08/2025 Our latest Summer 2025 lab photo!
08/2025 Joanna Pham and Avirup Barua successfully finished their PROPEL summer research program in the lab. Congratulations and good luck!
08/2025 Joshua Thorson from Louisiana Tech University sucessfully finished his summer REU research in the lab and presented his study in a poster entitled “Microwire Buckling against Brain Tissue” in the REU poster session. Congratulations Joshua and thanks for your hard work over the summer!
07/2025 Joanna Pham and Avirup Barua join the lab as summer high school lab assistant via the UMass Lowell PROPEL program, welcome!
06/2025 Prof. Lei Chen attended the co-listed 53rd NAMRI/SME North American Manufacturing Research Conference (NAMRC) and the ASME International Manufacturing Science and Engineering Conference (MSEC) 2025 at Greenville, South Carolina hosted by Clemson University and presented our paper on “An Experimental Investigation of Hybrid Fused Filament Fabrication with In-Process Machining“.
06/2025 Joshua Thorson from Louisiana Tech University is joining the lab this summer through the UMass Lowell Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU): Inclusion and Innovation in Medical Devices program.
06/2025 Our paper entitled “Investigation of the drill temperature distributions in high-throughput dry drilling of compacted graphite iron” got accepted and published in Journal of Manufacturing Processes.
05/2025 Ryan Kinney and Milovan Jovic joined the lab as research assistants to continue their ENGN capstone project working on the NIH R15-funded development of automatic microelectrode array assembly machine. Welcome!
04/2025 The MECH capstone team supervised by Dr. Lei Chen working on “Grinding-Based Tip Sharpening Machine for Microelectrode Bundles as BMI” successfully finished their final presentation and demonstrate their prototype at the Mechanical Engineering Spring 2025 Capstone Showcase!
04/2025 The MECH capstone team supervised by Dr. Lei Chen working on “Open-Source Motorized Stereotaxic Device for Automatic Brain-Machine Interface Surgeries” successfully finished their final presentation and demonstrate their prototype at the Mechanical Engineering Spring 2025 Capstone Showcase!
04/2025 The ENGN capstone team supervised by Dr. Lei Chen over the 2024-2025 academic year working on our NIH R15 funded project on “Automatic Fabrication Machine for Microelectrode Arrays” finished their year of hard work and delivered a great step forward for our fabrication machine, both for the hardware and software!
01/2025 Kevin Lat continues his journey in the MINI Lab as a Ph.D. student!
2024 Lab News
12/2024 The MECH capstone team supervised by Dr. Lei Chen working on “Design of a Grinding-Based Tip Preparation Machine for Custom Microelectrodes as Brain-Machine Interface” successfully finished their final presentation and demonstrate their prototype at the Mechanical Engineering Fall 2024 Capstone Showcase!
11/2024 Our paper entitled “Three-dimensional-printed headcap with embedded microdrive system for customizable multi-region brain recordings with neural probes” got accepted and published in Frontiers in Neuroscience.
10/2024 The study MINI lab involves in was presented as a poster entitled “Subcellular Carbon Fiber Electrodes for Intracortical Neural Recording: Towards Large Animal Models” at SfN Neuroscience 2024 conference in Chicago, IL.
10/2024 Prof. Lei Chen delivered a seminar at UMass Lowell Department of Biomedical Engineering entitled “Automatic Fabrication and Deep Implantation of the Next Generation Brain Machine Interfaces“.
09/2024 Our paper entitled “Design, fabrication, and implantation of invasive microelectrode arrays as in vivo brain machine interfaces: A comprehensive review” got accepted and published in Journal of Manufacturing Processes.
09/2024 Our paper entitled “An Experimental Study of Incremental Buckling-Resistant Inchworm-Type Insertion of Microwire Neural Electrodes” got accepted and published in ASME Journal of Manufacturing Science and Engineering.
08/2024 A great end-of-summer gathering and a nice annual group photo!
08/2024 Gladys Ruiz and Jennifer Abdou, Junior and Senior students from Dracut High School, successfully presented their PROPEL project poster entitled “Microwire Fabrication for Invasive Brain Recording”. Nice job girls!
08/2024 Our project entitled “Development of a piezoelectric inchworm machine for automatic microelectrode implantation into brain with meningeal layer penetration” was funded by National Science Foundation as a three-year $499,991 grant with Prof. Lei Chen being the PI and Profs. Noah Jafferies, Brendon Watson, and Cindy Chestek as co-PIs!
07/2024 Prof. Lei Chen visited Zhejiang University and gave an invited seminar in the School of Mechanical Engineering entitled “Automatic Fabrication and Deep Implantation of the Next Generation Brain Machine Interfaces“.
