Jamel Ali

Jamel Ali, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Chemical & Biomedical Engineering at the FAMU–FSU College of Engineering, a joint unit of Florida A&M University and Florida State University. His office is located in Building B, Room B373F, and he can be reached via e-mail at jali@eng.famu.fsu.edu.

Dr. Ali earned a B.S. (2011) and M.S. (2013) in Chemical Engineering from Howard University, followed by a Ph.D. (2016) in Mechanical Engineering & Mechanics from Drexel University.

His research spans four tightly integrated thrusts:

• Micro/nanobiorobotics – design and wireless control of bacteria-inspired and erythrocyte-based micro/nanorobots for targeted therapy and minimally invasive surgery;
• Microbial dynamics – understanding how flagellar mechanics and collective motion govern bacterial locomotion in complex biological fluids;
• Cancer mechanobiology – elucidating mechanical cues that drive pancreatic cancer progression, adipocyte reprogramming, and acinar-ductal metaplasia;
• Biomaterials for biomedical applications – developing 3-D extracellular matrix scaffolds, hydrogels, and biofabricated organoids for regenerative medicine, drug screening, and personalized therapy.

Across 40+ peer-reviewed articles (2015-2025), Dr. Ali’s work exhibits a clear trajectory from fundamental fluid-mechanics studies of microswimmers and colloidal gels to translational applications in diabetes, pancreatic cancer, and targeted drug delivery. Recent high-impact contributions include demonstrations of symmetry-breaking propulsion in viscoelastic fluids, magnetically actuated erythrocyte micromotors for localized therapy, and organoid-based reversal of hyperglycemia in type-1 diabetes models.

Labs & Teams: While explicit laboratory names are not provided, Google-Scholar entries and publication affiliations indicate active collaboration with the Micro/Nanoscale Bio-Robotics Laboratory (formerly at Drexel) and ongoing participation in multi-university consortia such as the Florida-California CaRE2 Health Equity Center.