Rao Lab

Team

We are an energertic group with material scientitsts, electrical engineers, bioengineers and chemists.

News

04/2025      Siyuan Rao has been selected as the recipient of the 2024-25 Watson College Recognition Award for Early-Stage Distinguished Research. Congratulations!.

04/2025      Sizhe Huang has been selected as the recipient of the 2024 Distinguished Dissertation Award！This prestigious award recognizes exceptional research and scholarly contributions of doctoral students. Congratulations!.

03/2025      Together with Profs. Qianbin Wang (BME Department) and Wenfeng Zhao (ECE Department), NBI team is awarded with S.H. Ho Foundation Research Grants (HFRG) for Health Sciences and Technology.

03/2025     NBI lab presented in Binghamton University BME Expo. Congratulations to Christian Capitano on winning First Place Undergraduate Research Poster Award!

03/2025     Welcome Wenjie Long joining our group!

01/2025     Congratulations to Sizhe Huang on winning Binghamton Unviersity Graduate Student Award for Excellence in Research Award!

01/2025     Welcome Ian Kim and Christian Capitano joining our group!

01/2025     Congratulations to Sizhe Huang on publishing Anisotropic hydrogel microelectrodes for intraspinal neural recordings in vivo on Nature Communications!

12/2024     Siyuan Rao won Scholar Travel Award from National Institute on Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB).

11/2024     Congratulations to Sizhe Huang on his successful PhD defense!

11/2024     Siyuan Rao is named Rising Stars of Mechanical Engineering from American Society of Mechanical Engineers.

10/2024     Siyuan Rao won Young Investigator Award from World Association for Chinese Biomedical Engineers workshop in the Biomedical Engineering Society.

10/2024     Congratulations to Sizhe Huang and Ruobai Xiao on winning Travel Grant for Workshop on Neuromorphic Principles in Biomedicine and Healthcare.

09/2024     Our collaborative work Near-infrared activated liposomes for neuroprotection in glaucoma is published on J. Mater. Chem. B.

05/2024     Welcome Chen Lin and Sandra Lwin joining our group!

05/2024     Siyuan Rao has been named a Scholarly Teaching Fellow in recognition of demonstrated commitment to undergraduate education by participating in the 2024 Evidence-Based Teaching Institute.

03/2024     Congratulations to Sizhe Huang on publishing Control of Polymers’ Amorphous-crystalline Transition Enables Miniaturization and Multifunctional Integration for Hydrogel Bioelectronics on Nature Communications!

12/2023     Welcome Zuer Wu joining our group!

10/2023     Our hydrogel fiber optics Fatigue-resistant hydrogel optical fibers enable peripheral nerve optogenetics during locomotion on Nature Methods!

09/2023     Welcome Dorcas Matuwana and Geunho Jang joining our group!

09/2023     We started our new exciting journey at Binghamton University!

06/2023     NBI lab received the OTCV award from UMass Present's Office to provide a better soft-materials solution for recording neural activity and administering drugs in mobile-nerve regions.

05/2023     Congratulations to Sizhe Huang on publishing A nanoscale inorganic coating strategy for stabilizing hydrogel neural probes in vivo on the Journal of Materials Chemistry B!

04/2023     Welcome Ruobai Xiao and Xinxin Xu joining our group! Ruobai and Xinxin are enrolled in MSE PhD program starting from 2023 Summer. Welcome Dr. Yong Zhuang joining us as a Research Fellow. Welcome undergraduate students, Sabrina Urbina Villafranca, Rachel Collins, Omri Yosfan, Nicolle Gudiel Winter, Amanda Kanashiro, joining our group

01/2023      NBI Lab received the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Program.

12/2022     Congratulations to Eunji Hong and Christopher Glynn on publishing Non-Invasive Electroretinogram Recording with Simultaneous Optogenetics to Dissect Retinal Ganglion Cells Electrophysiological Dynamics on Biosensors!

12/2022      NBI Lab received 2023 AFOSR Young Investigator Program Award.

6/2022      NBI Lab received UMass FRG 2022 award.

6/2022     Welcome undergraduate students Ifeoluwa Adeniyi, Rachel Collins, joining our group! Welcome REU student, Noah Flores, and high-school students, Trevor Xing-Xie, Ava Zimmermann, Kaitlin Aquilino working with us! high-school students Ifeoluwa Adeniyi, Rachel Collins, joining our group!

5/2022     Congratulations to Eunji Hong and Weixuan Chen on passing their Qualifying exams!

5/2022     Congratulations to Dr. Qianbin Wang on publishing his experimental Glaucoma mouse model, Core Transcription Programs Controlling Injury-Induced Neurodegeneration of Retinal Ganglion Cells, on Neuron!

4/2022     Congratulations to Weixuan Chen on her IONs Inspirations Award! Congratulations to Collin Maley on winning Distinguished Biomedical Engineering Fellowship with the admission to Boston University PhD program!

1/2022     Welcome undergraduate students Sarah Shams, Jingyi (Alex) Xu, Christopher Glynn, Arzell Jelani Steans and Varun Gopal joining our group!

11/2021     Dr. Siyuan Rao, Dr. Qianbin Wang, Sizhe Huang, Collin Maley, Jacob Naroian attended UMass Interdisciplinary Neuroscience, Computer Science & Engineering Poster Conference. Collin Maley won Third Place Award. Well done, everyone!

10/2021     Welcome Dr. Jia Xu visiting NBI lab!

10/2021     Dr. Siyuan Rao received the Young Investigator Grant from Brain& Behavior Research Foundation (BBRF). Thanks for the funding support!

08/2021     Welcome BME undergraduate students Jacob Tajchman, Sophia Tsekov, Trisha Raman and Aaryan Chaudhary joining our group!

08/2021     Welcome Eunji Hong and Weixuan Chen joining our group! Eunji and Weixuan are enrolled in BME PhD program starting from 2021 Fall.

07/2021     Congratulations to Sizhe Huang  on passing his Qualify Exam of BME PhD program!

07/2021     Kayla Felix, Collin Maley and Jacob Naroian  are awarded with Honors Research Grants for their undgergraduate research projects! Congratulations!

05/15/2021     Congratulations to Christine Yao  (Class of BME 2021) on her graduation!

03/29/2021     Dr. Siyuan Rao and Jingyi Qiu expressed their Viewpoint about Material Engineering Platform for Next Generation of Neurobiological Interfaces on Accounts of Materials Research.

03/13/2021     NBI team first campus tour retreat. After COVID-19 lockdown over one full year, we cherish the moment of unity during the challenging pandemic time.

02/02/2021     Dr. Siyuan Rao joined UMass Neuroscience and Behavior (NSB) program as a core faculty member. NSB PhD students are welcomed to find research opportunities in our lab.

01/2021          Collin Maley, Jacob Naroian and Sizhe Huang joined our lab. We are excited to have fresh blood to strengthen our team. Welcome!

01/12/2021     Kayla Felix was selected as Junior Fellow into Junior Fellowship Program at UMass. Congratulations to Kayla!

12/01/2020     NBI Lab opened for bussiness.

2020 Fall semester     Jingyi Qiu, Kayla Felix and Christine Yao joined NBI Lab. We are so pround to have these young women scientists as the first generation of lab members in our team. Welcome!