News

In the Press

Statues at the Smithsonian

Profe Ana’s statue at the Smithsonian makes the local and international news!

Dr. Porras holding a crocheted blue microbe

“This Microbe Crocheting Engineer Makes the Invisible Adorable”

“UF engineers make strong showing at UF International Center awards”. University of Florida. November 20, 2025.

“Prestigious academy names three Rising Stars from UF engineering”. University of Florida. November 7, 2025.

“A virtual exchange in global health technology”. UniCollaboration. May 1, 2025.

“UF biomedical engineering professor receives NIH award to uncover microbiome’s role in tissue health”. University of Florida. December 4, 2024.

“In-vitro modeling reveals how Leishmania affects liver tissues”. UF Emerging Pathogens Institute (UF EPI). July 31, 2024.

“Personajes al Servicio de la Ciencia y la Educación en Bucaramanga”. Vanguardia Liberal. December 21, 2022.

“3D Statues Celebrate Women in STEM – including Six Cornellians” by Beth Saulnier. Cornellians. April 26, 2022.

“Ana Maria Porras, la Científica Colombiana que Deja Huella en el Mundo de la Ciencia”. Noticias Caracol. April 5, 2022.

“Ana María Porras, una Santandereana Líder en Ciencia Mundial”. Vanguardia Liberal. March 8, 2022.

“Una Colombiana entre las Científicas Exaltadas en el Smithsonian” by Alejandra López Plazas. El Tiempo. March 8, 2022.

Interviewed for the “Mujeres Científicas” Episode. Radio Nacional – Jóvenes con Actitud.March 7, 2022.

“Ana Maria Porras, la Ingeniera Biomédica Colombiana que Inspira a Jóvenes Científicas”. La W Radio. March 7, 2022.

“Ana Maria Porras, la Colombiana que Tendrá una Estatua en el Smithsonian” by Leonardo Botero. Colombia Visible. March, 2022.

Featured in “How ‘Spam’ Helped women in STEM to Top Colombian Twitter for Days” by Andrew Wight. Forbes #SpamDeCientificas. February 22, 2022.

Lab News

  • January

    • Profe Ana presented Sam’s work for the Rising Star Award at the Cellular and Molecular Bioengineering Conference in Puerto Rico

    February

    • We welcomed James as a new M.S. student to the team!

    March

    • Zahra published her first first-author paper in our lab - a protocol to culture inactivated fibroblasts in vitro!

    April

    • The TMI Lab swept the Gator Attributes Awards! Zahra received the Integrity Award for Ph.D. students, Morgenne the Service to the Global Community Award, and Ava the Dean Earl Award for service!

    • Profe Ana was recognized as an Emering Leader by the American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering!

    May

    • We said goodbye to graduating BME seniors Ava, Morgenne and Isabella. We will miss you!

    • We welcomed 3 undergraduate students: David, Gargi, and Kiefer, and 1 M.S. student, Javier, to the lab!

    June

    • Profe Ana was elected vice co-chair of the Gordon Research Conference on Signal Transduction in Engineered Extracellular Matrices!

  • January

    • Karen became an NIH Basic Microbiology and Infectious Disease T32 Fellow!

    February

    • Josh was awarded the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship!

    • Josh and Karen received the Professional Excellence and Service to the Global Community Awards at the HWCOE Award Ceremony!

    October

    • Aniyah, our 2025 AHA REU student, presented her work at BMES!

    • We welcome Daniel Basto Moreno, new Ph.D. student to the lab!

    November

    • Zahra and Profe Ana presented their work at the American Society for Matrix Biology!

    • We welcomed M.S. student Nikhila to the lab!

    • Our review on in vitro models of human-microbiome interactions led by Karen is live!

    December

    • Krishna, our new lab manager joined the lab! Welcome, Krishna!

    • Sam published her work on TMAO as a driver of fibroblast activation in the valve!

  • February

    • Profe Ana receives the AAAS Early Career Public Engagement with Science Award!

    March

    • We welcome visiting Ph.D. student Katherine Bauer Estrada from UniSabana in Colombia!

    April

    • Alejandro and Tanmayee defend their honors thesis!

    • Karen wins Best Graduate Poster at our Local Society for Biomaterials Day and Josh wins Best Poster at the SHPE Engineering Research Symposium!