07/2024 We welcome Gladys Ruiz and Jennifer Abdou, Junior and Senior students from Dracut High School, to join the MINI Lab for summer research through the Professional Research Opportunities to Prepare for Engineering and Life Sciences (PROPEL) program at UMass Lowell, thanks to the sponsorship by the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center.
06/2024 At NAMRC 52 conference hosted by University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Prof. Lei Chen was awarded the Society of Manufacturing Engineers (SME) 2024 Susan Smyth Outstanding Young Manufacturing Engineer Award! Since 1980, the SME Outstanding Young Manufacturing Engineer Award has recognized manufacturing engineers, age 35 or younger, who have made exceptional contributions and accomplishments in the manufacturing industry.
06/2024 Prof. Lei Chen and Dongyang Yi attended the ASME International Manufacturing Science and Engineering Conference (MSEC 2024) and SME North American Manufacturing Research Conference (NAMRC 52) hosted by University of Tennessee, Knoxville. Dongyang presented our conference paper entitled “An Experimental Study of Incremental Buckling-Resistant Inchworm-Type Insertion of Microwire Neural Electrodes“, which has been honored and fast-tracked as a journal article at ASME Journal of Manufacturing Science and Engineering.
05/2024 Dominic Kittel joined the Lab as undergraduate research assistants. Welcome!
04/2024 The MECH capstone team supervised by Dr. Lei Chen working on “Tip Sharpening Machine for Axis-Symmetric Microelectrode Bundles as Brain-Machine Interface” successfully finished their final presentation and demonstrate their prototype at the Mechanical Engineering Spring 2024 Capstone Showcase!
04/2024 Two ENGN capstone teams supervised by Dr. Lei Chen working on our funded NIH R15 project entitled “”Development of Low-Cost Automatic Machine for In-House Fabrication of Custom Microwire-Based Microelectrode Arrays for Electrophysiology Recordings” have successfully finished their final presentations. The two teams worked on the automatic carbon fiber placement and custom PCB printing setups correspondingly.
04/2024 Aidan Silva joined the Lab as undergraduate research assistants. Welcome!
04/2024 Palak Sharma from Computer Science joined the Lab as undergraduate research assistants. Welcome!
04/2024 Muhammad Omer Naveed joined the Lab as undergraduate research assistants. Welcome!
2023 Lab News
11/2023 Our poster entitled “Custom Design and 3D Printed Skull Cap with Integrated Micro-drives for Multi-region Microelectrode Array Implantation for Rat Brain Recordings” was presented at SfN Neuroscience 2023 in Washington DC.
10/2023 Our paper entitled “Manufacturing Processes of Implantable Microelectrode Array for in Vivo Neural Electrophysiological Recordings and Stimulation: A State-of-The-Art Review” got accepted and published in Journal of Micro and Nano-Manufacturing.
10/2023 Prof. Lei Chen served as reviewer on the 10/10/2023 NIH Bioengineering, Technology and Surgical Sciences (BTSS) Study Section.
09/2023 Rhein Ferdous joined the Lab as undergraduate research assistants. Welcome!
08/2023 Lab lunch at Sizzling Kitchen in Lowell with a much bigger group this year~ Farewell to Hadassah and Manarineth and wish them all the best!
08/2023 Last day for Hadassah and Manarineth’s PROPEL experience in the lab. Their poster entitled “Fabrication of Microwire Bundle for Invasive Brain Recording” earned the Best Poster Presentation Award from the program. Big congratulations and really appreciate all the hard work these two high school kids delivered in the lab over the past weeks!
07/2023 We welcome Hadassah Keo-Vann and Manarineth Tann, Junior and Senior students from Lowell High School, to join the MINI Lab for summer research through the Professional Research Opportunities to Prepare for Engineering and Life Sciences (PROPEL) program at UMass Lowell, thanks to the sponsorship by the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center.
07/2023 Ethan Young joined the Lab as undergraduate research assistants. Welcome!
06/2023 Dr. Lei Chen and Dongyang Yi attended the MSEC 2023/NAMRC 51 hosted by Rutgers University. Dongyang presented our MSEC paper entitled “Manufacturing Processes of Implantable Microelectrode Array for in Vivo Neural Electrophysiological Recordings and Stimulation: A State-of-The-Art Review“. Congratulate Dongyang on his first major conference presentation!
05/2023 Our project entitled “Development of Low-Cost Automatic Machine for In-House Fabrication of Custom Microwire-Based Microelectrode Arrays for Electrophysiology Recordings” was funded by NIH National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) as a three-year $466,409 R15 grant with Prof. Lei Chen being the PI and Prof. Brendon Watson as co-I.
