Caymen Novak, Ph.D.

Dr. Caymen Novak received her bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from Oakland University and her master’s and PhD degrees in biomedical engineering from the University of Michigan Ann Arbor. Her postdoctoral research took place at The Ohio State University in the Department of Internal Medicine. Dr. Novak’s research focus on the mechanical microenvironment of fibrosis and how it influences the cell-cell interactions between stromal and immune components. Utilizing bioreactor designs and 3D model systems her lab studies the development and progression of fibrosis within the pulmonary and tumor microenvironments with a specific focus on sex as a biological variable. Dr. Novak’s technical expertise include: characterization and construction of 3D microenvironments, bioreactor design, pulmonary and tumor cell culture and mechanotransduction investigations. She is a recipient of the F32 Ruth L. Kirschstein Postdoctoral Individual National Research Service Award, the Momental Foundation Mistletoe Fellowship, the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship, the Marian Sarah Parker Prize, and the Richard F. and Eleanor A. Towner Prize for Distinguished Academic Achievement.

Ph.D., Biomedical Engineering, University of Michigan, 2020

Master of Science in Biomedical Engineering, University of Michigan, 2015

Bachelor of Science Mechanical Engineering, Oakland University, 2014

• Novak, C. M., Sethuraman, S., Luikart, K. L., Reader, B. F., Wheat, J. S., Whitson, B., Ghadiali, S. N., & Ballinger, M. N. (2023). Alveolar macrophages drive lung fibroblast function in cocultures of IPF and normal patient samples. American journal of physiology. Lung cellular and molecular physiology, 324(4), L507–L520. https://doi.org/10.1152/ajplung.00263.2022
• Dunigan-Russell, K., Yaeger, M. J., Hodge, M. X., Kilburg-Basnyat, B., Reece, S. W., Birukova, A., Guttenberg, M. A., Novak, C., Chung, S., Ehrmann, B. M., Wallace, E. D., Tokarz, D., Majumder, N., Xia, L., Christman, J. W., Shannahan, J., Ballinger, M. N., Hussain, S., Shaikh, S. R., Tighe, R. M., Gowdy, K. M. (2023). Scavenger receptor BI attenuates oxidized phospholipid-induced pulmonary inflammation. Toxicology and applied pharmacology, 462, 116381. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.taap.2023.116381
• Ho K, Weimar D, Torres-Matias G, Lee H, Shamsi S, Shalosky E, Yaeger M, Hartzler-Lovins H, Dunigan-Russell K, Jelic D, Novak CM, Gowdy KM, Englert JA, Ballinger MN. Ozone impairs endogenous compensatory responses in allergic asthma. Toxicol Appl Pharmacol. 2023 Jan 15;459:116341. doi: 10.1016/j.taap.2022.116341. Epub 2022 Dec 8. PMID: 36502870; PMCID: PMC9840700.
• Horst, E. N., Novak, C. M., Burkhard, K., Snyder, C. S., Verma, R., Crochran, D. E., Geza, I. A., Fermanich, W., Mehta, P., Schlautman, D. C., Tran, L.A., Brezenger, M. E., Mehta, G., “Injectable three-dimensional tumor microenvironments to study mechanobiology in ovarian cancer,” Acta Biomaterialia, Apr. 2022, doi: 10.1016/j.actbio.2022.04.039.
• Novak, C.M.; Horst, E.N.; Lin, E.; Mehta, G. Compressive Stimulation Enhances Ovarian Cancer Proliferation, Invasion, Chemoresistance, and Mechanotransduction via CDC42 in a 3D Bioreactor. Cancers 2020, 12, 1521.
• Novak, C., Horst, E., Taylor, C., Liu, C., & Mehta, G. (2018). Fluid shear stress stimulates breast cancer cells to display invasive and chemoresistant phenotypes while upregulating PLAU in a 3D bioreactor. Biotechnol Bioeng. 2019 Jul 17. doi: 10.1002/bit.27119.       

F32 National Research Service Award (NRSA) Individual Postdoctoral Fellowship 2022

Momental Foundation Mistletoe Fellowship 2021

National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship 2015