Nona Hashemi Attends the 2026 BioPACIFIC MIP Summer School

Nona Hashemi, a Ph.D. candidate in the Oliveira Lab, was selected to receive a travel scholarship to participate in the 2026 BioPACIFIC MIP Summer School at UCLA.

During the summer school, Nona participated in scientific presentations, facility tours, technical demonstrations, and networking activities focused on synthetic biology, polymer science, biomaterials, automation, and advanced materials characterization. The program also included joint virtual sessions connecting participants and researchers from the UCLA and UC Santa Barbara BioPACIFIC MIP groups for keynote presentations and scientific discussions.

A major highlight of Nona’s experience was visiting and training at the Living Biofoundry at UCLA. There, she gained hands-on experience and learned about automated biological workflows for strain engineering, DNA transformation, electroporation, microbial cultivation, and high-throughput screening.

Through the joint keynote sessions, Nona also learned about advances in sustainable polymers, ultra-high-molecular-weight materials, mucosal biomaterials, automated flow chemistry, and biologically derived products. These discussions provided a broader perspective on how biology, chemistry, and materials science can be integrated to develop next-generation biomaterials.

The experience was directly relevant to Nona’s doctoral research on engineered bacterial biofilms and extracellular polymeric substances. In particular, the Living Biofoundry demonstrated how automated strain construction and screening could support the development of engineered bacterial libraries with programmable biofilm matrix properties.

This opportunity allowed Nona to expand her technical knowledge, explore advanced research facilities, and connect with researchers working across synthetic biology, biomaterials, polymer chemistry, and biotechnology.