Team.

Dr. Jenna Mueller
Principal Investigator

Dr. Jenna Mueller is an Assistant Professor in the Fischell Department of Bioengineering at the University of Maryland College Park and in the Department of OB-GYN & Reproductive Science at the University of Maryland School of Medicine. She is also a member of the Program in Oncology at the University of Maryland Marlene and Stewart Greenebaum Comprehensive Cancer Center. Her lab combines optical imaging, image processing, ablative therapies, and human-centered design to develop biomedical devices to solve challenges in global cancer. She received her bachelor’s degree in bioengineering with a minor in global health technologies from Rice University and received both an MS and PhD in biomedical engineering at Duke University for her work developing optical systems and algorithms to improve the accuracy of cancer excision during surgery. Prior to joining the University of Maryland, Dr. Mueller was a Postdoctoral Associate at Duke University where she worked with a multidisciplinary team to develop the Pocket colposcope, a low-cost device to screen women for cervical dysplasia, which is now commercially available. Her work has been supported by a NSF CAREER Award and by the NCI through a K99/R00 Pathway to Independence Award, SBIR phase 1 and phase 2 awards, R21 and U01 subawards, and the NCI-UMD Partnership for Integrative Cancer Research award.​

Graduate Researchers

Jeffrey Yang
PhD Candidate

Jeffrey is a PhD candidate in the Fischell Department of Bioengineering at the University of Maryland. After receiving his bachelor's degree in Bioengineering from UMD in 2017, he worked as a research associate and analytical validation specialist for Prometic Biotherapeutics, Inc., based in Rockville, MD, before beginning his PhD studies in August 2020. His current research interests involve optimizing low-cost technologies and cancer therapies for translation into the clinic. In the Mueller Lab, Jeffrey is exploring different applications of ethanol ablation with other cancer therapies as combinatorial treatment modalities for various cancers.

Gatha Adhikari
Graduate Student

Gatha is a PhD student in the Fischell Department of Bioengineering at the University of Maryland. She received a bachelor's degree in Biomedical engineering from Rowan University in New Jersey, where she used imaging-based analysis of single stem cells and tunable materials to investigate cell-material interactions with applications in regenerative medicine. She explored how cell shape, cell-cell contact, and the underlying substrate stiffness affects mechanosensing and ultimately stem cell differentiation. Her current research interests involve making biomedical technologies accessible in LMICs. In the Mueller Lab, Gatha is designing an in vitro model of cervical pre-cancer and cancer to evaluate treatments for this disease.

Taya Lee
Graduate Student

Taya is a PhD student in the Fischell Department of Bioengineering at the University of Maryland. She received her BS in Bioengineering from Clemson University. At Clemson, she worked to develop a biosensor able to monitor antiretroviral drug adherence in HIV/AIDs patients living in LMICs. After graduating, Taya completed a post-bacc through the University of Maryland School of Medicine’s STAR-PREP program. There she studied the effects of microenvironmental factors on glioblastoma tumor progression. Her current research interests involve making reliable treatments for cancer more accessible. In the Mueller Lab, Taya is developing EC-ethanol quality control criteria and exploring combination treatments for cervical cancer.

Annie Barnes
Graduate Student

Annie is a PhD student in the Fischell Department of Bioengineering at the University of Maryland. She received a bachelor's degree in Bioengineering from UMD in 2023, where she completed an honors thesis on sex differences in skeletal muscle derived extracellular vesicles in obesity. Her current research interests are in development of biomedical devices for use in LMICs. In the Mueller lab, Annie is developing and testing 30° and fluorescent low-cost laparoscopes for use in LMICs.

Eva Orozco
Graduate Student

Eva is a PhD student in the Fischell Department of Bioengineering at the University of Maryland. She received a BS in Biology and Math from the University of Arizona. As a Maximizing Access to Research Careers (MARC) trainee she helped develop a ferret model of Alzheimer’s to discover novel magnetic resonance imaging markers for the early detection of neurodegenerative diseases. She also investigated sex-related brain differences in higher-order animal models using a magnetic resonance imaging diffusion tensor template to motivate the use of female animals in translational brain studies. Her current research interests include maximizing the accessibility of therapeutics to historically underserved communities. In the Mueller lab, Eva is exploring combination therapies for the treatment of cancer and leveraging a computational model of EC-ethanol transport to understand its distribution in abnormal cervical tissue.   

Staff

Michele Kaluzienski
Lab Assistant

Postbaccalaureate Researchers

Jason Chen
Postbac

Jason is a postbaccalaureate researcher. He is interested in the design and development of various biomedical devices and even more so when given the constraints and challenges of using them in low and middle-income countries. In the Mueller Lab, Jason is designing a portable testing setup to characterize the image quality of a low-cost laparoscope for use in LMICs. The setup will enable others evaluate and troubleshoot laparoscopes in LMICs without needing the costly equipment.

Ian Hidalgo
Postbac

Ian is a postbaccalaureate researcher. He graduated from the University of Maryland with a BS in Bioengineering in May 2022, and worked as a Manufacturing/Process Engineer for Becton Dickinson until May 2024. Ian is now applying to MD programs and hopes to use his engineering experience as a medical doctor to enable greater global access to existing medical technology and techniques. In the Mueller Lab, Ian is iterating on the design and test setup for a low-cost laparoscope, and working with collaborators in Uganda to establish manufacturing operations that adhere to ISO and GMP standards.