05/2023 Dr. Lei Chen and John Baron attended the SHAP3D IAB meeting at GaTech, Atlanta and presented updated of our project on “Hybrid Additive Manufacturing with In Situ Machining“.
05/2023 Our paper entitled “Automated Assembly of High-Density Carbon Fiber Electrode Arrays for Single Unit Electrophysiological Recordings” got accepted and published in Journal of Neural Engineering.
04/2023 Welcome our lab alumni Brian Ung back on campus, who will start his Master’s study in Bioengineering at Tufts University. Best of luck and see you around!
04/2023 Shayla Som joined the Lab as undergraduate research assistants. Welcome!
04/2023 The MECH capstone team supervised by Dr. Lei Chen working on “Automatic Assembly Machine for Microwire-Based Brain Machine Interface” won the 1st place in the Mechanical Engineering Spring 2023 Capstone Showcase! Congratulations to the team!
04/2023 Two ENGN capstone teams supervised by Dr. Lei Chen working on: (a) Universal Hotbox Design sponsored by Juniper Networks, and (b) IMU Stroke Recovery sponsored by UMass Medical School have successfully finished their final presentations.
03/2023 Samuel Blake joined the Lab as undergraduate research assistants. Welcome!
03/2023 Our paper entitled “Fabrication and assessment of partial finger prostheses made using 3D-printed molds: A case study” got accepted and published in Prosthetics and Orthotics International.
02/2023 Abraham Mudoola joined the Lab as undergraduate research assistants. Welcome!
01/2023 John Barron officially joined the MINI Lab as a Ph.D. student. Welcome!
01/2023 We started a new project on “Hybrid Additive Manufacturing with In Situ Machining” funded by the NSF IUCRC SHAP3D featuring Barnes, Green Tweed, HP, Raytheon, Sandia National Lab, Stratasys, and Markforged as our IAB Mentors.
2022 Lab News
12/2022 We had a fantastic lab Hot Pot dinner at Spring Shabu-Shabu. It’s also a farewell for Brian Ung, who graduated with his B.S. Best of luck Brian and you will be missed!
12/2022 A MECH capstone team under Dr. Chen’s supervision has finished their project working on “Machine-based Tip Preparation and Insertion of Carbon Fiber Microelectrode Bundles“.
11/2022 Our lab renovation project at FAA-207 has been kicked off finally. Look forward to our new and final lab space soon!
10/2022 Our paper entitled “3D Printed Skull Cap and Benchtop Fabricated Microwire-Based Microelectrode Array for Custom Rat Brain Recordings” got accepted and published in Bioengineering. Congratulations to Dongyang on his first first-author journal publication!
10/2022 Our proposal on “Hybrid Additive Manufacturing with In Situ Machining” was selected for funding during the NSF IUCRC SHAP3D meeting and we will carry out the research in 2023.
09/2022 Venkata Shashidhar Akella and Balaviswanathan Aniruddh join the lab as MS Directed Studies student for Fall 2022.
09/2022 Nathan Landry gets admitted to the Master’s program and continue to stay in the lab as a MS Directed Studies student in Fall 2022.
08/2022 The Symposium on Advances in Design, Manufacturing, Analysis, and Development of Biomedical Devices proposed by Dr. Lei Chen together with Drs. Yi Wang and Yang Liu has been approved for the ASME MSEC 2023. Look forward to your paper submissions and see you at Rutgers in 2023!
08/2022 Preprints of our paper entitled “Automated Assembly of High-Density Carbon Fiber Electrode Arrays for Single Unit Electrophysiological Recordings” submitted to Journal of Neural Engineering is available on Biorxiv.
07/2022 Dr. Lei Chen gave a seminar talk entitled “Investigation of Bone Drilling Temperature and Cutting Tool Optimization in K-wire Insertion” at the Virtual Symposium on Advanced Medical Devices hosted by the Chinese Journal of Mechanical Engineering.
07/2022 Dr. Lei Chen was invited to visit the Draper Laboratory at Cambridge, MA and gave a seminar talk entitled “Fabrication Automation and Deep Implantation of the Next Generation Brain-Machine Interfaces”.
06/2022 Together with Dr. Walfre Franco, Dr. Lei Chen is serving as guest editor of an Special Issue on “Biomedical Design and Manufacturing” for Bioengineering. Look forward to your manuscript by the 01/31/2023 deadline.
06/2022 The MINI Lab received a grant from Raytheon Technologies Corporation to conduct research on manufacturing equipment synchronization for additive manufacturing of flexible electronics.
