Tyler Nelson

Biology and Mechanical Engineering

Tyler Nelson was accepted to the Applied Physics Graduate Program at Rice University with the letter of acceptance signed by Department Chair, Dr. Junichiro Kono. As an undergraduate at Lamar, Tyler did research under Dr. Lian’s mentorship and published on May 1, 2020, in the Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters vol 11 (10), pages 4173–4178, an article titled “Dependence of Membrane Tether Strength on Substrate Rigidity Probed by Single-Cell Force Spectroscopy“, in collaboration with a Bioengineering group from Rice University. He also had a close professional relationship with Dr. Yao, from Mechanical Engineering. In 2019-20, Tyler ran a successful project sponsored by the Office of Undergraduate Research, titled “Development of 3D Printed Substrate for β-islet Cell Culturing”. This project addresses the need to grow efficiently the β-islet cells for type 1 diabetics. Tyler and Dr. Lian, his mentor, proposed to use 3D printed plastics substrates for allowing the β-islet cells to grow more densely and vigorously. Tyler did an excellent job in his OUR research project.

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Dr. Ian Lian

Associate Professor of Biology

Dr. Ian Lian received his Ph.D. degree in Bioengineering from University of California at San Diego and joined Lamar University in 2013. Through his research lab in the Department of Biology, Dr. Lian has published 15 peer-reviewed papers on some of the top scientific journals, including Nature, and accumulated over 1,600 citations since 2015. He has mentored many outstanding undergraduate students, including McNair Scholars, Beck Fellow, Goldwater Honor Roll recipient, Reaud Honors College Summer Research Fellow, National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) fellow, and Office of Undergraduate Research (OUR) scholarship recipients. Notably, a team of research students from Dr. Lian's lab has won the Poster on the Hill honor as the only awardees selected by Council on Undergraduate research (CUR) from the State of Texas in 2015. Through active collaborations, Dr. Lian was able to send his students to Rice University, UCSD, as well as Academia Sinica in Taiwan for extended summer research. Dr. Lian works with students to amplify their diverse backgrounds and strengths, and more than 30 of his students have been accepted into professional schools and highly ranked Ph.D. programs within the past 5 years.

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SPOTLIGHT ON STUDENT RESEARCHERS