REU site: scaffolds across length scales

The National Science Foundation Division of Engineering Education and Centers awarded Trustees of Tufts College $456,048 on January 1, 2027, to establish and operate SALSA (Scaffolds Across Length Scales), a new Research Experiences for Undergraduates site program.

SALSA will host ten undergraduates each summer in a ten-week research program at the interface of biotechnology and materials science, jointly hosted by Tufts' Biomedical Engineering and Chemical and Biological Engineering departments. Student researchers—including those with little or no prior research experience and those from community colleges and institutions with limited research infrastructure—will work on projects spanning engineered materials for wound healing and biomaterials that model tumor response to chemotherapy, mentored by ten faculty members across both departments. The program integrates professional development lunches, journal club meetings, and industry site visits to companies including Moderna, Flagship Pioneering, and Vertex. Partnerships with the Tufts Gordon Institute expose students to entrepreneurship and the commercialization pathway from academic research to technology, while collaboration with the Tufts Summer Scholars Program integrates participants into a broader campus research community. The award funds research and educational activities under the NSF Engineering program (CFDA 47.041), which supports innovation and excellence in engineering research and education. Performance occurs at Tufts University in Medford, Massachusetts, through December 31, 2029.

Abstract

This REU site, scaffolds across length scales (salsa), offers research opportunities for 10 undergraduates each summer at tufts university, at the interface of biotechnology and materials science. Salsa is CO-led by a PI from biomedical engineering and CO-PI from chemical and biological engineering and with support from ten faculty mentors across these two closely connected departments. Students with little or no prior research experience, including those from community colleges and other institutions with limited research infrastructure, will work in state-of-the-art labs on projects ranging from engineered materials for wound healing to biomaterials that model how tumors respond to chemotherapy. Alongside their lab work, students will take part in weekly professional development lunches, a journal club, and industry site visits to companies such as moderna, flagship pioneering, vertex, and more. A partnership with the tufts gordon institute introduces students to entrepreneurship and the path from academic discovery to commercial technology, while a partnership with the tufts summer scholars program builds a broader summer research community on campus. By recruiting students with no required prior research experience from a wide range of institution types, salsa aims to build a versatile, well-trained stem workforce and expand who sees themselves as a scientist or engineer at the interface of biology and materials. This is a new REU site, salsa (scaffolds across length scales), hosted jointly by the biomedical engineering (BME) and chemical and biological engineering (chbe) departments at tufts university, offering research opportunities for 10 undergraduates over a 10-week program each summer. The site is CO-led by a PI in BME and a PI in chbe and draws on ten faculty mentors whose research programs span biomaterials, tissue engineering, synthetic biology, cancer biology, and more. The overarching objectives of salsa are to: 1) recruit students with no required prior research experience to conduct research at the interface of biotechnology and materials science; 2) inspire students to pursue graduate study or professional careers in this space; 3) train students as effective scientific communicators through structured writing and presentation workshops; 4) build a learning community among REU students and the broader tufts summer research community, including tufts summer scholars; and 5) expose students to entrepreneurship and industry careers through partnership with the tufts gordon institute and three industry site visits per summer. Example projects include ribosome pool engineering for biomanufacturing, sprayable silk biomaterials for wound healing, chemotherapy-driven changes in the tumor extracellular matrix, functionalizable pdms surfaces for cell adhesion, optogenetic control of pancreatic hormone secretion, and inflammatory signaling across the reproductive lifespan. Recruitment will target four-year, primarily undergraduate, and community college institutions nationally, using the NSF etap system, with program outcomes assessed via pre/post surveys administered with tufts' office of institutional research & evaluation. 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.- subawards are not planned for this award.