One of FIU’s biomedical engineering’s brightest students, Vinay Bhardwaj, was recently awarded the Outstanding Graduate Teaching Assistant Award and the Dissertation Year Fellowship Scholarship.
Teaching in a newly opened BME lab equipped with a state-of-the-art 3D printer, Vinay educates undergraduate seniors on biological systems, providing mentorship and fostering an engaging learning environment. Vinay’s ability to inspire students to think beyond the confines of the laboratory has also allowed students to conceptualize real-world applications and solutions from their work. The atmosphere of enthusiasm and engagement Vinay creates is fueled both by his encouragement of in-class discussions and his belief in the reciprocity of learning between teacher and student.
“Teaching and learning,” Vinay states. “They always go side by side.” While Vinay lists the Provost Award as his favorite in his list of accomplishments, a close second is a pineapple cake – a surprise gift from his students in appreciation for his support and guidance.
The Dissertation Year Fellowship (DYF) is a prestigious scholarship award given to highly-qualified FIU doctoral students during the writing phase of their dissertation. Special consideration is given to students who are conducting outstanding research in their discipline and have established a notable record of scholarship during their doctoral studies.
Vinay has over eight years of research experience in exploring applications of Bio-Nanotechnology in Biomedical and Environmental Science. He earned his Master’s degree in Biotechnology from Kurukshetra University, then worked in the Nanobiotech Lab at University of Delhi to gain experience in Bio and Nano technology. Upon completing his degree, Vinay was invited to join FIU BME Professor Anthony McGoron’s research team. Together, they work on investigating nanoparticles-based targeted drug delivery systems (DDS) for cancer thernostics.
During his time in the Ph.D. program, Vinay has worked on sponsored projects with the U.S. Department of Defense and the U.S. Army Medical & Material Command. This project led to the invention of the On-chip SLISA (Silver- Linked Immuno-Sorbent Assay). The chip has a variety of applications but is primarily intended for use by military first responders to help with environmental surveillance of chemical toxins, including chemical warfare agents (CWAs) and toxic-industrial chemicals (TICs). The chip allows the first responders to quickly assess the environmental stability of the surrounding area so they are able to alert the general public of potentially dangerous chemicals.
Vinay has published his work in multiple peer-reviewed journal articles and has presented at several national conferences. He recently completed work on the biological activity of MENs (Magneto-electric Nanoparticles), a novel technique that was developed at the FIU Center for Personalized NanoMedicine, which he hopes to publish for Nature.
For more information on Vinay’s research, please visit https://mcgoronlab.fiu.edu/lab-members/vinay-bhardwaj/
For more information related to Vinay’s recent publications, please visit https://linkedin.com/profile/view?id=104326558