Participant Support for the 2025 Biomedical Engineering Society (BMES) – Cellular and Molecular Bioengineering (CMBE) Conference; Carlsbad, California; 3-6 January 2025

This grant provides travel reimbursements for students and postdoctoral fellows (12 Travel Awards and 10 Poster Awards) and young faculty (10 Rising Star Awards) to attend the 2025 Biomedical Engineering Society (BMES) – Cellular and Molecular Bioengineering (CMBE) Conference, which will be held 3-6 January 2025, in Carlsbad, California to broaden participation of junior researchers and individuals from underrepresented groups (including women and minorities). The specific objectives of this conference are: 1) to support graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, and independent junior investigators (Rising Stars) whose submitted abstracts are selected for podium presentations based on scientific merits, with a focus on promoting women and underrepresented minorities; 2) to converge mechanobiology and cell engineering within the CMBE research community; and 3) to promote interdisciplinary collaborations and career development and networking opportunities.

The conference will integrate engineers and biologists with industrial and translational experience to encourage sharing research across disciplines toward the common goal of improving human health.

The BMES-CMBE Conference has been held annually in the US and US territories since January 2013, organized by the CMBE Special Interest Group (SIG) under the BMES. The BMES-CMBE SIG is the only society and conference covering broad aspects of cellular and molecular bioengineering and the only group in this area backed by a major professional society.

The theme of the 2025 conference will be “Cell Engineering for Mechanomedicine and Rejuvenation”. The program will focus on applying novel and advanced CMBE techniques, materials, and model systems to research in varied physiological and pathological systems and regenerative models. The conference will also feature advanced strategies and technologies to translate novel mechanobiology insights to improve human health.

The choices of theme and invited speakers will bridge the gap between bench and bedside in CMBE technologies and specifically create synergistic interactions between cell biologists, engineers, and clinicians in both academia and industry.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.