Bioengineering News

GSA exec board 26-27
Introducing the 2026-27 GSA Executive Board
The Knight Campus Graduate Student Association (GSA) has announced its Executive Board for the 2026-2027 Academic Year.
Zoe Christenson Wick horizontal headshot
Christenson Wick featured in The Transmitter’s “Liftoff” new lab alert
In the Q&A, Christenson Wick describes her research, the lab culture she hopes to build, the best advice she got before opening her lab and other insights.
Hiro Ambati Lab
Knight Campus team probes how a genetic ‘stutter’ drives a leading cause of corneal transplants

Researchers in the Ambati lab have received a $3.4 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to study the molecular origins of late-onset Fuchs endothelial corneal dystrophy.

Hettiaratchi
Hettiaratchi Receives NSF I-Corps Award
Marian Hettiaratchi received a $50,000 NSF I-Corps award to explore the commercial potential of a material developed in her lab.
Benoit lab
Benoit Receives NIH Award for Complex Injury Research
Danielle Benoit received a $333,508 NIH award to study a targeted drug delivery approach for complex injuries that damage both muscle and bone.
Portrait of Marian Hettiaratchi with announcement of new investigator award
Hettiaratchi One of Four Scientists to be Honored by Medical Research Foundation of Oregon
Marian Hettiaratchi, Lary Simpson Professor and Associate Professor in the Knight Campus Department of Bioengineering, will receive the Richard T. Jones New Investigator Award during an Oct. 1, 2026 ceremony at the OHSU Doernbecher Children’s Hospital
Man in scrubs smiling
Ambati Featured in Eugene Weekly
Knight Campus Research Professor Bala Ambati was profiled in the Aug. 27 edition of the Eugene Weekly. Among other things, Ambati discussed becoming a Guinness World Record holder for being the world’s youngest doctor, and his move to Eugene to pursue his research at the Knight Campus.
Student working at a computer
Knight Campus Researchers Engineer Molecules That Stagger the Release of Regenerative Cues

By engineering highly targeted molecules, called affibodies, and controlling when they release regenerative cues, researchers from the Marian Hettiaratchi Lab, are developing ways to help muscle, bone, and spinal cord injuries heal better and faster.

Headshot of Colin and Zoe
Knight Campus Department of Bioengineering to Welcome Two New Faculty Members

Neuroscientists Colin Bredenberg and Zoé Christenson Wick will join the department in September 2026, bringing research with the potential to deepen understanding of the neural basis of learning and neurodegenerative aging.

Man at lecture podium with animated slide behind him
Plesa Receives Tenure, Promoted to Associate Professor of Bioengineering
Calin Plesa, Ph.D., was recently promoted to associate professor with indefinite tenure in the Department of Bioengineering. Plesa joined the Knight Campus in June 2019 and has since built a research program that is reshaping how scientists design and test genetic sequences at scale.