Author Archives: Eleni Gourgou

On Friday, May 17 at 12:00pm, as part of the U-M Department of Mechanical Engineering Internal Research Spotlight seminar series, Eleni, will deliver a lecture titled: “Dynamics of Biological Systems: what we can learn from tiny nematodes.” Please join us! (and stay for the second lecture, delivered by Professor Margaret Wooldridge!)

The 2024 Midwest C. elegans meeting is taking place at the Van Andel Institute, Grand Rapids, MI. Gourgou Lab will be represented by Derek Hutchinson and Jahnavi Rajagopal, who will present their poster “The effect of artificial microgravity on C. elegans lifespan and behavior” (co-authored also by Kaisheng Li), and by Oliver Kozler, who willContinue reading “Our work at the 10th Midwest C. elegans meeting”

Eleni will give an invited talk during this event, which brings together Greece-based and diaspora researchers, and is taking place on May 23-25, 2024, at the beautiful port city of Alexandroupoli, Greece. This year’s meeting is dedicated to the memory of Professor I. Beis, who was one of Eleni’s PhD advisors. Stay tuned for theContinue reading “Invited talk at the 43th Scientific Conference of the Hellenic Society of Biological Sciences”

On March 25, Eleni is scheduled to give a seminar at the Biological Sciences Seminar Series, titled “What can we learn about learning, from nematodes that learn in 3D mazes”. This is an in-person event. Very excited to visit WSU campus in the great city of Detroit!

In the Winter 24 semester, Eleni will be teaching for the second time UARTS 250/550 – Creative Process class. She will be joining a team of inspiring instructors, and will teach the Engineering module. Looking forward to it!

Eleni was just awarded a new Pathfinder Grant from UM Space Institute, that provides seed funding to explore a topic related to space science. The project is titled “The impact of artificial microgravity on lifespan and spatial learning”. Exciting!

Check out this video for a summary of the progress achieved so far on the LuCelegans interactive installation. More updates to follow, so stay tun ed Thank you, Haley, for editing; thank you Haley, Sara, and Christina, for shooting the video, and thanks Haley, Sara, Christina, Andres, and Sean, for participating!We thank ArtsEngine (Deb Mexicotte,Continue reading “A video on the LuCelegans installation”

Our paper titled “The effect of internalized paramagnetic nanoparticles on Caenorhabditis elegans locomotion in the presence of magnetic field”, by Gourgou E*., Mirzakhalili E., Zhang Y., and Epureanu B., (*corresponding author), has been accepted for publication in the Journal of Nanomaterials. Thanks, everyone, for the great work!

On May 11, the Mechanical Engineering Department Faculty DEI Retreat took place, at the UM Matthaei Botanical Gardens, Ann Arbor. Eleni gave a presentation about how design courses can provide students with the opportunity to learn and practice integrating equity in engineering through design projects. The retreat was a success, and lots of ideas andContinue reading “Eleni at the Mechanical Engineering Faculty DEI Retreat”

On April 13, Eleni will give a talk at the University of Michigan Medical School, as part of the Aging Research Seminar series. The talk is titled “Aging-driven decline of spatial learning and decision making in a nematode model system“. Aging Research Seminar Flyer_April 13, 2023