ejsong@illinois.edu | Tissue Microenvironment (TiME) Training Program

Jordan Goebig, Communications Coordinator
2020-08-19

2020 TiMe Cohort The Cancer Center at Illinois’ (CCIL) Tissue Microenvironment (TiMe) Graduate Program kicks off its 2020 – 2021 academic year with nine new trainees dedicated to advancing biomedical science and healthcare.

“With every new cohort of TiMe trainees comes the opportunity to explore diverse ideas, build new relationships, and closely analyze complex biological processes, ultimately strengthening cancer research at Illinois,” said Rex Gaskins, the CCIL’s Associate Director for Education.

The TiMe Program is a unique education program – partnering Illinois graduate students with a scientist mentor who advises them through research, extracurricular activities, and career development related to their field of study. TiMe trainees are enrolled in specific courses to gain an advanced understanding of tissue microenvironments and their role in influencing cell behavior, health, and disease.

Since 2016, the CCIL’s TiMe graduate program has enrolled over 30 students spanning nine campus departments. Collectively, the U of I TiMe trainees have won over 30 research-related awards and have authored over 50 scientific publications.

“Being a part of the TiME program will offer new applications for our research and will also allow us to connect more with the biology of the systems we are interested in. We are excited about the potential to use new tools and build new collaborations with researchers in TiME,” said Amy Wagoner Johnson, TiMe Program Mentor, CCIL member, and Head of the Department of Biomedical and Translational Sciences.

The 2020 – 2021 cohort includes:

Chenfei Hu – advised by Gabriel Popescu, Professor in Electrical and Computer Engineering
Yoon Jeong – advised by Joseph Irudayraj, Founder Professor in Bioengineering
Amir Moghaddam – advised by Amy Wagoner Johnson, Professor in Mechanical Science and Engineering
Nicholas Pino – advised by Jeff Chan, Assistant Professor of Chemistry
Ashlie Santaliz Casiano – advised by Zeynep Madak-Erdogan, Associate Professor of Nutrition
Craig Richard – advised by Rohit Bhargava, Founder Professor in Bioengineering
Jason Wang – advised by Roy Dar, Assistant Professor in Bioengineering, and Hyunjoon Kong, Robert W. Schaefer Professor in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
Samantha Zambuto – advised by Brendan Harley, Associate Professor in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
Maria Zeballas Castro – advised by Thomas Gaj, Assistant Professor in Bioengineering

TiMe trainees receive a stipend through the program. The TiMe Program is supported by the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering of the National Institutes of Health.

To the CCIL community,

Discrimination, as painfully illustrated by recent events, affects every aspect of our daily lives. While the recent loss of life and ensuing violence provide an acute reminder, they are also a painful outcome of the cumulative effects of chronic, everyday discrimination. These every day “thousand small cuts” eventually add up to segments of our community neither being able to benefit from nor contribute to our collective – mental, social, economic and physical – well-being. The loss of talent and opportunity from discrimination means that we are not doing all we can, for example, to diagnose cancer or find cures or take care of survivors. As the Cancer Center at Illinois, we do and shall continue to denounce any acts of racism and violence. Discrimination, whether it is race, gender, orientation, or beliefs, in any form is simply wrong, and it will continue to have no place in the Cancer Center at Illinois.

The Cancer Center at Illinois is a unit that has the greater good of society at its very core. Our lives are significantly enriched in the knowledge that we contribute every day to progress against one of the great challenges of modern society. Let us also be mindful of the challenge of maintaining a just and equitable society as well. While things will get better, they will not immediately become what they should be. It will take considerable effort.

Let us all re-commit to an equitable and just outlook for everything we do and everywhere we are. Let us take these moments to re-affirm that we will not remain passive when we can do our part to improve society. Our actions can make a difference. It is the small, everyday thoughts and acts from each one of us that can go a long way to changing the national culture such that unfortunate events resembling those of the past week are confined to history.

Best wishes,

Rohit
Director, Cancer Center at Illinois

Author: ejsong@illinois.edu

CANCER CENTER AT ILLINOIS WELCOMES NEW COHORT OF TISSUE MICROENVIRONMENT GRADUATE PROGRAM STUDENTS

THE CANCER CENTER AT ILLINOIS’ COMMITMENT TO DIVERSITY, EQUITY, AND INCLUSION