Congratulations to Assistant Professor Emilie Dressaire for earning a 2026 NSF CAREER Award.
A deep knowledge of how cells work is fundamental to both our basic understanding of cell biology as well as its applied aspects, including biotechnology and pharmaceuticals. We have the time-honored approaches, such as in vitro cultures in petri dishes that allow important but somewhat limited insights, and in vivo testing in animal models, which are more difficult, expensive and complex systems to access. But what if there was an alternative, a system that can mimic the three-dimensional environment of living cells, but also is easier to access and has tunable properties?
That’s the focus of mechanical engineering assistant professor Emilie Dressaire’s work. Microgels — grain-sized clusters of soft slippery particles — provide just the right consistency for cells to grow, organize and divide, making them ideal for studying cells. “This is particularly useful to study cell aggregates, such as organoids or tumoroids,” she said.
However, microgels currently inhibit the transport of oxygen and nutrients to the cells, which limits long-term cell studies. Supported by her CAREER award, Dressaire and her lab will dive into the transport properties of these microgels, which resemble tiny, squishy ball pits, with particles that stick to each other but also create spaces in between.
“My research looks into transport in those microgels, how fluid flows through the void spaces and how molecules and other particles move through and around the microgel particles,” she said. “The goal is to control and enhance transport in microgels so cells can experience molecular exchanges, analogous to those they experience in the body. This is really important to better understand how cells and cell aggregates respond to signals from their environments and drugs.”
The work, which involves computer modeling and millifluidic experiments, will interrogate fundamental questions of fluid flow and transport of solutes and particles across microgels; how pressure may influence flow and transport; and if granular microgels can be engineered to enhance transport and support cell growth and assembly.
“I am incredibly grateful for this CAREER award,” said Dressaire, adding that the support will enable a new course on biological flows and several outreach initiatives in the Santa Barbara area. It will also support the work of graduate and undergraduate researchers, a couple of whom are already working on fabricating microgels in order to grow and study breast cancer cells. “The knowledge that we gain is essential to engineer advanced culture media that support rapid drug screening for patient-specific treatment,” she said. “This award is a first step toward engineering cell culture environments that offer a practical alternative to in-vivo culture.”
Read full article on the five other junior faculty members selected for 2026 NSF CAREER awards on The Current here