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The Philadelphia Section of the STLE is pleased to award a $1,000 scholarship to second year Lehigh University Bioengineering graduate student Matthew Ziarnk. Working under the direction of Professor Anand Jagota, and in conjunction with Professor Xiaohui (Frank) Zhang, Ziarniik is looking at biological adhesion. Specifically, he has been working on viral adhesion and internalization in relation to the cellular glycocalyx both through simulations and experiments. Some of these experiments such as atomic force microscopy and biolayer interferometry focus on studying adhesion mainly between proteins. The simulations look at larger scale viral internalization with entire membranes. The reason for this work is that by studying the friction, adhesion, and compression of the cellular membrane and glycocalyx, targeted drug therapy could be used to minimize human illness. His contributions have already resulted in co-authorship on a published paper. His project is also part of a broader program at Lehigh on future pandemic prevention and he is actively involved in it.
Ziarnik is described as a highly motivated and an independent thinker who is willing and able to take on new projects. For example, the Jagota lab had no previous experience in characterization and growth of cells for mechanical probe experiments. Ziarnik took this on independently and learned what was required with minimal input. He was highly commended for his performance recently in his PhD Qualifying Examination.