Md. Mydul Islam (Miku) is currently a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at the University of Central Florida (UCF). Miku received his B.Sc. in Mechanical Engineering from Bangladesh University of Engineering & Technology in 2014.
Miku does research preliminary in cellular biomechanics, especially with endothelial cells. The vascular endothelium is a sizeable endocrine organ in the human body, and an aberration in endothelial force generation can lead to a host of vascular pathologies. His Ph.D. research is focused on probing vascular endothelial biomechanical strength via analyzing cell-matrix traction forces and cell-cell intercellular stresses by using traction force microscopy (TFM) and monolayer stress microscopy (MSM), respectively, while manipulating endothelial gap junction Cx43. He is specially trained in experimental microscopy techniques such as TFM and MSM, Western blotting, immunostaining, manipulating soft substrates such as polyacrylamide gels and polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) membranes, biological cell culture, performing live cell experiments under the influence of fluid shear stress and analyzing data using MATLAB image processing tools.
Miku received numerous Bangladesh govt. and private educational scholarships during his school and college education. His Ph.D. is supported by UCF startup fund and NIH fund received by his mentor Dr. Robert L. Steward Jr.
