Amir Sheikhi

Huck Early Career Chair in Biomaterials and Regenerative Engineering ; Associate Professor of Chemical Engineering

Amir Sheikhi

Research Summary

Micro- and nanoengineered soft materials for medicine and the environment; microfluidic-enabled biomaterials for tissue engineering and regeneration; living materials; next-generation bioadhesives, tissue sealants, and hemostatic agents; hydrogels for minimally invasive medical technologies; self-healing and adaptable soft materials; smart coatings; hairy nanocelluloses as an emerging family of advanced materials.

Huck Affiliations

Links

Most Recent Publications

Plant Cell Wall-Like Soft Materials: Micro- and Nanoengineering, Properties, and Applications

Roya Koshani, Mica Pitcher, Jingyi Yu, Christine Mahajan, Seong Kim, Amir Sheikhi, 2025, Nano-Micro Letters on p. 103

Nanoengineered cellulose for sustainable selective separation of precious metals from electronic waste

Roya Koshani, Shang Lin Yeh, Mica L. Pitcher, Lucas Lawrence Franz, Mitchell Robert Davis, Min Ju Park, Said Khalifa Ahmed Al Qassabi, Joelson Patricio Manuel Alves, Younes Shekarian, Hevapathiranage Chandima Sudantha Subasinghe, Sarma V. Pisupati, Mohammad Rezaee, Amir Sheikhi, 2025, Chemical Engineering Journal

Zwitterionic Molecularly Imprinted Hairy Cellulose Nanocrystals Enable Selective Vancomycin Removal

Roya Koshani, Shang Lin Yeh, Sina Kheirabadi, Zeming He, Min Ju Park, Sean LeConey, Andrew F. Read, Amir Sheikhi, 2025, Langmuir on p. 8554-8564

A nano-enabled adjunctive therapy to prevent vancomycin resistance evolution: Toward nano-anti-antibiotics

Roya Koshani, Shang-Lin Yeh, Landon vom Steeg, Joy Kirigo, Sean Leconey, Zeming He, Min Ju Park, Robert Woods, Andrew Read, Amir Sheikhi, 2025, Biomaterials on p. 123141

Engineering the Hierarchical Porosity of Granular Hydrogel Scaffolds Using Porous Microgels to Improve Cell Recruitment and Tissue Integration

Alexander Kedzierski, Sina Kheirabadi, Arian Jaberi, Zaman Ataie, Catherine L. Mojazza, Marisa L. Williamson, Anton M. Hjaltason, Aneesh Risbud, Yuanhui Xiang, Amir Sheikhi, 2025, Advanced Functional Materials

Polymeric Anti-Antibiotic Microparticles to Prevent Antibiotic Resistance Evolution

Roya Koshani, Shang Lin Yeh, Zeming He, Naveen Narasimhalu, Landon G. vom Steeg, Derek G. Sim, Robert J. Woods, Andrew F. Read, Amir Sheikhi, 2025, Small

Nano-enabled dynamically responsive living acellular hydrogels

Roya Koshani, Sina Kheirabadi, Amir Sheikhi, 2024, Materials Horizons on p. 103-118

Engineering Microgel Packing to Tailor the Physical and Biological Properties of Gelatin Methacryloyl Granular Hydrogel Scaffolds

Arian Jaberi, Alexander Kedzierski, Sina Kheirabadi, Yerbol Tagay, Zaman Ataie, Saman Zavari, Mohammad Naghashnejad, Olivia Waldron, Daksh Adhikari, Gerald Lester, Colin Gallagher, Ali Borhan, Dino Ravnic, Erdem Tabdanov, Amir Sheikhi, 2024, Advanced healthcare materials on p. 2402489

Antiscaling Pickering Emulsions Enabled by Amphiphilic Hairy Cellulose Nanocrystals

Roya Koshani, Shang Lin Yeh, Mica L. Pitcher, Amir Sheikhi, 2024, ACS applied materials & interfaces on p. 42802-42815

Upcycling plastic waste into fully recyclable composites through cold sintering

Po Hao Lai, Shelby L. Hall, Yi Chen Lan, Jia Ruey Ai, Arian Jaberi, Amir Sheikhi, Rui Shi, Bryan D. Vogt, Enrique D. Gomez, 2024, Materials Horizons on p. 2718-2728

