IoM and USM Partnership: Publications by Amir Kordijazi

The Institute of Medicine is pleased to highlight recent accomplishments by Amir Kordijazi, an IoM Fellow whose work bridges engineering, data science, and sustainable materials research.

Amir is part of the UMaine–USM Partnership for Accelerating Biomedical Research, an initiative designed to strengthen research collaboration across campuses. More about this program can be found here:
UMaine–USM Partnership Article: https://umaine.edu/news/blog/2024/05/07/innovative-medical-research-underway-through-umaine-usm-partnership/

This partnership supported Amir in completing his first peer-reviewed publication in collaboration with Dr. Caitlin Howell’s group. The paper, “Single-step coating of cellulose nanofibrils on paper for sustainable food packaging,” is now officially published and available here:

View the published papers (PDF):

• Single‐step coating of cellulose nanofibrils on paper for sustainable food packaging
• Non‐Destructive Quantification of Mycelial Biocomposite Growth Over Time

The study introduces a scalable, vacuum-assisted method for applying cellulose nanofibrils (CNFs) to paper in a single step. The resulting coated materials show strong barrier performance against air, grease, and oil—highlighting a promising pathway toward sustainable alternatives to certain plastic-based food packaging. Amir contributed key data science components to the project, designing and training the machine learning algorithm that predicts coating behavior.

In his message announcing the publication, Amir shared:
“I’m happy to share that the first paper from my IoM fellowship, in collaboration with Caitlin’s group, has been published. We’ve included an acknowledgment for IoM’s support. Another paper is currently under review, and a third is in progress.”

This milestone demonstrates the impact of cross-campus research collaboration and highlights the continued success of IoM-supported fellows in advancing innovation for Maine and beyond.