENGR 402MPhone: 435-797-0618
Email: vargis@usu.edu
Additional Information:
Educational Background
Biography
I am an Associate Professor in Biological Engineering and the faculty advisor for the Society of Women Engineers. I live in Logan with my partner, kids, and dogs.
Awards
Outstanding Graduate Mentor of the Year, 2018
USU College of Engineering
Outstanding Researcher of the Year, 2018
Department of Biological Engineering
Open Access Funding Initiative , 2015
Utah State University Library
Ralph E. Powe Junior Faculty Enhancement Award, 2015
Oak Ridge Associated Universities (ORAU)
Research Catalyst Award, 2015
Utah State University
Research Catalyst Award, 2014
Utah State University
Graduate Student Travel Award, 2012
Vanderbilt University
Lai Sulin Scholarship for Research in Women's Cancer, 2012
Dissertation Enhancement Grant, 2010
Vanderbilt University
Institute for Clinical and Translational Research Grant, 2010
Vanderbilt University
SPIE Student Officer Travel Award, 2010
SPIE
Newport Spectra-Physics Research Excellence Award, 2009
Teaching as Research Award, 2009
Center for the Integration of Research, Teaching, and Learning
Discovery Grant, 2006
Vanderbilt University
Honorable Mention, 2006
National Science Foundation Graduate Fellowship Program
NIH Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Predoctoral Fellowship, 2006
VIIBRE Fellowship, 2005
Vanderbilt Institute of Integrative Biosystem Research and Education
California Alumni Undergraduate Award, 2000
National Merit Scholar, 2000
Publications | Abstracts
An asterisk (*) at the end of a publication indicates that it has not been peer-reviewed.
Publications | Journal Articles
Academic Journal
- Hanson, C., Bishop, M.M, Barney, J.T, Vargis, E., (2019). Effect of growth media and phase on Raman spectra and discrimination of mycobacteria. Journal of Biophotonics
- Harding, C., Vargis, E., (2019). An in vitro microgravity model for inducing key in vivo muscle atrophy markers. Biomed Research International
- Farjood, F., Vargis, E., (2018). Novel Devices for Studying Acute and Chronic Mechanical Stress in Retinal Pigment Epithelial Cells. Lab on a Chip
- O'Brien, C.M, Vargis, E., Rudin, A., Slaughter, J.C, Herington, J.L, Newton, J.M, Reese, J., Bennett, K.A, Mahadevan-Jansen, A., (2018). In vivo Raman spectroscopy for biochemical monitoring of the cervix throughout pregnancy. American Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology
- Davis, D., Doloman, A., Podgorski, G.J, Vargis, E., Flann, N.S, Exploiting Self-Organization in Bioengineered Systems. Biotechnology and Bioengineering / Wiley, 5:27
- Baker, Q.B, Podgorski, G.J, Vargis, E., Flann, N.S, The Effect of Retinal Pigment Epithelial Cell Patch Size on VEGF Production: A Computational Study. Journal of Biological Engineering
- Farjood, F., Vargis, E., (2017). Effect of Tight Junction Formation on VEGF Expression in Retinal Pigment Epithelial Cells. Molecular Vision, 23, 431-446.
- Hanson, C., Vargis, E., Alternative cDEP Design to Facilitate Cell Isolation for Identification by Raman Spectroscopy. Sensors, 17:2, doi: 327-335
- Hanson, C., Sieverts, M., Vargis, E., (2016). Effect of PCA centering and scaling on classification of mycobacteria from Raman spectra. Applied Spectroscopy
- Hanson, C., Israelsen, N.D, Sieverts, M., Vargis, E., (2016). Fabricating a UV-Vis and Raman spectroscopy immunoassay platform. Journal of Visualized Experiments
- Fronk, A.H, Vargis, E., Methods for culturing retinal pigment epithelial cells in vitro: current protocols and future recommendations. Journal of Tissue Engineering
- Israelsen, N.D, Wooley, D., Hanson, C., Vargis, E., (2016). Rational Design of a Surface-Enhanced Raman Scattering Immunoassay for Detecting Biomarkers on a Polystyrene Substrate. Journal of Biological Engineering
- Li, Q., Xiao, L., Harihar, S., Welch, D., Vargis, E., Zhou, A., (2015). In vitro evaluation of the role of Breast Cancer Metastasis Suppressor 1 (BRMS1) in breast cancer cells to chemotherapy using a multimodal approach. . Analytical Methods, 10162-10169.
