Tagbo H.R. Niepa
Arthur Hamerschlag Associate Professor, Biomedical Engineering, Chemical Engineering
Tagbo H.R. Niepa is the Arthur Hamerschlag Associate Professor of Chemical Engineering and Biomedical Engineering at Carnegie Mellon University. Niepa’s lab has three areas of research. The first targets drug-resistant pathogens. Niepa’s methods offer an alternative to antibiotics by using physical chemical factors to create new surfaces that could be activated to eradicate microbes and kill pathogens. The second area of research focuses on interfacial biofilms, particularly the often-overlooked fluid interfaces where biofilms form. Niepa is investigating how interfacial phenomena activate bacteria to generate new materials. The third area of research replicates the human microbiome by encapsulating microbes.
Niepa received his bachelor’s degree in biomedical engineering from Syracuse University, after transferring from the University of Dortmund, Germany. He also received his Ph.D. in chemical engineering from Syracuse University. Niepa held a Postdoctoral Fellowship for Academic Diversity in the University of Pennsylvania’s department of chemical and biomolecular engineering. Most recently, he served as an assistant professor of chemical and petroleum engineering at the University of Pittsburgh.
Niepa received the prestigious National Institutes of Health Director’s New Innovator Award to support unconventional approaches to major challenges in biomedical and behavioral research. He also received a Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Award from the National Science Foundation (NSF) and a Rising Star of Mechanical Engineering Award from the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (2024).
Behind the Researcher: Diving for Discovery
Education
2014 Ph.D., Chemical Engineering, Syracuse University
2009 BS, Bioengineering, Syracuse University
Research Interests
- artificial intelligence
- biomaterials
- biotechnology and pharmaceutical engineering
- colloids
- healthcare
- infection control
- machine learning
- materials science & engineering
- microbiome engineering
- microfluidic systems
- nanomaterials
- polymer engineering
- pulmonary diseases
- soft materials and complex fluids
- sustainability
- transport phenomena
Media mentions
The Scientist
Single Celled Parasites Take Red Blood Cells for a Drive
Chemical engineering researchers discovered that the parasite Babesia microti uses red blood cells to migrate. It may be a way to evade the immune system and find new space to multiply.
CMU Engineering
Hijacking red blood cells allows parasite to escape
Researchers discovered that the parasite Babesia microti uses red blood cells to migrate. It may be a way to evade the immune system and find new space to multiply.
Chemical Engineering
Teaching tomorrow’s innovators with living materials
The Bugs as Materials summer internship program creates pathways to research and higher education by training high school students and graduate students side-by-side.
Chemical & Engineering News
Niepa’s magnetic capsules offer a novel way to study microbes
ChemE/BME’s Tagbo Niepa developed tiny magnetic capsules that can grow unculturable microbes in soil or ocean water and then be retrieved. The technology, which could move research out of the lab, was featured in Chemical & Engineering News.
CMU Engineering
A tiny lens into the vast world of soil microbes
Microorganisms behave differently in the lab, so researchers designed nanocultures to cultivate them in their natural environment. Magnetic shells provide an efficient way to retrieve them.
Dolisca wins National GEM Consortium poster award
BME Ph.D. student Anghea Dolisca won 1st place in the Technical Poster Session at the National GEM Consortium 2025 Annual Conference. Dolisca, who works with ChemE/BME's Tagbo Niepa, presented "When Quantum Materials Meet Reality: Surviving the Harsh World of Applications."
Chemical Engineering
Cracking the shell to unlock new frontiers in microbiome research
Tagbo Niepa engineered microcapsule shells that can rupture on-demand, releasing the microbes cultivated inside.
CMU Engineering
Electric shocks power-off drug-resistant yeast
Electrochemical therapy makes currently-available drugs more effective against yeast infections that the CDC classifies as an urgent threat.
CMU Engineering
A dialogue on digital humanism in Africa
Led by globally recognized experts, participants at the first-ever Summer School on Digital Humanism at CMU-Africa teamed up to discuss issues at the intersection of technology and humanity in the African context.
CMU Engineering
Microfluidic platform for monitoring parasite spread by ticks
As cases of babesiosis increase, scientists now have a better way to study how the parasite is transmitted and how it infects red blood cells over time.
