We are proud to work alongside the incredible members of the Oliveira Lab, a bioengineering research lab. A team driven by collaboration, innovation, and scientific curiosity.

We’re excited to welcome Rutuja and Harnish to our lab! Both bring fresh perspectives, strong technical backgrounds, and a lot of curiosity, and we’re thrilled to have them join our growing research community. As we continue pushing forward in areas like microbial engineering, data-driven biology, and experimental automation, their energy and ideas will be a great addition to the team. We’re looking forward to seeing the projects they take on and the impact they’ll make.

Christmas bells rang at Dr. Oliveira’s house as the team came together to celebrate the season with him and his family. It was a beautiful moment of bonding, celebration, and new beginnings for the team. We’re grateful to Dr. Oliveira and his family for the invitation and the sumptuous Christmas meal, and we wish everyone a Happy New Year 2026!

We are excited to officially welcome Bukola Akindipe, our new PhD student, and Tolulope Oyeniran, our new Master’s student, to the Oliveira Lab! Although they have already been working with us remotely, it is a great joy to finally have them joining the lab in person and becoming part of our day-to-day research environment. Their arrival marks an important step as they transition from virtual collaboration to hands-on research, strengthening our team and ongoing projects. We are thrilled to...

This month, the Oliveira Lab had the pleasure of hosting Casey Chen from Professor Alex Fedorik’s lab as part of an ongoing research collaboration. The visit provided an excellent opportunity to exchange ideas, discuss experimental approaches, and strengthen collaborative efforts between the two groups. During the visit, Casey engaged with lab members on shared research interests, ongoing projects, and future directions, fostering productive scientific dialogue and cross-lab knowledge...

Congratulations to Hamed Rastaghi on successfully passing his PhD Preliminary Exam on December 3rd 🎉 This milestone reflects his dedication, hard work, and growing expertise as a researcher. The Oliveira Lab is proud of Hamed’s achievement and looks forward to seeing his continued progress as he advances his doctoral research. Well done, Hamed!

We are pleased to announce that Nona Hashemi has successfully passed her PhD Proposal Defense. This milestone marks an important step in her doctoral training and reflects her hard work, dedication, and scientific growth. Our lab is proud of her achievement and looks forward to seeing her progress as she continues developing her research in microbial communities.

Dean Masud Chowdhury invited students, faculty, and staff to participate in a retreat aimed at strengthening communication between all members of the JSNN community. The well-attended event, on Friday afternoon, November 21st, started with a pizza lunch and continued in the auditorium with introductory remarks by the Dean. The central portion of the program involved short (3-minute) presentations by 17 different nanoscience and nanoengineering faculty, who outlined their research and...

The Oliveira Lab hosted the 2nd Hands-on Workshop on Rapid Prototyping of Microfluidic Chips last Saturday, bringing together students and researchers for an immersive experience that connected theoretical insight with practical execution. The workshop opened with a series of lectures led by Dr. Samuel Oliveira, Muhammad Hassan Raza, and Thuanny Rios. The hands-on session allowed attendees to actively design their own chip prototypes, encouraging collaboration, creativity, and strategic...

On Friday, November 7th, we had the pleasure of hosting Prof. Orlando Argüello-Miranda, from the Department of Plant and Microbial Biology at North Carolina State University, as part of the JSNN Seminar Series – Fall 2025. Prof. Argüello-Miranda delivered the talk “Generative AI-Driven Cell Biology”, addressing how artificial intelligence can be harnessed to interpret complex protein network dynamics within living cells. He explored the transformative role of generative time series models...

We’re excited to share that Dr. Samuel Oliveira has received a new North Carolina Collaboratory grant to advance the development of microfluidic systems for studying long-term intercellular communication and growth dynamics. This project integrates cell biology, microfabrication, and live-cell imaging to build next-generation platforms that mimic complex tissue environments, allowing us to monitor how cells communicate, adapt, and respond to perturbations over time. We’re looking forward to...

The 1st AI-Focused Computational Biotech Hackathon took place on November 8 at the Joint School of Nanoscience and Nanoengineering (JSNN). Hosted by the Oliveira Lab , the event brought together students from different majors and experience levels for a full day of teamwork, coding, and problem-solving in biotechnology. Participants collaborated in small groups, explored new tools, and presented their final results at the end of the day. We congratulate all teams for their creativity,...

The Oliveira Lab was well represented at the 2025 North Carolina Branch Meeting of the American Society for Microbiology (NC-ASM) in Greensboro, NC. Oreoluwa Alonge presented the collaborative poster, “Biochemical Amplification of Impedance Signals Enables Ultra-Sensitive Microfluidic Detection of Bacterial Pathogens,” co-authored with Nona Hashemi . The lab also showcased a second collaborative poster with Dr. Eric A. Josephs’s lab: “A Microfluidic-based, Deep-Learning Framework for...

On Saturday, November 2, 2025, Nona Hashemi, a Ph.D. candidate in Nanoengineering at the Joint School of Nanoscience and Nanoengineering (JSNN), presented her latest research at the 2025 North Carolina Branch Meeting of the American Society for Microbiology (NCASM). She shared her work on spatiotemporal bacterial biofilm formation and community dynamics , exploring how microbial communities evolve across space and time. The NCASM 2025 meeting brought together microbiologists and researchers...

The Oliveira Lab at the Joint School of Nanoscience and Nanoengineering (JSNN) invites participants to the 2nd Hands-on Workshop on Rapid Prototyping of Microfluidic Chips, taking place on November 22, 2025, in Greensboro, NC (with a hybrid option via Zoom). This workshop offers a unique opportunity to explore cutting-edge technologies at the intersection of miniaturization, 3D printing, and biomedical sciences. Participants will gain experience in designing and fabricating microfluidic...

Get ready to compete in the Computational Biotechnology Hackathon , hosted by the Oliveira Lab at North Carolina A&T! This one-day challenge brings together participants to solve real problems at the intersection of biology and computation . Teams will use data-driven methods, modeling, and algorithmic design to tackle biological questions and present their solutions to a panel of judges. 📍 Location: 2907 E Gate City Blvd, Greensboro, NC🕙 Time: 10:00 AM – 5:00 PM💻 Format: Hybrid...

The development of the first-generation GSMMs [1] Genome-scale metabolic models (GEMs) and Flux Balance Analysis (FBA) are complementary computational frameworks used to study and predict the metabolic behavior of living organisms. A GEM is a mathematical representation of an organism’s complete metabolic network, reconstructed from its genome and biochemical knowledge of known reactions. It allows for a systems-level knowledge of metabolism by capturing the connections between genes,...