    May

    • Profe Ana accepts the Society for Biomaterials Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Award on behalf of LatinXinBME!

    • Sam and Zahra pass the department comprehensive examination - their first milestone towards the Ph.D.!

    • Marcos is accepted into the University Scholars Program!

    June

    • Karen and Sam presented posters at ASM!

    August

    • We published our first paper (yay Tia and Josh) in collaboration with the Kima lab! This paper reviews in vitro models to study parasitic tropical infections.

    September

    • Karen, Sam, and Zahra presented posters at the Society for Biomaterials Southeast Regional Meeting!

    • Profe Ana is awarded a Maximizing Investigators’ Research Award from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences at NIH!

    October

    • Marcos, Josh, and Zahra presented posters at the Annual BMES Meeting in Baltimore!

    • Profe Ana accepted the Biomedical Engineering Society Diversity Lecture Award on behalf of LatinXinBME!

    • Profe Ana participated in a panel on virtual exchange and co-led a workshop on leveraging ChatGPT to build global competencies in the classroom at the AACU Conference on Global Learning

    December

    • Tanmayee graduated with her BS in Biomedical Engineering! We will miss her!

  • May

    • Alejandro wins the Attributes of a Gator Engineer Award for Service to the Global Community!

    October

    • Karen and Sam presented their work at BMES!

    November

    • Josh presented his first poster at ABRCMS!

    December

    • Zahra presented her first poster at the Advances in IBD Conference!

In the Press

Publications
A review of scaffold characterization methods for cell-cultured meat and seafood

Tvedt JR, Porras AM, Zhang B, Farzah R (2026) Future Foods

Developing a cell culture protocol to induce quiescence in intestinal fibroblasts using Design of Experiments Statistical Optimization

Mohammadalizadeh ZG, Sudi SG, Basto Moreno DAG, Bauer Estrada KG, Almonte MU, Fogg K, Porras AM (2026) npj Biomedical Innovations

Comparative genomic and functional profiling of ECM-targeting enzymes in Bacteroides, a key genus of the human gut microbiome

Mancera Azamar KMG, Rajesh K, Downing BU, Javith MU, Yamhure IU, Porras AM# (2026) Under review at the Cellular and Molecular Bioengineering Journal.bioRxiv [preprint]

Trymethylamine-N-oxide, a gut-derived metabolite, induces myofibroblastic activation of valvular interstitial cells through endoplasmic reticulum stress

Sudi S, Suresh DS, Kolli, T, Mancera Azamar KM, Dickson A, Mohammadalizadeh Z, Porras AM (2025) Scientific Reports

Supplementation with a Limosilactobacillus fermentum K73 synbiotic modulates gut microbiota function and behavior in gnotobiotic mice transplanted with microbiota from children diagnosed with ASD

Bauer Estrada KG, Mancera Azamar KMG, Wang C, Sudi SG, Friday-Saunders K, Márquez V, Quintanilla-Carvajal MX, Acosta-González A, Conde-Martinez N, Porras AM#, Alviña A# (2025) biorXiv [preprint]

Texture engineering in cell-based seafood: Insights from structural and compositional benchmarks

Chuah SX, Mancera Azamar KM, Kolli T, Odabasi AZ, Zhang B, Sims C, Goodrich-Schneider R, Porras AM, Farzad R (2025) Food Research International

Innovative engineering approaches to model host-microbiome interactions in vitro

Mancera Azamar KM, Sudi SD, Mohammadalizadeh Z, Coffin C, Parker IK, Porras AM (2025) Advanced Drug Delivery Reviews

Developing a cell culture protocol to induce quiescence in intestinal fibroblasts using design of experiments statistical optimization

Mohammadalizadeh Z, Bauer Estrada K, Almonte M, Fogg K, Porras AM (2025) Research Square [Preprint]

Crisis communication on Instagram during COVID-19: A content analysis of institutional public health messaging in Colombia using the CERC framework

Muriel Ruiz V#, Fernandez-Alvarez E#, Olmedo Iniguez CS, Yamhure Baena I, Javith M, Cortés Moreno ML, Mateus Téllez J, Cucunubá ZM, Porras AM (2025) Research Square [Preprint]