Martinez Vasquez selected as GEM Employer Fellow
ChemE Ph.D. student Shakira Martinez Vasquez was selected as a 2025 GEM Employer Fellow, sponsored by EMD Serono and Carnegie Mellon University. Martinez Vasquez works with ChemE/BME's Tagbo Niepa.
CMU Engineering
Engineering students named CMLH Fellows
Carnegie Mellon’s Center for Machine Learning and Health (CMLH) has named two biomedical engineering Ph.D. students as 2024 Generative AI in Healthcare Fellows and a mechanical engineering student a 2024 Digital Health Innovation Fellow.
Usman wins Three Minute Thesis People’s Choice Award
ChemE Ph.D. student Huda Usman won the People’s Choice Award, as well as 3rd place overall, at the Carnegie Mellon Three Minute Thesis 2025 championship. Usman, who works with ChemE/BME’s Tagbo Niepa, presented “Culturing the Unculturable: A New Frontier in Antibiotic Research.”
Niepa appointed to USNC/IUPAC
ChemE/BME's Tagbo Niepa was appointed by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine as Member of the U.S. National Committee for the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry.
Usman wins Three Minute Thesis preliminary
ChemE Ph.D. student Huda Usman was co-winner of preliminary round 4 in the Carnegie Mellon Three Minute Thesis competition. Usman, who works with ChemE/BME’s Tagbo Niepa, presented “Culturing the Unculturable: A New Frontier in Antibiotic Research.”
Chemical Engineering
CMU Rales Fellows Harness Unique Perspectives To Drive Innovation
Chemical engineering Ph.D. student Abraham Polanco is part of the inaugural cohort of CMU Rales Fellows.
Center for Machine Learning and Health
Badia named Generative AI in Healthcare Fellow
BME Ph.D. student Ann Badia was selected as a 2024 Generative AI in Healthcare Fellow with the Center for Machine Learning and Health in Carnegie Mellon’s School of Computer Science. Badia works with ChemE/BME’s Tagbo Niepa.
Apgar earns poster award at African Materials Research Society Conference
BME Ph.D. student Amy Apgar received the iCANX Poster Award at the 2024 African Materials Research Society Conference. Apgar, who works with ChemE/BME’s Tagbo Niepa, presented “Live Biotherapeutic Formulation and Delivery Using Nanocultures.”
Niepa honored as Rising Star of Mechanical Engineering
ChemE/BME’s Tagbo Niepa received a Rising Star of Mechanical Engineering award from the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME). The award honors early-career researchers recognized through prestigious awards such as the NSF CAREER and NIH New Innovator awards.
Usman earns bionanotechnology student award at AIChE
ChemE Ph.D. student Huda Usman won 2nd place in the 2024 Bionanotechnology Graduate Student Awards at the 2024 American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) Annual Meeting.
Chemical & Engineering News
Niepa comments on synthetic polymer that mimics barnacles
ChemE’s Tagbo Niepa was quoted by Chemical & Engineering News about a recent study that developed a synthetic polymer that can mimic the ways in which barnacles clean surfaces. Niepa explained the potential benefits this development could provide, explaining, “you can think about a way of cleaning a catheter, for instance, that is fully infected with bacteria.”
CMU Engineering
Engineering faculty awarded professorships
Carnegie Mellon University has awarded professorships to five exceptional faculty members in the College of Engineering.
Chemical Engineering
Taking microbial research from nano to global
Tagbo Niepa presented at symposia in Colombia and Morocco to facilitate international collaboration and apply innovations from his lab to global health challenges in different contexts.
Cue and Usman earn Emerging Researchers National Conference awards
ChemE Ph.D. students Camila Cue and Huda Usman gave oral presentations at the 2024 Emerging Researchers National (ERN) Conference in STEM. Cue won 1st place in the Technology and Engineering - Biomedical Engineering track of the graduate oral presentations.
Chemical Engineering
Studying microbes in marine environments and microcapsules
Ph.D. student Huda Usman is applying her experience at the prestigious Marine Biological Laboratory to her research miniaturizing the culture system.
Chemical Engineering
Tagbo H.R. Niepa joins ChemE faculty
In fall 2023, the Department of Chemical Engineering will welcome Tagbo H.R. Niepa as an associate professor.