Wang wins BMES Rising Star Junior Faculty Award

10/29/2025

Associate Professor Hua Wang has earned the Rising Star Junior Faculty Award from the Biomedical Engineering Society (BMES) Cellular and Molecular Bioengineering (CMBE) Special Interest Group. The award honors Wang's groundbreaking advances in developing cutting-edge technologies and therapies  fighting back against cancer. 

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The Biomedical Engineering Society Cellular and Molecular Bioengineering (CMBE) Special Interest Group Rising Star Junior Faculty Award recognizes early-career faculty who have made an outstanding impact on the field of cellular and molecular bioengineering — a highly competitive honor for emerging leaders in the bioengineering field. 

What's happening: Associate Professor Hua Wang has been selected as a Rising Star Awardee for the 2026 BMES-CMBE Conference, to be held in Puerto Rico in January 2026. 

The big picture:Wang's recognition comes on the heels of his groundbreaking work developing various cutting-edge technologies for cell engineering, molecular engineering and cellular and molecular therapies. These include his lab’s recent achievements in developing the next-generation tumor exosome vaccine, mRNA cancer vaccine, and materials-based approaches for engineering immune cells and systemic immune responses.  

"This award is a recognition of our team’s efforts in developing promising immunotherapies and novel cellular and molecular technologies that can benefit researchers in the whole field. We're excited to share our progress with the CMBE community and learn from other innovators pushing the boundaries of cellular and molecular bioengineering." - Associate Professor Hua Wang 

What's next:Wang will present his research as a featured oral presenter at the conference and will be honored during the conference gala dinner alongside other Rising Star Awardees. 

Illinois Grainger Engineering Affiliations 

Hua Wang is an Illinois Grainger Engineering assistant professor of materials science and engineering and is affiliated with the Cancer Center at Illinois, the Department of Bioengineering, the Materials Research Laboratory, the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology, the Carle Illinois College of Medicineand the Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology. He can be reached at huawang3@illinois.edu.


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This story was published October 29, 2025.