Michelle Huang's Avatar

Michelle Huang

@michshuang

cheme phd in the heilshorn lab @ stanford & chem-h | nsf grfp & nih f31 fellow | formerly mit cheme | just a dancer trying to understand the brain using stem cells & biomaterials! πŸ‘©πŸ»β€πŸ”¬πŸ§ πŸ©°

283
Followers
125
Following
2
Posts
04.12.2023
Joined
Posts Following

Latest posts by Michelle Huang @michshuang

Post image

We are thrilled to be at #SFB2025 in Chicago this week! @vanessadoulames.bsky.social will be sharing some of our recent work on a hydrogel-mediated approach for spinal cord injury. Excited to see everyone! πŸ€—

09.04.2025 15:38 πŸ‘ 9 πŸ” 2 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
Preview
Opinion | The Uncertain Fate of the Young American Scientist (Gift Article) Young researchers are choosing between staying in science and staying in the United States.

www.nytimes.com/2025/04/03/o...

Really important piece to share widely. Too many Americans don’t know how severe a threat this Administration poses to our scientific infrastructure, global leadership, and health security

04.04.2025 07:32 πŸ‘ 477 πŸ” 304 πŸ’¬ 18 πŸ“Œ 56
I am crushed that the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative has decided not to continue with the second round of the Science Diversity Leadership Awards. My heart breaks for all the scientists that submitted their grant applications with the hope that their research and community building ideas would be funded to help make the science world a more equitable place. I see you. Please take the time to mourn the loss of your time and effort and figure out your next move.

I feel an intense surge of survivors’ guilt. As part of the first (and now last) CZI SDL cohort, I have enjoyed significant personal and professional opportunities that have emerged after receiving the award – opportunities that have now vanished for future science diversity leaders. The award gave me confidence in my research program, but more importantly, was the catalyst I needed to bring my full self to the laboratory. After receiving the CZI award, I finally felt comfortable fully coming out to the scientific community and embracing my identity as a proud queer Latino scientist. The award was extremely unique and enabling, allowing me to build a vibrant laboratory community, support various professional development activities for trainees, and grow my research program focused on understanding sex differences in biology towards our goal of health equity. I am devastated that future scientists with stories like mine will not have the financial support they need to achieve their vision in promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion.

As a Science Diversity Leader, I remain fiercely committed to my personal and professional mission to promote diversity through impactful science and community building efforts. I will continue using this platform to uplift diverse voices in the scientific community. To those feeling hopeless, please know that our continued commitment and presence in science is a powerful form of social justice. Let us continue using our creative minds and resources to fight inequities in society - …

I am crushed that the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative has decided not to continue with the second round of the Science Diversity Leadership Awards. My heart breaks for all the scientists that submitted their grant applications with the hope that their research and community building ideas would be funded to help make the science world a more equitable place. I see you. Please take the time to mourn the loss of your time and effort and figure out your next move. I feel an intense surge of survivors’ guilt. As part of the first (and now last) CZI SDL cohort, I have enjoyed significant personal and professional opportunities that have emerged after receiving the award – opportunities that have now vanished for future science diversity leaders. The award gave me confidence in my research program, but more importantly, was the catalyst I needed to bring my full self to the laboratory. After receiving the CZI award, I finally felt comfortable fully coming out to the scientific community and embracing my identity as a proud queer Latino scientist. The award was extremely unique and enabling, allowing me to build a vibrant laboratory community, support various professional development activities for trainees, and grow my research program focused on understanding sex differences in biology towards our goal of health equity. I am devastated that future scientists with stories like mine will not have the financial support they need to achieve their vision in promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion. As a Science Diversity Leader, I remain fiercely committed to my personal and professional mission to promote diversity through impactful science and community building efforts. I will continue using this platform to uplift diverse voices in the scientific community. To those feeling hopeless, please know that our continued commitment and presence in science is a powerful form of social justice. Let us continue using our creative minds and resources to fight inequities in society - …

My statement regarding the decision to drop the second round of the CZI Science Diversity Leadership Award funding opportunity:

19.02.2025 15:49 πŸ‘ 70 πŸ” 21 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 2
Post image

A bittersweet goodbye to Dr. David Kilian as we send him off to the Netherlands! David will be joining the MERLN Institute at Maastricht University to start his independent research group! πŸ₯³ We wish him the best and of course will miss him so much πŸ₯ΊπŸ«Ά

19.01.2025 22:28 πŸ‘ 11 πŸ” 1 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
Preview
Interpenetrating networks of fibrillar and amorphous collagen promote cell spreading and hydrogel stability Hydrogels composed of collagen, the most abundant protein in the human body, are widely used as scaffolds for tissue engineering due to their ability …

πŸ“£ Excited to share our first manuscript of 2025 where we present an interpenetrating network of physically assembled collagen and covalently-crosslinked collagen, which contains *both* fibrous and amorphous #collagen networks!