Most-Cited Papers

Sutureless repair of corneal injuries using naturally derived bioadhesive hydrogels

Ehsan Shirzaei Sani, Ahmad Kheirkhah, Devyesh Rana, Zhongmou Sun, William Foulsham, Amir Sheikhi, Ali Khademhosseini, Reza Dana, Nasim Annabi, 2019, Science advances

Advancing Frontiers in Bone Bioprinting

Nureddin Ashammakhi, Anwarul Hasan, Outi Kaarela, Batzaya Byambaa, Amir Sheikhi, Akhilesh K. Gaharwar, Ali Khademhosseini, 2019, Advanced healthcare materials

3D-Printed Ultra-Robust Surface-Doped Porous Silicone Sensors for Wearable Biomonitoring

Elham Davoodi, Hossein Montazerian, Reihaneh Haghniaz, Armin Rashidi, Samad Ahadian, Amir Sheikhi, Jun Chen, Ali Khademhosseini, Abbas S. Milani, Mina Hoorfar, Ehsan Toyserkani, 2020, ACS Nano on p. 1520-1532

Status and future scope of plant-based green hydrogels in biomedical engineering

Reza Mohammadinejad, Hajar Maleki, Eneko Larrañeta, André R. Fajardo, Amirala Bakhshian Nik, Amin Shavandi, Amir Sheikhi, Mansour Ghorbanpour, Mehdi Farokhi, Praveen Govindh, Etienne Cabane, Susan Azizi, Amir Reza Aref, Masoud Mozafari, Mehdi Mehrali, Sabu Thomas, João F. Mano, Yogendra Kumar Mishra, Vijay Kumar Thakur, 2019, Applied Materials Today on p. 213-246

Structural analysis of photocrosslinkable methacryloyl-modified protein derivatives

Kan Yue, Xiuyu Li, Karsten Schrobback, Amir Sheikhi, Nasim Annabi, Jeroen Leijten, Weijia Zhang, Yu Shrike Zhang, Dietmar W. Hutmacher, Travis J. Klein, Ali Khademhosseini, 2017, Biomaterials on p. 163-171

Reusable Green Aerogels from Cross-Linked Hairy Nanocrystalline Cellulose and Modified Chitosan for Dye Removal

Han Yang, Amir Sheikhi, Theo G.M. Van De Ven, 2016, Langmuir on p. 11771-11779

Minimally Invasive and Regenerative Therapeutics

Nureddin Ashammakhi, Samad Ahadian, Mohammad Ali Darabi, Mario El Tahchi, Junmin Lee, Kasinan Suthiwanich, Amir Sheikhi, Mehmet R. Dokmeci, Rahmi Oklu, Ali Khademhosseini, 2019, Advanced Materials

Hairy cellulose nanocrystalloids: A novel class of nanocellulose

Theo G.M. Van De Ven, Amir Sheikhi, 2016, Nanoscale on p. 15101-15114

Microfluidic-enabled bottom-up hydrogels from annealable naturally-derived protein microbeads

Amir Sheikhi, Joseph de Rutte, Reihaneh Haghniaz, Outman Akouissi, Alireza Sohrabi, Dino Di Carlo, Ali Khademhosseini, 2019, Biomaterials on p. 560-568

Copper removal using electrosterically stabilized nanocrystalline cellulose

Amir Sheikhi, Salman Safari, Han Yang, Theo G.M. Van De Ven, 2015, ACS applied materials & interfaces on p. 11301-11308

News Articles Featuring Amir Sheikhi

Mar 18, 2025

FDA-approved dialysis drug may help fight against antimicrobial resistance

The study, conducted in mice, revealed that sevelamer can successfully remove off-target antibiotics from the gut.

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Feb 03, 2025

Novel ‘living’ biomaterial aims to advance regenerative medicine

A biomaterial that can mimic certain behaviors within biological tissues could advance regenerative medicine, disease modeling, soft robotics and more, according to researchers at Penn State.

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Sep 24, 2024

New material prevents mineral buildup in equipment handling water-oil mixtures

Penn State researchers have developed a new nanoparticle that can prevent scaling and stabilize a commonly used emulsion, or liquid mixture, potentially making the oil extraction processes more efficient and less harmful to the environment.