Vene Richardson-Powell
Postbac 

Vené is a postbaccalaureate researcher. She is interested in utilizing bioengineering to improve medical diagnosis and treatments as well as developing biomedical devices that can be used globally. In the Mueller Lab, Vené is optimizing ethanol ablation treatments and injection parameters for cervical pre-cancer.  

Undergraduate Researchers

Venkata Polavarapu
Undergraduate Student

Venkata is a third year undergraduate student studying bioengineering. She is interested in biomedical device instrumentation and how it can be applied to enhancing global health treatments in LMICs. In the Mueller Lab, Venkata is optimizing injection parameters for the ethanol ablation treatment project.

Peter Shin
Undergraduate Student

Peter is a third year undergraduate student studying Bioengineering on a Bioinstrumentation track. He is interested in pursuing a career involving the development of biomedical devices and its application to LMICs. In the Mueller Lab, he is investigating and optimizing various applications of ethanol ablation for combinatorial cancer treatment therapies.

Talya Simcox
Undergraduate Student

Talya is a third year undergraduate studying bioengineering. She is interested in the development of biomedical devices and how they can be utilized to improve treatments for global health. In the Mueller Lab, Talya is developing tests to assess the performance of a low-cost laparoscope for use in LMICs. 

Surabhi Singh
Undergraduate Student

Surabhi is a second year undergraduate student majoring in Bioengineering with a minor in Data Science. She is interested in the biocomputation and medical device development to optimize global healthcare. In the Mueller Lab, she is testing the efficacy of the low-cost laparoscope for use in LMICs by developing image analysis code.

Wilhelm Smith
Undergraduate Student

Wilhelm is a third-year undergraduate studying bioengineering. He is interested in the development of biomedical devices and how they can be utilized to improve treatments for global health. In the Mueller Lab, Wilhelm is testing the efficacy of the low-cost laparoscope for use in LMICs by developing an image analysis code for device characterization.

Matthew Somerville
Undergraduate Student

Matthew is a third year undergraduate student studying Bioengineering on a Biomedical Instrumentation track. He is interesting in pursuing a career in biomedical device development with an aim in increasing accessibility to treatment in global health. In the Mueller Lab, Matthew is investigating a dermatological application of EC-ethanol ablation for treating refractory warts.

Mikaela Truong
Undergraduate Student

Mikaela is a third year undergraduate studying bioengineering. She is interested in the development of biomedical devices and their application in improving healthcare treatments on a global scale, particularly in LMICs. In the Mueller Lab, Mikaela is analyzing tissue samples to evaluate the performance of the EC-ethanol ablation project in preclinical models.

Alumni

Dr. Tri Quang

Dr. Tri Quang was a Postdoctoral Research Associate in the Fischell Department of Bioengineering at the University of Maryland. He received a PhD from the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Iowa. His PhD research focused on integrated intraoperative optical imaging and surgical navigation systems for computer-assisted interventions. In 2019, he was awarded an American Society for Laser Medicine and Surgery Student Research Grant for his work. He received a MS in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Akron in 2016. In the Mueller Lab, Tri he led the development of diagnostic and therapeutic technologies in large animal models. 

Maya Budzinski

Maya graduated with a B.S in Bioengineering in May 2023. She is interested in biomedical device development and its application to global engineering. In the Mueller Lab, she  optimized ethanol ablation treatments for cervical pre-cancer and later enhanced the functionality of a low-cost laparoscope for use in LMICs.

Tessa Hauser
Undergraduate Student

Tessa graduated with a B.S in Bioengineering in May 2023. She is interested in the development of biomedical devices and how they can help LMICs. In the Mueller Lab, she investigated various applications of ethanol ablation for combinatorial cancer therapies.

Pritika Papali

Pritika graduated with a B.S in Bioengineering in May 2023. She is interested in pursuing a career in medicine and applying biomedical device development to improve global healthcare. In the Mueller Lab, she enhanced the functionality of a low-cost laparoscope for use in LMICs.

Catherine Schilling

Catherine graduated with a B.S in Bioengineering in May 2023. She is interested in biomedical device development and it’s applications in global health care.  In the Mueller lab, Catherine designed an injector to deliver enhanced ethanol ablation into refractory warts. ​

Moussa Haddad

Moussa graduated with a B.S in Bioengineering in May 2022. He is interested in optical imaging and its importance in cancer diagnosis and treatment on a global scale. In the Mueller Lab, Moussa enhanced the functionality of a low-cost laparoscope for use in LMICs.

Anna Parrish

Anna graduated with a B.S in Bioengineering in May 2022. She is interested in biomedical device development and its application to cancer treatments and diagnostics. In the Mueller Lab, she optimized ethanol ablation treatments for cervical pre-cancer.

Asma Farooqui

Asma graduated with a B.S. in Bioengineering in December 2021. She is interested in working on medical device development within the global health sphere and is planning to pursue a Master's Degree in Bioengineering. In the Mueller Lab, she worked on optimized ethanol ablation treatments for cervical pre-cancer.