Engineered in vitro models to improve the mechanistic understanding and treatment of neglected tropical diseases caused by protozoan parasites

Monjute TG, Rosero JG, Ruley JAU, Hernandez AJU, Kime PE, Porras AM (2024) GEN Biotechnology

Framework for department-level accountability to diversify engineering

Linnes JC, Moore E, Porras AM, Wayne E, Boyle PM, Chow LW, Maisel K, Peyton SR, Stabenfeldt SE, Winter JO, Kuntz Willits R (2024) Nature Reviews Bioengineering

Diversify your faculty: A roadmap for equitable hiring strategies

Cosgriff-Hernandez E, Aguado BA, Akpa B, Fleming G, Moore E, Porras AM, Boyle Patrick, Chan D, Chesler N, Christman K, Desai T, Harley B, Hudalla G, Killian M, Maisel K, Maitland K, Peyton S, Pruitt B, Stabenfeldt S, Stevens K, Bowden A (2023) Nature Biomedical Engineering

Inflammatory bowel disease-associated gut commensals degrade components of the extracellular matrix

Porras AM, Zhou HG, Shi Q, Xiao XG, JRI Live Cell Bank, Longman R, Brito IL (2022) mBio

Public engagement with biotechnology inside and outside the classroom: Community-focused approaches

Jimenez J, Gamble-George J, Danies G, Hamm RL, Porras AM (2022) GEN Biotechnology

Engaging scientific diasporas in STEAM education: The case of science clubs Colombia

Avendano-Uribe BE, Lombana-Bermudez A, Flórez LV, Chaparro E, Hernandez-Morales AC, Archbold J, Buitrago-Casas JC, Porras AM (2022) Frontier Research Metrics and Analytics

Engineering the aortic valve extracellular matrix through stages of development, aging, and disease

Scott AJ, Simon LR, Hutson HN, Porras AM, Masters KS (2021) Journal of Molecular and Cellular Cardiology

Geographic differences in gut microbiota composition impact susceptibility to enteric infection

Porras AM, Shi Q, Zhou H, Callahan R, Montenegro-Bethancourt G, Solomons N, Brito IL (2021) Cell Reports

Building a virtual community to support and celebrate the success of Latinx scientists

Aguado BA, Porras AM (2020) Nature Reviews Materials

Science communication in multiple languages is critical to its effectiveness

Márquez MC, Porras AM (2020) Frontiers in Communication

The internationalization of human microbiome research

Porras AM, Brito IL (2019) Current Opinion in Microbiology

Creation of disease-inspired biomaterial environments to mimic pathological events in early calcific aortic valve disease

Porras AM, Westlund JA, Evans AD, Masters KS (2018) Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America

Robust generation of quiescent porcine valvular interstitial cell cultures

Porras AM, Engeland N, Marchbanks E, McCormack A, Bouten C, Yacoub MH, Latif N, Masters KS (2017) JAHA: Journal of the American Heart Association

Calcific aortic valve disease: A battle of the sexes

Porras AM, McCoy CM, Masters KS (2017) Circulation Research

Engineering approaches to study fibrosis in 3-D in vitro systems

Porras AM, Hutson HN, Berger AJ, Masters KS (2016) Current Opinions in Biotechnology

Development of aortic valve disease in familial hypercholesterolemic swine: Implications for elucidating disease etiology

Porras AM, Shanmuganayagam D, Meudt JJ, Kreuger CG, Rahko PS, Reed JD, Masters KS (2015) JAHA: Journal of the American Heart Association

Wave mice: A new tool in the quest to characterize aortic valvular disease etiologies

Porras AM, Masters KS (2015) Journal of Thoracic Disease

Gene expression profiling of valvular interstitial cells in Rapacz familial hypercholesterolemic swine

Porras AM, Shanmuganayagam D, Meudt JJ, Krueger CG, Reed JD, Masters KS (2014) Genomics Data

Manipulation of valve composition to elucidate the role of collagen in aortic valve calcification

Rodriguez KJ, Piechura LM, Porras AM, Masters KS (2014) BMC Cardiovascular Disorders‍ ‍

Statues at the Smithsonian

Profe Ana’s statue at the Smithsonian makes the local and international news!

Follow the Porras TMI Lab on LinkedIn

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