06/2022 Our poster entitled “Phantom Material Development for Mimicking Rat Brain Rupture Behaviors during Electrode Implantation” won the Best Poster Award at the 2022 ASME Manufacturing Science and Engineering Conference (MSEC 2022) hosted by Purdue University at West Lafayette, IN. Well done team!
05/2022 The MINI Lab members visited Actuated Medical Inc. at Bellefonte, PA and Dr. Lei Chen presented the lab’s research entitled “Deep Implantation of the Next Generation Cellular Scale Brain-Machine Interfaces”.
05/2022 Kevin Lat joined the Lab as undergraduate research assistants. Welcome!
04/2022 The ENGN engineering capstone design team supervised by Dr. Lei Chen and sponsored by Brooks Automations successfully presented their project on “Metal Band Technology Testing Equipment“.
01/2022 Dr. Lei Chen presented at the U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command Soldier Center Virtual Seminar Series with a presentation entitled “Fabrication and Deep Implantation of the Next Generation Cellular Scale Brain-Machine Interface“.
01/2022 Our paper entitled “Advances in Machining of Hard Tissues – From Material Removal Mechanisms to Tooling Solutions” got accepted and published in International Journal of Machine Tools and Manufacture.
01/2022 Brian Ung and Nathan Landry join the MINI Lab as an undergraduate research assistants. Welcome!
2021 Lab News
12/2021 Two MECH capstone teams under Dr. Chen’s supervision have finished their projects working on “Insertion Tool for Microelectrodes in Brain-machine Interfaces” and “Compact Microdrive and Skull Cap System for Brain-machine Interface Positioning“.
10/2021 Dr. Lei Chen was invited to give a seminar presentation at the Advanced Institute of Manufacturing with High-tech Innovation hosted virtually by National Chung Cheng University, Taiwan. The talk was entitled “Making Biomedical Manufacturing Processes Smarter: From Orthopedic Bone Cutting to Brain-Machine Interface“.
10/2021 Our paper entitled “Open-source Toolkit: Benchtop Carbon Fiber Microelectrode Array for Nerve Recording” together with the video demonstration got accepted and published in Journal of Visualized Experiments.
08/2021 Dr. Lei Chen received a Collaboration Initiation Award from NSF-sponsored Industry-Academia Collaboration In Advanced Manufacturing Virtual Workshop to top collaboration initiation grant proposals.
08/2021 Our paper entitled “A personalized approach to non-invasive ventilation masks in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis using facial scanning and 3D-printing” got accepted and published in Annals of 3D Printed Medicine.
08/2021 Our paper entitled “Flexible High-Resolution Force and Dimpling Measurement System for Pia and Dura Penetration During In Vivo Microelectrode Insertion Into Rat Brain” got accepted and published in IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering.
07/2021 Our paper entitled “Comparison of K-wire Insertion Using Oscillatory and Unidirectional Drilling Modes under Constant Thrust Force” got accepted and published in Journal of Orthopaedic Research.
06/2021 Our work is presented at the 7th Annual BRAIN Initiative Investigators Meeting as a poster entitled “Automatic Assembly of the Linear High-Density Carbon Fiber Microelectrode Array“.
05/2021 Justin Cormier, Harrison Zhu, and Daniyal Ahmed joined the Lab as undergraduate research assistants. Welcome!
04/2021 Dr. Lei Chen started a new position as Adjunct Assistant Professor in Psychiatry at the University of Michigan Medical School to continue his long-term collaboration with Michigan Medicine scientists on the Brain-Machine Interface studies.
02/2021 Our paper entitled “Laser Sharpening of Carbon Fiber Microelectrode Arrays for Brain Recording” got accepted and published in ASME Journal of Micro and Nano-Manufacturing.
01/2021 Our paper entitled “Multi-Bevel Needle Design Enabling Accurate Insertion in Biopsy for Cancer Diagnosis” got accepted and published in IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering.
01/2021 Our paper entitled “Finite element composite simplification modeling and design of the material extrusion wave infill for thin-walled structures” got accepted and published in International Journal of Mechanical Sciences.
01/2021 The MINI Lab received National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant sub-award to conduct research on “A universal and 3D-printed rat calvarium replacement system to enable for pan-cortical and sub-cortical recordings and optogenetics“. Prof. Lei Chen is co-I of the grant with Prof. Brendon Watson as PI.
01/2021 Dongyang Yi joined the Lab as a Ph.D. student. Welcome!
01/2021 Dr. Lei Chen joined the Department of Mechanical Engineering at UMass Lowell as an Assistant Professor.