The Ardoña Research Group at UC Irvine works on macromolecular and biomolecular systems designed as biomaterials that can transduce signals for excitable cell-material interfaces. We leverage these systems for creating tissue engineered-model platforms to study physiological/pathophysiological mechanisms that involve action potential propagation and cellular mechanotransduction in electroactive tissues.
FEATURED NEWS & ANNOUNCEMENTS
CONGRATULATIONS, 2026 GRADUATES!
6/15/2026
Congratulations to Emil, Harrison, Bubbles, Maddie, Caleb, and Catherine, who attended the 2026 UCI Commencement ceremonies, and as they celebrate their respective achievements! We wish them all the best as they move on to their next chapter!
CONGRATULATIONS, DR. LUNDQVIST!
5/5/2026
Congratulations to Emil for completing his PhD defense! His dissertation title is: "Peptide-based optoelectronic platforms towards spatially defined stimulation of cardiac tissue features." We wish Dr. Lundqvist all the best for his next steps!
WELCOME JAVIN!
4/2025
We would like to welcome Javin Schmitt to the group! Javin is a first-year CBE undergraduate. He will be working with Skylar.
YUYAO'S PAPER IS ACCEPTED TO CELL BIOMATERIALS!
3/24/2025
Congratulations to Yuyao for his paper being accepted to Cell Biomaterials! Thank you to Ze-Fan, Catherine, Emil, Nadeen, and Natalie for their contributions to this paper. He was also recently featured in a UCI article to showcase this work!
CONGRATULATIONS, DR. KUANG!
10/17/2025
Congratulations to Yuyao for completing his PhD defense! His dissertation title is: "Engineering Stimuli-Responsive Macromolecular Transducer Materials for Cardiac Tissue Engineering." We wish Dr. Kuang all the best for his next steps!
WELCOME ROMAN!
9/2025
We would like to welcome Roman Kazinets to the group! Roman is a second-year BME undergraduate. He will be working with Katie and Harrison.
CONGRATULATIONS, DR. LIM!
8/26/2025
Congratulations to Sue for completing her PhD defense! Her dissertation title is: "Coassembled Peptidic Biomaterials Towards Cardiac Tissue Engineering Applications." We wish Dr. Lim all the best for her next steps!
ZEFAN AND SUE'S PAPER IS ACCEPTED TO PNAS!
8/2025
Congratulations to Zefan and Sue for their paper being accepted to PNAS! Thank you to Yuyao, Emil, Natalie, Caleb, Katie, Krystal, Lanie, Sheng Wei for their contributions to this paper.
WELCOME NEW STUDENTS!
6/2025
We would like to welcome several new students to the group! Skylar Foust is a rising 2nd year PhD student in the BME department. Archer Black is a rising 2nd year CBE undergraduate and will be working with Natalie. Shem Manchala is a rising 3rd year CBE undergarduate and will be working with Sheng Wei.
YUYAO IS AWARDED THE SSOE OUTSTANDING PHD AWARD!
6/6/2025
Congratulations to Yuyao for being awarded the 2025 SSoE Outstanding Ph.D. Research Award! More details about the award, and the citation for Yuyao's recognition can be found here.
EMIL'S PAPER IS ACCEPTED TO ACS APPLIED MATERIALS & INTERFACES!
5/20/2025
Congratulations to Emil for the acceptance of his paper "Micropatterning Photoconductive Peptide Assemblies on Stiff and Soft Biomaterial Substrates" to ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces! Katie, Lanie, Krystal, Sue, Natalie, Yuyao, Zefan, and Sheng Wei were contributing authors for this paper.
UNDERGRADUATE PRESENTATIONS AT UROP SYMPOSIUM WEEK 2025
5/2/2025
Caleb, Catherine, Maddie, Nadeen, and Zachari presented at the CBE Symposium 2025! Caleb gave an oral presentation and Catherine, Maddie, Nadeen, and Zachari presented at the poster presentation session!
GROUP PRESENTATIONS AT CBE SYMPOSIUM 2025
5/2/2025
Harrison, Katie, and Maddie presented at the CBE Symposium 2025! Harrison gave an oral presentation and Katie and Maddie presented at the poster session!
HARRISON'S PAPER IS ACCEPTED TO FARADAY DISCUSSIONS!
3/3/2025
Congratulations to Harrison for the acceptance of his paper "Supramolecular peptidic dopants for inducing photoconductivity and mechanical tunability in digital light processable hydrogels" to Faraday Discussions! This manuscript is featured in the "Advances in Supramolecular Gels" special issue of the journal. Yuyao and Zefan were contributing authors for this paper.
SUE AND EMIL RECOGNIZED FOR PRESENTATIONS AT 2025 STEM CELL SYMPOSIUM!
2/12/2025
Congratulations to Sue and Emil for receiving awards at the 2025 Stem Cell Symposium! Sue was recognized for the Selected Graduate Student Talk and Emil was recognized for the Poster Award! They both did a great job at the symposium!
JOIN OUR RESEARCH GROUP!
Please contact Professor Herdeline Ardoña if you are interested to join our group. More details about our research group can be found on this page.