Elizabeth Vargis

Biological Engineering

Associate Professor


Elizabeth  Vargis

Contact Information

Office Location: ENGR 402M
Phone: 435-797-0618
Email: vargis@usu.edu
Additional Information:

Educational Background

PhD, Biomedical Engineering, Vanderbilt University, 2012
Correlating Raman Spectra with Changes in the Normal Cervix: Confounding Factors and Pregnancy
MS, Biomedical Engineering, Vanderbilt University, 2007
Virus Detection with DNA Logic Tags
BS, Bioengineering, UC Berkeley, 2004

Biography

I am an Associate Professor in Biological Engineering and the faculty advisor for the Society of Women Engineers. I live in Logan with my partner, kids, and dogs.

Awards

Outstanding Graduate Mentor of the Year, 2018

USU College of Engineering

Outstanding Researcher of the Year, 2018

Department of Biological Engineering

Open Access Funding Initiative , 2015

Utah State University Library

Ralph E. Powe Junior Faculty Enhancement Award, 2015

Oak Ridge Associated Universities (ORAU)

Research Catalyst Award, 2015

Utah State University

Research Catalyst Award, 2014

Utah State University

Graduate Student Travel Award, 2012

Vanderbilt University

Lai Sulin Scholarship for Research in Women's Cancer, 2012

Dissertation Enhancement Grant, 2010

Vanderbilt University

Institute for Clinical and Translational Research Grant, 2010

Vanderbilt University

SPIE Student Officer Travel Award, 2010

SPIE

Newport Spectra-Physics Research Excellence Award, 2009

Teaching as Research Award, 2009

Center for the Integration of Research, Teaching, and Learning

Discovery Grant, 2006

Vanderbilt University

Honorable Mention, 2006

National Science Foundation Graduate Fellowship Program

NIH Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Predoctoral Fellowship, 2006

VIIBRE Fellowship, 2005

Vanderbilt Institute of Integrative Biosystem Research and Education

California Alumni Undergraduate Award, 2000

National Merit Scholar, 2000


Publications | Abstracts

    An asterisk (*) at the end of a publication indicates that it has not been peer-reviewed.

