We are slowly making the transition over to Bluesky - this account will still be active for the time being, but we hope that if you’re also active on Bluesky you’ll follow us there (gerechtlab.bsky) to stay in contact and keep up with what we’re working on! 🦋

We are also welcoming Corrine Li as a Master's Student in Biomedical Engineering! Corrine joins us from Wake Forest and is joining the lab with the BME Research Fellowship Award that will support her project studying the lymphatics. Congratulations Corrine!

We are welcoming two Master's students to our lab this fall: Craig Monteleone and Xun Huang! Welcome to the lab!

Postdoc @YaqingHuang_ gave a fantastic talk at the Durham Center for Senior Life on her ongoing heart failure research 🧪

We are pleased to share our most recent publication by postdoc Jiyeon Song! 🧪 We used a 3D vascular network model featuring on-demand stiffening to investigate whether matrix stiffening alone can induce vascular senescence Read more here: advanced.onlinelibrary.wiley…

Our July Journal club ⬇️🧪 "4D force patterning enables spatial control of angiogenesis" pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.25…

Check out our latest publication: an artery-on-chip (ARTOC)! Our ARTOC mimics mechanical and functional properties of smooth muscle and can be used to model two separate vascular diseases: polycythemia and Hutchinson-Guilford Progeria Syndrome 🫀🧪 advanced.onlinelibrary.wiley…

For our June Journal Club, we discussed "Human microphysiological systems of aging recreate the in vivo process expediting evaluation of anti-geronic strategies" from the Stahl Lab! nature.com/articles/s41551-0…

Our latest paper is out now in Nature BME! Co-led by Ying-Yu Lin and Parker Esswein, we developed a protocol to differentiate human induced pluripotent stem cells into retinal endothelial cells (iRECs) & showcase applications. Check it out here: nature.com/articles/s41551-0…

Our latest work, led by Dr. Connor Amelung, explores the impact of in situ stiffening on vascular networks and found that stiffening reduced pericellular remodeling by endothelial cells. Our findings have implications in aging & fibrosis #scisky 🧪 advanced.onlinelibrary.wiley…

We are excited to share our new study led by postdoc Jiyeon Song using mechanically tunable hydrogels, multimodal OCT, and deep learning for non-invasive, real-time tracking of granulation tissue formation and vascular remodeling during wound healing 🎉🧪 cell.com/cell-biomaterials/f…

We are celebrating Dr. Connor Amelung's successful defense! Congratulations and we are so very proud. Excited to see all you accomplish in your next role, and we will miss you! 🧪🔬

Congratulations to Dr. Travis Brady on his fantastic defense!! We are so incredibly proud of him and his accomplishments and can't wait to see what he does next. 🧪🫀🥹

Snow days at Duke! 🧪☃️❄️

Our January Journal Club! We discussed the role of cystine in vascular growth and repair 🧪🫀 cell.com/cell-metabolism/ful…

As we enter 2026, we are reflecting back on the past year and all we have achieved! It was a year filled with challenges but also immense growth and accomplishment by our trainees. Here's to a productive and fulfilling 2026 🥂🎉

Huge congratulations to postdoc Yaqing Huang who was awarded a postdoctoral fellowship from the American Heart Association! She will be studying persistent endothelial cell activation during fibrosis. We are so proud! 🧪🫀

Happy Holidays from the Gerecht Lab! Wishing everyone a safe and relaxing end of the year 🧪☃️

Congrats to postdoc Jenn for winning 1st place poster in Bladder Physiology at her first CAIRIBU conference!

Happy Fall from the Gerecht Lab! 🍁🧪

Happy Halloween!! The Gerecht Lab’s Louvre Heist Crew stole the show at this years’ BME Department Halloween party 🦺💎