News
Parker presented at the Postbaccalaureate Symposium
Parker Ernst was one of five students chosen to give an oral presentation at the Postbaccalaureate Symposium celebrating the conclusion of his two year Postbaccalaureate Program in Developmental Biology, Cell Biology, and Regenerative Medicine. His talk was entitled “Loss of elastin in smooth muscle cells in early development leads to changes in vasomotor reactivity”. Parker will be starting an MD/PhD program at the University of Connecticut in July 2026.
Keshav successfully defended his PhD
Keshav Kailash successfully defended his PhD thesis entitled “Mechanics and transport across the thoracic aortic wall: Experimental and computational characterization of elastic-fiber deficient arteries” in April 2026. He graduated from WashU in May 2026. He will continue working in the lab through June and then will start medical school at the University of Kansas in July.
MEMS Faculty/Postdoc vs Grad Student Kickball Game
The MEMS faculty/postdocs/children took on the graduate students in a kickball game in Tower Grove Park. Rain was threatening, but did not put a damper on the event. We all had great BBQ after the faculty/postdocs/children won!
WashU at BMES
WashU had a great group of faculty and students attend BMES 2025 in San Diego, CA. We enjoyed interesting presentations and catching up with colleagues. Dr. Wagenseil presented a talk on Yufan (Viola) Wu’s work on biomechanical biomarkers of aortic growth in normal maturation and aneurysmal disease. Jasmine Brown (Georgia Tech) and Megan Parsons (Purdue) had flash talks on their summer undergraduate research. More information on the talks can be found under conferences. One of the highlights for Dr. Wagenseil was catching up with a previous mentor (Dr. Karen May-Newman, San Diego State University) and mentee (Dr. Gabriela Espinosa, Concordia University Irvine).
Dr. Wagenseil and Krashn attend the University of Kentucky Aortic Symposium
Dr. Wagenseil and Krashn took a road trip to Lexington, Kentucky to attend and present at the University of Kentucky Aortic Symposium. Dr. Wagenseil presented a talk entitled “Biomechanics predictors of progression and outcomes in mouse models of aortic aneurysms”. Krashn presented a poster entitled “Mouse specific fluid-structure interaction simulation for investigating the role of aortic hemodynamics in age- and sex-specific aneurysm progression in Marfan syndrome”. We had great conversations with other scientists and clinicians focused on treating aortic disease.
Jasmine Brown completes WashU CEMB summer research program
Jasmine Brown (Georgia Tech University) presenting her poster about the effects of elastin degradation on active mechanics of mouse aorta. Jasmine was mentored by Parker Ernst (right). The Center for Engineering Mechanobiology (CEMB) hosted a research experience for undergraduates program sponsored by the National Science Foundation.
Megan Parsons completes WashU CardS summer research program
Megan Parsons (Purdue University) presenting her poster about the effects of Piezo1 activation in vascular smooth muscle cells. Megan was mentored by Garrett Easson. The Washington University Cardiovascular Research Summer Program (WashU CardS) is sponsored by the American Heart Association.
Dr. Wagenseil, Krashn, Viola, and Luis attend SB3C
Dr. Wagenseil, Krashn Dwivedi (and his wife and daughter), Yufan “Viola” Wu, and Luis Castro flew to Albuquerque, NM to attend the ASME SB3C Summer Bioengineering Conference June 22 – 25, 2025. We enjoyed the science, networking, and some sight seeing. Dr. Wagenseil had talks in two different workshops. Krashn had a talk and a poster. Viola had a talk in the student paper competition and won 3rd place. Luis had a talk. Talk titles and presentation pictures can be found on our conferences page. There was also a great dinner for past and present WashU trainees and faculty.
Dr. Wagenseil’s podcast on Engineering the Future; Engineering Human Health for the McKelvey School of Engineering at WashU
Dr. Wagenseil sat down with Shawn Ballard to discuss the research in her laboratory on Engineering Cardiovascular Health.
Keshav wins Outstanding Research Award 2025 from the Department of Biomedical Engineering
Announcement of the award.
Undergrad summer research projects
Aneeq Mir (St. Olaf College) presenting her poster for the Cardiovascular Research Summer Program sponsored by the American Heart Association.