    Publications | Journal Articles

    Academic Journal

    • Hanson, C., Bishop, M.M, Barney, J.T, Vargis, E., (2019). Effect of growth media and phase on Raman spectra and discrimination of mycobacteria. Journal of Biophotonics
    • Harding, C., Vargis, E., (2019). An in vitro microgravity model for inducing key in vivo muscle atrophy markers. Biomed Research International
    • Farjood, F., Vargis, E., (2018). Novel Devices for Studying Acute and Chronic Mechanical Stress in Retinal Pigment Epithelial Cells. Lab on a Chip
    • O'Brien, C.M, Vargis, E., Rudin, A., Slaughter, J.C, Herington, J.L, Newton, J.M, Reese, J., Bennett, K.A, Mahadevan-Jansen, A., (2018). In vivo Raman spectroscopy for biochemical monitoring of the cervix throughout pregnancy. American Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology
    • Davis, D., Doloman, A., Podgorski, G.J, Vargis, E., Flann, N.S, Exploiting Self-Organization in Bioengineered Systems. Biotechnology and Bioengineering / Wiley, 5:27
    • Baker, Q.B, Podgorski, G.J, Vargis, E., Flann, N.S, The Effect of Retinal Pigment Epithelial Cell Patch Size on VEGF Production: A Computational Study. Journal of Biological Engineering
    • Farjood, F., Vargis, E., (2017). Effect of Tight Junction Formation on VEGF Expression in Retinal Pigment Epithelial Cells. Molecular Vision, 23, 431-446.
    • Hanson, C., Vargis, E., Alternative cDEP Design to Facilitate Cell Isolation for Identification by Raman Spectroscopy. Sensors, 17:2, doi: 327-335
    • Hanson, C., Sieverts, M., Vargis, E., (2016). Effect of PCA centering and scaling on classification of mycobacteria from Raman spectra. Applied Spectroscopy
    • Hanson, C., Israelsen, N.D, Sieverts, M., Vargis, E., (2016). Fabricating a UV-Vis and Raman spectroscopy immunoassay platform. Journal of Visualized Experiments
    • Fronk, A.H, Vargis, E., Methods for culturing retinal pigment epithelial cells in vitro: current protocols and future recommendations. Journal of Tissue Engineering
    • Israelsen, N.D, Wooley, D., Hanson, C., Vargis, E., (2016). Rational Design of a Surface-Enhanced Raman Scattering Immunoassay for Detecting Biomarkers on a Polystyrene Substrate. Journal of Biological Engineering
    • Li, Q., Xiao, L., Harihar, S., Welch, D., Vargis, E., Zhou, A., (2015). In vitro evaluation of the role of Breast Cancer Metastasis Suppressor 1 (BRMS1) in breast cancer cells to chemotherapy using a multimodal approach. . Analytical Methods, 10162-10169.
    • Israelsen, N.D, Hanson, C., Vargis, E., (2015). Synthesis of Surface-Enhanced Raman Scattering Nanoparticles to Optimize Enhancement Factor. The Scientific World Journal
    • Vargis, E., Peterson, C.B, Morrell-Falvey, J., Retterer, S.T, Collier, C.P, (2014). The Effect of Retinal Pigment Epithelial Cell Patch Size on Growth Factor Expression. Biomaterials, 3999-4004.
    • O'Brien, C.M, Vargis, E., Paria, B.C, Bennett, K.A, Mahadevan-Jansen, A., Reese, J., (2014). Raman Spectroscopy Provides a Noninvasive Approach for Determining Biochemical Composition of the Pregnant Cervix In Vivo. Acta Pediatrica, 715-721.
    • Pence, I.J, Vargis, E., Mahadevan-Jansen, A., (2013). Assessing Variability of In Vivo Tissue Raman Spectra. Applied Spectroscopy, 789–800.
    • Vargis, E., Brown, N., Williams, K., Al-Hendy, A., Paria, B.C, Reese, J., Mahadevan-Jansen, A., (2012). Detecting Biochemical Changes in the Rodent Cervix During Pregnancy Using Raman Spectroscopy. Annals of Biomedical Engineering, 1814–1824.
    • Vargis, E., Tang, Y., Khabele, D., Mahadevan-Jansen, A., (2012). Near-infrared Raman Microspectroscopy Detects High-risk Human Papillomaviruses. Translational Oncology, 172.
    • Perez, J., Vargis, E., Russ, P., Haselton, F., Wright, D., (2011). Detection of respiratory syncytial virus using nanoparticle amplified immuno-polymerase chain reaction. Analytical Biochemistry, 141–148.
    • Keller, M.D, Vargis, E., de Matos Granja, N., Wilson, R.H, Mycek, M., Kelley, M.C, Mahadevan-Jansen, A., (2011). Development of a spatially offset Raman spectroscopy probe for breast tumor surgical margin evaluation. Journal of Biomedical Optics, 077006–077006.
    • Vargis, E., Kanter, E.M, Majumder, S.K, Keller, M.D, Beaven, R.B, Rao, G.G, Mahadevan-Jansen, A., (2011). Effect of normal variations on disease classification of Raman spectra from cervical tissue. Analyst, 2981–2987.
    • Vargis, E., Byrd, T., Logan, Q., Khabele, D., Mahadevan-Jansen, A., (2011). Sensitivity of Raman spectroscopy to normal patient variability. Journal of Biomedical Optics, 117004–117004.
    • Kanter, E.M, Vargis, E., Majumder, S., Keller, M.D, Woeste, E., Rao, G.G, Mahadevan-Jansen, A., (2009). Application of Raman spectroscopy for cervical dysplasia diagnosis. Journal of Biophotonics, 81–90.
    • Kanter, E.M, Majumder, S., Vargis, E., Robichaux-Viehoever, A., Kanter, G.J, Shappell, H., Jones, III, H.W, Mahadevan-Jansen, A., (2009). Multiclass discrimination of cervical precancers using Raman spectroscopy. Journal of Raman Spectroscopy, 205–211.
    • Shyamala, G., Chou, Y., Cardiff, R.D, Vargis, E., (2006). Effect of c-neu/ErbB2 Expression Levels on Estrogen Receptor alpha–Dependent Proliferation in Mammary Epithelial Cells: Implications for Breast Cancer Biology. Cancer Research, 10391–10398.

    Public or Trade Journal

    • Mahadevan-Jansen, A., Keller, M.D, Vargis, E., Caldwell, B., Nguyen, T., Granja, N., Sanders, M., Kelley, M.C, (2011). Looking Below the Surface of Breast Tissue During Surgery. Spectroscopy, 48–58. *
    • Vargis, E., Mahadevan-Jansen, A., (2011). Using Raman Spectroscopy to Detect Malignant Changes in Vivo.. Princeton Instruments' Technical Note *

    An asterisk (*) at the end of a publication indicates that it has not been peer-reviewed.