- Israelsen, N.D, Hanson, C., Vargis, E., (2015). Synthesis of Surface-Enhanced Raman Scattering Nanoparticles to Optimize Enhancement Factor. The Scientific World Journal
- Vargis, E., Peterson, C.B, Morrell-Falvey, J., Retterer, S.T, Collier, C.P, (2014). The Effect of Retinal Pigment Epithelial Cell Patch Size on Growth Factor Expression. Biomaterials, 3999-4004.
- O'Brien, C.M, Vargis, E., Paria, B.C, Bennett, K.A, Mahadevan-Jansen, A., Reese, J., (2014). Raman Spectroscopy Provides a Noninvasive Approach for Determining Biochemical Composition of the Pregnant Cervix In Vivo. Acta Pediatrica, 715-721.
- Pence, I.J, Vargis, E., Mahadevan-Jansen, A., (2013). Assessing Variability of In Vivo Tissue Raman Spectra. Applied Spectroscopy, 789–800.
- Vargis, E., Brown, N., Williams, K., Al-Hendy, A., Paria, B.C, Reese, J., Mahadevan-Jansen, A., (2012). Detecting Biochemical Changes in the Rodent Cervix During Pregnancy Using Raman Spectroscopy. Annals of Biomedical Engineering, 1814–1824.
- Vargis, E., Tang, Y., Khabele, D., Mahadevan-Jansen, A., (2012). Near-infrared Raman Microspectroscopy Detects High-risk Human Papillomaviruses. Translational Oncology, 172.
- Perez, J., Vargis, E., Russ, P., Haselton, F., Wright, D., (2011). Detection of respiratory syncytial virus using nanoparticle amplified immuno-polymerase chain reaction. Analytical Biochemistry, 141–148.
- Keller, M.D, Vargis, E., de Matos Granja, N., Wilson, R.H, Mycek, M., Kelley, M.C, Mahadevan-Jansen, A., (2011). Development of a spatially offset Raman spectroscopy probe for breast tumor surgical margin evaluation. Journal of Biomedical Optics, 077006–077006.
- Vargis, E., Kanter, E.M, Majumder, S.K, Keller, M.D, Beaven, R.B, Rao, G.G, Mahadevan-Jansen, A., (2011). Effect of normal variations on disease classification of Raman spectra from cervical tissue. Analyst, 2981–2987.
- Vargis, E., Byrd, T., Logan, Q., Khabele, D., Mahadevan-Jansen, A., (2011). Sensitivity of Raman spectroscopy to normal patient variability. Journal of Biomedical Optics, 117004–117004.
- Kanter, E.M, Vargis, E., Majumder, S., Keller, M.D, Woeste, E., Rao, G.G, Mahadevan-Jansen, A., (2009). Application of Raman spectroscopy for cervical dysplasia diagnosis. Journal of Biophotonics, 81–90.
- Kanter, E.M, Majumder, S., Vargis, E., Robichaux-Viehoever, A., Kanter, G.J, Shappell, H., Jones, III, H.W, Mahadevan-Jansen, A., (2009). Multiclass discrimination of cervical precancers using Raman spectroscopy. Journal of Raman Spectroscopy, 205–211.
- Shyamala, G., Chou, Y., Cardiff, R.D, Vargis, E., (2006). Effect of c-neu/ErbB2 Expression Levels on Estrogen Receptor alpha–Dependent Proliferation in Mammary Epithelial Cells: Implications for Breast Cancer Biology. Cancer Research, 10391–10398.
Public or Trade Journal
- Mahadevan-Jansen, A., Keller, M.D, Vargis, E., Caldwell, B., Nguyen, T., Granja, N., Sanders, M., Kelley, M.C, (2011). Looking Below the Surface of Breast Tissue During Surgery. Spectroscopy, 48–58. *
- Vargis, E., Mahadevan-Jansen, A., (2011). Using Raman Spectroscopy to Detect Malignant Changes in Vivo.. Princeton Instruments' Technical Note *
An asterisk (*) at the end of a publication indicates that it has not been peer-reviewed.
Publications | Other
Magazine/Trade Publications
- Hanson, C., Vargis, E., (2015). Microscopy and Raman Imaging: Open-system Raman Microscopy. Laser Focus World *
Other
- Vargis, E., (2007). Virus Detection with DNA Logic Tags. Vanderbilt University
An asterisk (*) at the end of a publication indicates that it has not been peer-reviewed.