News

Big Congratulations!!! Professor Saha received tenure and is promoted to Associate Professor!

Professor Saha and graduate student Niaz Bahar Chowdhury are featured in Nebraska Today for their work studying corn root growth under nitrogen starved conditions!

Graduate student Niaz Bahar Chowdhury wins the second-place prize for his poster presentation at the College of Engineering Graduate symposium. Congratulations!

Graduate student Dianna Morris wins the first-place prize for her pitch talk at the College of Engineering Graduate symposium. Congratulations!

An insight article, “Systems-level analysis of the plasticity of the maize metabolic network reveals novel hypotheses in the nitrogen-use efficiency of maize roots”, is published regarding the maize root model published by members of the SSBio group (Niaz Chowdhury and Wheaton Schroeder).

Nabia Shahreen, Abraham Osinuga, Sunayana Malla, and Tahereh Razmpour join the Systems and Synthetic Biology research group as graduate students. Welcome!

Professor Saha’s group is featured for pulished work on improving biodegradable plastic production by the bacterium Rhodopseudomonas palustris using experimental and computational approaches.

Graduate student Dianna Morris recieves $177K in funding through the USDA AFRI Pre-doctoral Fellowship for Conversion of Cellulosic Sugars into a Plastic Precursor. Congrats Dianna! 

Professor Saha recieves $370K in funding from the NIH for A Predictive Modeling Framework to Dissect the Dynamic Immunometabolic Responses to Pathogenic infection and the Kinetic Reprogramming of Metabolism in Cancer Cell System

Graduate student Adil Al-siyabi successfully passes his Doctoral candidacy exam. Congratulations!

PhD recipients Wheaton Schroeder, Mohammad Islam, and Brandi Brown celebrate their accomplishments at UNL’s commencement! Congrats all!

Graduate student Brandi Brown passes her doctoral defense to obtain her PhD in Biological Systems Engineering. Congrats Dr. Brown!

Graduate student Mohammad Islam passes his doctoral defense to obtain his PhD in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering. Congrats Dr. Islam!

Graduate student Wheaton Schroeder passes his doctoral defense to obtain his PhD in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering. Congrats Dr. Schroeder!

Graduate students Mark Kathol and Niaz Bahar Chowdhury both successfully passed their qualifying exams. Congratulations!

A fourth news feature, this one from Ethanol producer magazine, celebrates the exciting findings Professor Saha and graduate student Adil Al-siyabi have reported on the ability to use high ethanol fuel blends in conventional vehicles!

Congrats to grad student Adil Al-siyabi for being a 2021 recipient of the Milton E. Mohr Biotechnology award for academic excellence and likelihood to succeed in his field!

UNL UCARE student Andrea Geortzen’s poster wins the Top ENG presentation at Nebraska Research Days. Congratulations!

Professor Saha and graduate student Adil Al-siyabi have a third feature from SDPB radio for research demonstrating that high ethanol fuel blends work in conventional vehicles!

Professor Saha is featured by ABC8 news and the Lincoln Journal Star for research with graduate student Adil Al-siyabi demonstrating that high ethanol fuel blends work in conventional vehicles!

Graduate student Niaz Bahar Chowdhury wins the first place prize on his poster presentation at the College of Engineering Graduate symposium. Congratulations!

Graduate student Brandi Brown wins the second place prize on her pitch talk at the College of Engineering Graduate symposium. Congratulations!

Graduate student Mohammad Mazharul Islam received the CoE Graduate Student Professional Development Fellowship award. Congratulations!

Michael Israel joins the Systems and Synthetic Biology research group as a graduate student. Welcome!

Graduate student Brandi Brown wins the Koerner Family Foundation award. Congratulations!

Niaz Bahar Chowdhury joins the Systems and Synthetic Biology research group as a graduate student. Welcome!

Graduate student Brandi Brown successfully passes her Doctoral candidacy exam. Congratulations!

Professor Saha receives a $150K University of Nebraska Collaboration Initiative Grant to “Dissect the emergence of antimicobial resistance”. Congratulations!

Professor Saha, along with researchers from UNMC, receives a $150K University of Nebraska Collaboration Initiative Grant to “investigate the metabolic regulation of human pathogen Staphylococcus aureus“. Congratulations!

Graduate student Mohammad Mazharul Islam successfully passes his Doctoral comprehensive exam. Congratulations!

Graduate student Wheaton Schroeder successfully passes his Doctoral comprehensive exam. Congratulations!

Graduate students Adil Alsiyabi passes his qualifying exam. Congratulations! 

