Zachary Beickman, a third-year PhD student at the Liu Research Group at the Davidson School of Chemical Engineering.

It would have been unthinkable not that long ago that we could regenerate tissue to repair and restore function to the human body, but tissue engineering is now making demonstrable strides toward that laudable goal. Zachary Beickman is a third-year PhD student at the Liu Research Group at the Davidson School of Chemical Engineering, where he’s working to innovate novel biomaterials that can advance regenerative medicine.

What is your research focus?

I am working on tissue engineering for cartilage regeneration, with a focus on repairing the damage from osteoarthritis. Cartilage itself has little to no self-regenerative abilities, so damage is permanent. By using tissue engineering approaches, we can design scaffolds that integrate with native tissue and allow for regeneration of cartilage tissue. Tissue engineering is an exciting field, with a lot of potential growth. Getting a new treatment for cartilage regeneration into pre-clinical trials would be amazing.

What spurred your interest in this line of research?

I worked in a synthetic polymer lab as an undergrad and enjoyed the research a lot, but I knew that I wanted to take part in a more biological-based lab. Biology has always been my passion. As an undergraduate, I did cell culture studies to gauge the cytocompatibility of a material —how the interaction of the material affected tissue growth and proliferation. I loved this aspect of the work and wanted to find a field that would let me do more cell cultures, so I pivoted towards bio-based work.

Why did you choose Purdue for your graduate studies?

The biggest draw was the people at Purdue. The graduate student body seemed genuinely happy and excited to talk about their work. I value the personal relationships with peers and friends a lot, so that was super important to me. 

When did you first get interested in engineering and science?

I've been into science really since middle school, but engineering wasn't something I had a lot of exposure to until my undergrad days. I think the application focus of engineering compared to pure science is more interesting. Of course, understanding how things work from a scientific perspective is important, but I find it very fascinating to see how we can apply many basic scientific principles into a functional output.

What’s it like studying at Purdue?

The elective courses I have taken so far have been really enjoyable and helped me dive into different topics that I didn't know as much about. The core course work in chemical engineering was challenging, but all the graduate students in my class were always bouncing ideas off each other and were able to help each other master the material. 

Beyond subject matter expertise, what have you learned as a Purdue graduate student?

Something important I have learned is how to pitch new ideas and come up with new directions to pursue. This primarily comes from literature review — seeing what has been done before, and trying to find new ways to expand it, or use different materials for a new application.

What is the Purdue research environment like?

The Liu Research Group, a lab operated by Julie Liu, associate professor of chemical engineering, is a very collaborative environment, helping us all grow as researchers together. My lab mates have become some of my closest friends, and we have fun together both inside and outside of work. I currently advise one undergraduate student, and it has been a great experience learning to mentor and teaching the student how to perform experiments. There are also great opportunities to publish work. While I am not published yet, I will be within the next couple of months (hopefully; fingers crossed!).

What advice might you give to other students deciding where to attend graduate school?

Find a school that has multiple professors that you would be happy to work with. Find people that you think are good people and you could envision yourself being friends with. I tell people that when I was picking a school, I found a lot of the biological-based research in chemical engineering to be very interesting, and a lot of the Purdue professors are super-nice people.

What about the future? What are your goals?

I want to work on an industrial research and development team, preferably in the biomaterials or pharmaceutical development industry. 

What do you like to do outside your studies?

Some hobbies I have are playing board games, reading comic books, weightlifting and cooking.