    Publications | Other

    Magazine/Trade Publications

    • Hanson, C., Vargis, E., (2015). Microscopy and Raman Imaging: Open-system Raman Microscopy. Laser Focus World *

    Other

    • Vargis, E., (2007). Virus Detection with DNA Logic Tags. Vanderbilt University

    An asterisk (*) at the end of a publication indicates that it has not been peer-reviewed.

    Teaching

    , Fall 2023
    BENG 4880 - Biological Engineering Design II, Fall 2023
    BENG 5890, 6890 - Tissue Engineering, Fall 2023
    BENG 5890 - Tissue Engineering, Fall 2023
    BENG 6890, 5890 - Tissue Engineering, Fall 2023
    USU 1010 - University Connections, Fall 2023
    BENG 1880 - Engineering Quantification of Biological Processes, Spring 2023
    , Fall 2022
    BENG 4880 - Biological Engineering Design II, Fall 2022
    BENG 5890, 6890 - Tissue Engineering, Fall 2022
    BENG 6890, 5890 - Tissue Engineering, Fall 2022
    BENG 6890, 5890 - Tissue Engineering, Fall 2022
    USU 1010 - University Connections, Fall 2022
    BENG 2400 - Biological and Environmental Thermodynamics, Spring 2021
    BENG 4890 - Biological Engineering Design III, Spring 2021
    BENG 5890, 6890 - Tissue Engineering, Spring 2021
    BENG 5890, 6890 - Tissue Engineering, Spring 2021
    BENG 5890 - Tissue Engineering, Spring 2021
    BENG 2400 - Biological and Environmental Thermodynamics, Spring 2020
    BENG 5890, 6890 - Tissue Engineering, Spring 2020
    BENG 4890 - Biological Engineering Design III, Fall 2019
    BENG 1000 - Introduction to Undergraduate Research and Engineering Design, Fall 2019
    BENG 4880 - Biological Engineering Design II, Spring 2019
    BENG 5890, 6890 - Tissue Engineering, Spring 2019
    BENG 5890, 6890 - Tissue Engineering, Spring 2019
    BENG 5890, 6890 - Tissue Engineering, Spring 2019
    BENG 4890 - Biological Engineering Design III, Fall 2018
    BENG 6510 - Graduate Seminar, Fall 2018
    BENG 7510 - Graduate Seminar, Fall 2018
    BENG 1000 - Introduction to Undergraduate Research and Engineering Design, Fall 2018
    BENG 1000 - Introduction to Undergraduate Research and Engineering Design, Fall 2018
    USU 1010 - University Connections, Fall 2018
    BENG 4880 - Biological Engineering Design II, Spring 2018
    BENG 5890, 6890 - Tissue Engineering, Spring 2018
    BENG 1000 - Introduction to Undergraduate Research and Engineering Design, Fall 2017
    BENG 1000 - Introduction to Undergraduate Research and Engineering Design, Fall 2017
    USU 1010 - University Connections, Fall 2017
    BENG 1000 - Introduction to Undergraduate Research and Engineering Design, Fall 2016
    BENG 1000 - Introduction to Undergraduate Research and Engineering Design, Fall 2016
    BENG 5890 - Tissue Engineering, Spring 2016
    BENG 6510, 7510 - Graduate Seminar, Fall 2015
    BENG 1000 - Introduction to Undergraduate Research and Engineering Design, Fall 2015
    BENG 1000 - Introduction to Undergraduate Research and Engineering Design, Fall 2015
    BENG 5840,6840 - Introduction to Biophotonics, Fall 2014
    BENG 5890,6890 - Tissue Engineering, Spring 2014
    BENG 1890 - Introduction to Engineering Design and Research, Fall 2013

    Graduate Students Mentored

    Chase Paterson, Biological Engineering, August 2019
    Matthew Clegg, Biological Engineering, January 2018 2020
    Lori Caldwell, Biological Engineering, May 2017 - January 2020
    Farhad Farjood, Biological Engineering, February 2015 - January 2019
    Charles Harding, Biological Engineering, January 2015 - January 2019
    Cynthia Hanson, Biological Engineering, August 2013 - May 2018
    Nathan Israelsen, Biological Engineering, January 2014 - December 2015
    Aaron Fronk, Biological Engineering, August 2013 - December 2015