Graduate student Dianna Long passes her Doctoral candidacy exam. Congratulations! 

Undergraduate research assistant Mark Kathol joins the Systems and Synthetic Biology lab as a graduate research assistant while pursuing his PhD in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering. Welcome! 

Graduate student Mohammad Mazharul Islam earns the Associate certification from Center for the Integration of Research, Teaching, and Learning (CIRTL). Congratulations!

Graduate student Wheaton Schroeder successfully passes his PhD comprehensive exam. Congratulations!

Graduate students  Mohammad Mazharul Islam and Brandi Brown successfully completes the UNL College of Engineering Graduate Student Teaching Fellows program. Congratulations!

Graduate student Mohammad Mazharul Islam is awarded the Milton E. Mohr scholarship at UNL College of Engineering. Congratulations!

Undergraduate research assistant Mark Kathol completes his BS in Chemical Engineering at UNL. Congratulations!

Professor Saha receives a $747,855 Career Award from the National Science Foundation (NSF) for “Dissecting a Metabolically Versatile Non-Model Bacterium’s Lignin-Derived Compound Catabolism”. Congratulations! 

Graduate student Dianna Long is awarded the Milton E. Mohr scholarship. Congratulations!

Graduate student Brandi Brown receives Elenore Gakemeier Outstanding Graduate Student Award 2020. Congratulations! 

Graduate student Mohammad Mazharul Islam wins the People’s Choice award on his session talk at the College of Engineering Graduate symposium. Congratulations!

Graduate student Mohammad Mazharul Islam attends Midwest Big Data Hub (MBDH) all-hands meeting with a travel award at the Big Ten Conference Center, Chicago.

Graduate student Mohammad Mazharul Islam receives the  UNL College of Engineering Graduate Research Professional Development Fellowship. Congratulations!

Adil Alsiyabi, a recent MS graduate from the lab, continues his journey as a doctoral student. Welcome back!

Graduate students  Mohammad Mazharul Islam and Brandi Brown are selected for the UNL College of Engineering Graduate Student Teaching Fellows program. Congratulations!

Graduate student Adil Alsiyabi successfully defended his MS thesis titled “Modeling the Interplay Between Photosynthesis, Carbon Fixation, and the Quinone Pool in a Purple Non-Sulfur Bacterium”. Congratulations!

Dr. Cheryl Immethun is awarded a two-year USDA NIFA AFRI fellowship to study the effects of terminal-differentiating Nodule-specific Cysteine-rich peptides on non-symbiotic Rhodopseudomonas palustris CGA009. Congratulations!

Graduate student Brandi Brown has a newborn baby girl Andromeda. Welcome to the world Andromeda! Congratulations Brandi!

Graduate Student Mohammad Mazharul Islam wins the first prize for his poster at the  Nebraska Plant Science Symposium 2019. Congratulations!

Professor Saha receives a two year Energy Research Grant to study the  Conversion of Lignin from lignocellulosic biomass into biodegradeable plastic from  Nebraska Center for Energy Sciences Research. 

Professor Saha becomes part of a grant from  Nebraska Center for Root and Rhizobiome Innovation for  Root Synthetic Biology: Tool Development and Applications. 

Systems and Synthetic biology group members attend the  American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) annual meeting in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Professor Saha is hosting Dr. Jay Keasling, a UNL alumnus and leader in the field of synthetic biology, to deliver a Research Council Distinguished Lecture at 8:30 a.m. Oct. 24 in the Nebraska Union, Colonial Rooms A and B.

Systems and Synthetic biology group members attend the conference on Constraint-based Reconstruction and Analysis (COBRA) in Seattle, WA.

Graduate student Mohammad Mazharul Islam receives College of Engineering Travel Award and GTAP travel award for 2018. Congratulations!

Professor Saha, along with a group of PIs at UNL, receives a three-year NSF grant to lead the project on “Dissecting the Sphingolipid Metabolic and Regulatory Network“.

Matthew van Beek starts his Doctoral journey at MIT starting Fall 2018. Best wishes!

Josue E O Neill-Maldonado, a Bioenergy REU student from The University of Puerto Rico successfully completes his program at the Systems and Synthetic Biology Lab for summer 2018. Adios and best wishes!

Timothy Changa joins Systems and Synthetic Biology Lab as Post-doctoral researcher. Welcome!

Brandi Brown, graduate student and PhD candidate from biological Systems Engineering, joins Systems and Synthetic Biology Lab. Welcome!

Graduate student Wheaton Schroeder passes the Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering qualifying examination. Congratulations!

