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Three Engineering Faculty and a Student Project

Engineering Research Featured on Lab...

June 2, 2026

Fabrics that change transparency like squid skin, methalox rockets, mini gyroscopes and neuroelectronics for the brain are the latest topics featured in UC Irvine Samueli School of Engineering's podcast The Lab Beat. This captivating podcast takes you right into the labs of engineering researchers as award-winning audio journalist Natalie Tso offers 5-8 minute audio portraits.

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“What we’ve built is essentially a light-powered interface that speaks in electrical and mechanical pulses, the same language as the heart, without any of the drawbacks of rigid electrodes, such as tissue damage or contamination risk over long-term use,” says study co-author Herdeline “Digs” Ardoña, UC Irvine assistant professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering. Steve Zylius / UC Irvine

UC Irvine Researchers Engineer a Light-Powered...

March 24, 2026

Researchers at the University of California, Irvine have developed a polymeric biohybrid cardiac device that harnesses the power of light to electrically and mechanically control living heart tissue without the use of metal electrodes. The innovation represents a leap forward in how scientists study heart disease, test cardiac drugs and potentially treat life-threatening arrhythmias.

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UCI assistant professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering Quinton Smith holds up a chip where his lab grows organoids. (Photo: Natalie Tso/UCI)

3D Stem Cell Engineering That Could...

March 16, 2026

Quinton Smith was named one of the “top 10 scientists on the cusp of changing the world” by Popular Science in 2023 because of his success at 3D stem cell engineering. His dream? To be able to 3D print organs like the human liver so patients will no longer need transplants.

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Herdeline Ann “Digs” Ardoña (left), assistant professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering, and Seunghyun Sim, assistant professor of chemistry, are among 126 early-career scientists to be named 2026 Sloan Research Fellows by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.

Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Names 2 UC...

March 2, 2026

The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation has named two University of California, Irvine faculty members as 2026 Sloan Research Fellows. Herdeline Ann “Digs” Ardoña, assistant professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering, and Seunghyun Sim, assistant professor of chemistry, are among 126 early-career researchers to be recognized by the foundation this year.

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