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Mar 05, 2024

Combining novel biomaterial and microsurgery might enable faster tissue recovery

To speed up the formation and patterning of new blood vessels, Penn State researchers have combined a novel biomaterial with a microsurgical approach used in reconstructive surgery, enabling improved recovery of soft tissue.

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Dec 08, 2023

Penn State professors make advancements in study of breast cancer

A study unveiled findings from collaborative research conducted on the issue of metastasis within breast cancer patients

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Nov 08, 2023

NIH diversity grant to fund student’s 3D bioprinting research

Angie Castro will be supported by an NIH grant for her work on 3D printing granular scaffolds for tissue engineering and regeneration to meet precise medical needs.

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Oct 30, 2023

Potential New Therapeutic Target for Metastatic Breast Cancer Discovered

New research led by Penn State researchers has shown, for the first time, the mechanics of how breast cancer cells invade healthy tissues and lead to metastatic disease

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Oct 30, 2023

Protein found to control breast cancer metastasis

Scientists have discovered the motor protein dynein commands movement of cancer cells in soft tissue models, offering new clinical targets

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Oct 29, 2023

Research says blocking a motor protein can stop breast cancer cells

But what if there was ? to stop breast cancer cells from moving and invading healthy tissues

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Oct 29, 2023

Protein discovery could be used to stop breast cancer in its tracks

Researchers have uncovered the mechanism by which a protein facilitates the spread of breast cancer cells from the primary tumor into healthy tissue

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Oct 27, 2023

Mechanics of breast cancer metastasis discovered, offering target for treatment

New research led by Penn State reveals for the first time the mechanics behind how breast cancer cells may invade healthy tissues recently published in the journal Advanced Science.

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Aug 22, 2023

One Health Microbiome Center's 2023-24 Interdisciplinary Innovation Fellows

The One Health Microbiome Center (OHMC) in the Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences at Penn State has named five recipients for its 2023-24 Interdisciplinary Innovation Fellowships (IIF) program.

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Aug 09, 2023

Mussels inspire an eco-friendly way to extract critical rare earth elements

Rare earth elements play a key role in clean energy, vital to the production of lightweight, efficient batteries and essential components in wind turbines.

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Jul 06, 2023

Soft tissue restoration, blood vessel formation focus of $3M grant

The ability to regenerate and pattern blood vessels, the literal lifelines extending deep into soft tissues, remains an elusive milestone in regenerative medicine.

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Jan 20, 2023

Novel microneedle bandage could save lives by stopping blood loss from wounds

A soldier suffers a serious gunshot wound on a remote battlefield or a machinist has a work accident and gets stuck in traffic on the way to the hospital.

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Jan 11, 2023

Researchers uncover mechanisms to easily dry, redisperse cellulose nanocrystals

Cellulose nanocrystals — bio-based nanomaterials derived from natural resources such as plant cellulose — are valuable for their use in water treatment, packaging, tissue engineering, electronics, antibacterial coatings and much more.

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Dec 22, 2022

2022 Top 10 Most Popular Microbiome Center News Articles

The stories that made the year in 2022 for the Penn State Microbiome Center

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Nov 21, 2022

Materials Research Institute names 2022 Roy Award Winners

Seven Penn State materials researchers have received the 2022 Rustum and Della Roy Innovation in Materials Research Award.

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Nov 15, 2022

FDA-approved cholesterol medicine may help prevent antibiotic resistance

Antimicrobial resistance, including bacteria that have evolved to defy antibiotics, is one of the top 10 global public health threats humanity faces, according to the World Health Organization.

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Aug 24, 2022

New granular hydrogel bioink could expand possibilities for tissue bioprinting

Every day in the United States, 17 people die waiting for an organ transplant, and every nine minutes, another person is added to the transplant waiting list, according to the Health Resources and Services Administration.

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Aug 18, 2022

Compost to computer: Bio-based materials used to salvage rare earth elements

Penn State researchers used micro- and nanoparticles created from the organic materials to capture rare earth elements from aqueous solutions.

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Jun 06, 2022

Scientists devise method to help prevent hospital infections

On any given day, one in 31 hospital patients is diagnosed with an infection that developed as a result of care during their hospital stay, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Medical devices such as catheters, stents, heart valves and pacemakers, whose surfaces can become covered with harmful bacterial films, account for about a quarter of such infections. To help prevent such infections, a research team led by Penn State and the University of California, Los Angeles, developed a novel surface treatment for these devices.

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