Recent News 15: UCLA Samueli Announces Class of 2025 Awardees and Commencement Student Presenters

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UCLA Samueli Announces Class of 2025 Awardees and Commencement Student Presenters

Every year, the UCLA Samueli School of Engineering honors new graduates who have made special contributions and have distinguished accomplishments. The following is an overview of the 2025 schoolwide award recipients and presenters. Additional class of 2025 awardees are listed on the school’s commencement awardee page.

Photo : (c) https://samueli.ucla.edu/ucla-samueli-announces-2025-awardees/

HARRY M. SHOWMAN PRIZE (graduate)

Yanxi (Steven) Yang

Chemical Engineering

Doctor of Philosophy, Spring 2025

Yanxi (Steven) Yang is graduating with a Ph.D. in chemical engineering. During his time at UCLA, Yang has been an ambassador for biomedical engineering, highlighting the discipline’s real-world impacts. His podcast, “Phage Therapy Today,” aims to bridge the information gap between academia and clinical practice by exploring the potential of bioengineered drug delivery. The program has garnered more than 7,000 streams across 72 countries. The podcast’s 20 episodes feature thought leaders from phage therapy and bioengineering startups, federal regulatory agencies, academia and others.

Yang’s research, conducted in the Chen Lab and mentored by its director, chemical and biomolecular engineering professor Irene Chen, focuses on bioengineering viruses to develop a phage-drug conjugate drug-delivery platform, carrying drugs that target multidrug-resistant bacterial infections. In preliminary trials, Yang’s virus-based candidate treatment for multidrug-resistant Pseudomonas infections has demonstrated a 100-fold increase in efficacy over current treatment methods. Yang has also presented his research findings at several conferences and entrepreneurial pitch competitions, such as LABEST and BioVenture Nexus. After graduation, he plans to further expand this technology as founder of the UCLA spinout Paralos Bioscience.

Reference : Copyright, https://samueli.ucla.edu/ucla-samueli-announces-2025-awardees/

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