Led by @luciabru.bsky.social & @chrislong42.bsky.social, check it out!

14.01.2025 19:32 πŸ‘ 12 πŸ” 3 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
Post image

Happy holidays from the Heilshorn Lab! Great way to end the year celebrating each other’s accomplishments together πŸ€—πŸŽ„β˜ƒοΈ

18.12.2024 16:57 πŸ‘ 12 πŸ” 3 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

Throughout my PhD, I've had lots of discussions with
@fotisch.bsky.social & @heilshornlab.bsky.social about how cells and organoids themselves can be living materials and ways to characterize and manipulate them. Was also so grateful to get excellent MPS & industry perspectives from Julien Roth!

16.12.2024 20:16 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
Preview
Organoid bioprinting: from cells to functional tissues Nature Reviews Bioengineering - Integrating bioprinting with organoid technology can enhance tissue engineering by improving complexity, reproducibility and scalability. This Review discusses...

Excited to share our new review on #organoid #bioprinting in Nature Reviews Bioengineering! πŸŽ‰ @natureportfolio.bsky.social

We highlight recent advances and envision a future that integrates organoid biology and biofabrication approaches to engineer complex tissues. Hope you enjoy!

πŸ”“: rdcu.be/d3H6u

16.12.2024 20:16 πŸ‘ 56 πŸ” 11 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 1
Preview
Sequence-defined structural transitions by calcium-responsive proteins Biopolymer sequences dictate their functions, and protein-based polymers are a promising platform to establish sequence–function relationships for novel biopolymers. To efficiently explore vast sequen...

1st post in a new space seems like a good spot to feature the 1st project by the lab's 1st PhD student! We set out to engineer calcium-responsive proteins as muscle-mimetic materials and discovered some surprises along the way. Congrats to Marina, Winnie, Gatha, and Kenny!
doi.org/10.1039/D4PY...

24.11.2024 03:04 πŸ‘ 34 πŸ” 3 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 2
Post image

Hi πŸ¦‹! We are a biomaterials group at Stanford interested in tissue engineering, biofabrication, and hydrogel-based therapies. And we just celebrated labsgiving! πŸ€—πŸ¦ƒ
#HiSky #SciSky

22.11.2024 23:17 πŸ‘ 26 πŸ” 3 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

I didn’t see a general starter pack for people in the #BME and #BioE communities so I started to put one together. Let me know if I’ve missed anyone in particular or if you’d like to be added! #ScienceSky #AcademicSky
go.bsky.app/9nMCGLK

18.11.2024 22:04 πŸ‘ 40 πŸ” 13 πŸ’¬ 40 πŸ“Œ 2
Preview
Viscoelastic High‐Molecular‐Weight Hyaluronic Acid Hydrogels Support Rapid Glioblastoma Cell Invasion with Leader–Follower Dynamics Glioblastoma spheroids invade faster in stress-relaxing, high-molecular-weight (HMW) hyaluronic acid hydrogels than in more elastic-like, low-molecular-weight counterparts. The long HMW chains create....

New paper in Advanced Materials! We develop a family of 3D viscoelastic HA matrices and use them to study effects of stress relaxation on GBM invasion. Led by ChemE PhD student Emily Carvalho in collaboration with Andreas Stahl (UCB) and Manish Aghi (UCSF) onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

18.11.2024 15:16 πŸ‘ 14 πŸ” 3 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0
Preview
3D mechanical confinement directs muscle stem cell fate and function Muscle stem cells (MuSCs) play a crucial role in skeletal muscle regeneration, residing in a niche that undergoes dimensional and mechanical changes throughout the regeneration process. This study inv...

Here’s our latest research! How do 3D mechanical cues shape muscle stem cells (MuSCs) in regeneration? We took a deep dive into this question in our latest work: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

11.11.2024 18:52 πŸ‘ 21 πŸ” 3 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 1