In the world of IFER, we are proud to share exciting updates from graduate fellows who are receiving their degree and doing impactful work in the research field. We recently featured Nicole Sparks, Ph.D., who was an IFER fellow more than a decade ago and has since continued a career in the field of innovative, humane science. Nicole exemplifies one of the key objectives of the graduate fellowships: to encourage early career scientists to adopt human-relevant, non-animal methods and continue to use them as they advance in their profession.
This month, we are proud to see Zeke Benshirim graduate from Harvard University. He will be pursuing a postdoctoral fellowship at Tufts University. We also congratulate Ian Smith, who recently graduated from the University of Maryland and will begin his postdoctoral fellowship at Washington University in St. Louis this summer.
Benshirim also received an IFER Travel Grant to attend the upcoming Microphysiological Systems World Summit in Brussels, Belgium in June, where he will give an oral presentation on his IFER-funded work entitled, “Mechanical Control of Neural Differentiation Timing in Single-Lumen Human Brain Organoids by Intraluminal Pressure.”
Lunan Liu, IFER fellow from New York University, published a review article in April on lab-on-a-chip entitled, “Cancer-on-a-chip for precision cancer medicine,” which offers a comprehensive overview of how cancer-on-a-chip technologies are being used to model the tumor microenvironment and screen cancer therapies.
We are proud to see these fellows be recognized for their outstanding work and to continue to make an impact on the greater scientific community.
At NAVS, it is one of our core beliefs that science can be improved through innovative, humane methods and that change does not come about without empowering early career researchers to explore and build upon these understandings. Thanks to your ongoing support, we can help plant the seeds for a future where science no longer requires animal suffering.
Pictured Above: IFER Graduate Fellows Lunan Liu, New York University and Zeke Benshirim, Harvard University