Dr. Wagenseil, Krashn, and Viola attend SB3C
Dr. Wagenseil, Krashn Dwivedi, and Viola Wu road tripped to Lake Geneva, WI for the Summer Biomechanics, Bioengineering, & Biotransport Conference June 11 – 14, 2024. Dr. Wagenseil presented a talk for Keshav Kailash, a PhD student who was not able to attend. Krahsn presented a talk and a poster on his research. Viola presented a poster on her research. Talk titles and presentation pics can be found here.
MEMS Faculty/Postdoc vs Grad Student Kickball Game
The MEMS faculty and postdocs (with some honorable children members) took on the graduate students in a kickball game in Tower Grove Park. Dr. Wagenseil and Krashn represented the lab on the faculty/postdoc side, while Keshav and Viola represented the lab on the graduate student side. The faculty/postdocs won! Although, only because the graduate students were nice enough to give our honorable members the benefit of the doubt on some calls. The “walk up songs” were a great touch and we hope this will become an annual event!
Emily, Brianna, Aidan, and Krashn, attend BMES
Three undergraduates and a postdoctoral fellow attended the BMES meeting in Seattle, WA.
Dr. Christie Crandall
Christie Crandall defended her thesis in Aug 2023. Her family and many members of the McKelvey School of Engineering came to watch and celebrate with her afterwards. She will be working for Sandia National Labs in Livermore, CA after graduation.
Undergrad summer research projects
Brianna Duhart (Biomedical Engineering, Wash U) presenting her poster for the Cardiovascular Research Summer Program sponsored by the American Heart Association.
Christie and Dr. Wagenseil attend SB3C
Christie Crandall and Dr. Wagenseil attended the SB3C meeting in Vail, CO along with many other faculty and students from Washington University in St. Louis. Christie won runner up for her platform presentation in the PhD student paper competition!
Day in the life of our lab undergrads
Two of the undergraduates that work in the lab, Emily Chen and Brianna Duhart, made videos to show their daily life on campus and what it means to be a student at the McKelvey School of Engineering at Washington University.
Funded collaborative R01 on aortic aneurysm treatment
A collaborative grant with PI, Dr. Naren Vyavahare (Clemson University), and co-Is, Dr. Jessica Wagenseil (Washington University) and Dr. John Eberth (Drexel University) has been funded by the NHLBI! The title is “Targeted therapy to reverse aortic aneurysms”. The research will investigate the use of nanoparticle-based therapy to reverse aortic aneurysms in an abdominal aortic rupture mouse model, a Marfan Syndrome-associated thoracic aortic aneurysm mouse model, and an abdominal aortic aneurysm pig model.
Wagenseil named AIMBE Fellow
Dr. Wagenseil was named a 2023 Fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Imaging (AIMBE) for her fundamental contributions to our understanding of how large, elastic arteries remodel during development and disease. The AIMBE College of Fellows is limited to the top 2% of medical and biological engineers and honors outstanding contributions to “engineering and medicine research, practice, or education”. Four Washington University faculty were named fellows in 2023 and join 20 existing Fellows at Washington University.
Funded R01 on supravalvaular aortic stenosis
A new R01 grant titled “Investigating altered smooth muscle cell mechanotransduction as a cause for supravalvular aortic stenosis” has been funded by the NHLBI! The research will address the hypothesis that aortic stenosis in supravalvular aortic stenosis is caused by altered smooth muscle cell mechanotransduction when enough elastin is not laid down to stiffen the aortic wall and prevent increased smooth muscle cell strain as stress increases with development. Increased smooth muscle cell strain causes overexpression/activation of Piezo2, leading to increased intracellular calcium, translocation of YAP/TAZ, and Ctgf transcription that causes smooth muscle cell phenotype modulation and contributes to stenosis. We are looking for PhD students and postdocs interested in working on this project.
Funded R01 on thoracic aortic aneurysms
Our multi-PI grant with Jessica Wagenseil (Washington University) and Victor Barocas (University of Minnesota) has been funded by the NHLBI! The title is “Complementary animal and computational models for biomarker identification in ascending thoracic aortic aneurysm”. The research will include mouse models, multi-scale computational models, and machine learning applications to human imaging data to better understand and predict failure in thoracic aortic aneurysms. We are looking for PhD students and postdoctoral associates interested in working on this project.