Claire Maaliao and Naomi Tsukada, sophomore students from Chemical Engineering, joins Systems and Synthetic Biology Lab as undergraduate researchers. Welcome!

Josue E O Neill-Maldonado, a Bioenergy REU student from The University of Puerto Rico joins Systems and Synthetic Biology Lab for summer 2018, Welcome!

Professor Saha instructed a GIAN course bioproduction in Photosynthetic Microbes at Indian Insititute of Technology-Kharagpur (IIT-KGP).

Graduate student Mohammad Mazharul Islam is awarded the Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering (CHBE) fellowship for the academic year 2018-19. Congratulations!

Graduate student Dianna Long defends her MS thesis in Psychology. Congratulations!

Dianna Long, graduate student from the Department of Psychology, joins the Systems and Synthetic Biology Lab as a visiting researcher. Welcome!

Professor Saha talks to a public audience about designing biological systems: the LEGO way at UNL Science Cafe at University of Nebraska State Museum.

Mr. Matthew Van Beek, senior in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, joins Systems and Synthetic Biology lab as an undergraduate researcher. Welcome!

Professor Saha and Dr. Cheryl Immethun participate in ChemBio Engineering Booth at UNL STEM Expo led by Professor Dishari’s group during the Great North American Total Solar Eclipse at the Haymarket area in Lincoln.

Professor Saha’s poster in Summer School for Chemical Engineering Faculty by American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE) wins the best poster prize. It also gets selected for a publication in the Chemical Engineering Education Journal. Congratulations!

Mr. Adil Alsiyabi joins the Systems and Synthetic Biology research group as graduate students. Welcome!

Bioenergy REU summer research student Mr. Kyle Buchanan’s poster wins best poster award in University of Nebraska-Lincoln Fall Research Fair 2017. Congratulations!

Graduate student Mr. Wheaton Schroeder gets married. Congratulations and best wishes!

The Systems and Synthetic Biology research group celebrates the end of summer with an afternoon party with Professor Dishari’s lab in the department.

Mr. Wheaton Schroeder paticipates in a nationwide workshop titled “Science Outside the Laboratory (SOtL): Nanotechnology and Policy” on a travel fellowship in Washington DC. The workshop focuses on exploring the complex links between science and policy in the American government.

Kyle Buchanan joins the Systems and Synthetic Biology research group as a Bioenergy REU summer research student from UIUC. Welcome!

Systems and Synthetic Biology research group participate in the Nebraska Research and Innovation Conference on Predictive Crop Design: Genome to Phenome at the Cornhusker Marriott in Lincoln, NE on April 6-7. Professor Saha talks about “Omics Data Integration and Answering Important Biological Questions”. Mr. Islam presents a poster on Thermal Stress on Plants and Mr. Schroeder presents a poster on Multi-tissue Kinetic Model of Arabidopsis thaliana.

Professor Saha and Dr. Cheryl Immethun participate in UNL Women in Science Conference 2017 and led the ChE department display booth.

Conner Lunn, Michaela Keck, Tony Le, Shardhat Daggumati and Riley Heller join the Systems and Synthetic Biology research group as undergraduate researcher. Welcome!

Mr. Wheaton Schroeder joins the Systems and Synthetic Biology research group as a graduate student fom Spring 2017. Welcome!

Dr. Cheryl Immethun joins Systems and Synthetic Biology research group as a post-doctoral fellow. Welcome!

The Systems and Synthetic Biology research group obtain perpetual multi-user academic licenses for General Algebraic Modeling Systems (GAMS) with solvers CPLEX and BARON for linear and nonlinear single- and multi-level optimization problem solution. The softwares are installed on UNL’s high-performance cluster computing systems and will be accessible for use by all group members.

The Systems and Synthetic Biology Lab start building their own wet lab at Othmer Hall.

Systems and Synthetic Biology research group participate in the UNL Plant Science Retreat at the Lied Lodge Conference Center in Nebraska City on October 14-15. Professor Saha talks about the role of metabolic modeling and systems biology tools towards crop improvement. Mr. Islam presents a poster on Modeling of metabolism: From Individual Microorganism to Whole-Plant and Multi-species Consortia.

Mr. Mohammad Mazharul Islam joins the Systems and Synthetic Biology research group from Fall 2016 as a graduate student. 
He will be working on organism-scale and microbial community metabolic model development, Engineering microbial consortia, and ‘omics data integration. Welcome!

The Systems and Synthetic Biology Lab in the Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering Department  officially start its journey, led by Professor Rajib Saha.