Postdocs and Students

The following students, postdoctoral fellows and other affiliated scholars are participating in platform activities:

Ashutosh Agarwal

Faculty Mentor: Kit Parker
Platform: Biomimetic Microsystems
Education: B.Tech., Metallurgical and Materials Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology 2005; Ph.D., Materials Science and Engineering, University of Florida, 2009; Postdoctoral Scientist, Biomedical Engineering, Columbia University, 2010
Research Interests: Designing and building hybrid materials and devices, high throughput platforms for drug safety and efficacy testing, heart-lung micromachine
Contact: ashutosh.agarwal@wyss.harvard.edu

 

Erin M. Anderson

Faculty Mentor: David Mooney
Platform: Programmable Nanomaterials
Education: B.S. Bioengineering, University of Washington, 2006; Ph.D. candidate, Engineering Sciences, Harvard University
Research Interests: Tissue engineering, recruitment of endothelial progenitor cells, polymer scaffolds
Contact: eanders@fas.harvard.edu, (617) 495-1689

 

 

Maier Avendano

Faculty Mentor: Peng Yin
Platform: Programmable Nanomaterials
Education: B.Sc. in Microbiology, 2008, and M.Sc. in Biological Sciences, 2009, Universidad de los Andes
Research Interests: Nucleic acid nanotechnology, Systems Biology, Synthetic Biology
Contact: maier.avendano@wyss.harvard.edu, (617) 495-1689

 

 

Mohammad Reza Badrossamay

Faculty Mentor: Kit Parker
Platform: Programmable Nanomaterials and Biomimetic Microsystems
Education: Ph.D. Polymer and Fiber Science, University of California Davis, 2008; Ms.Eng. Fiber Science and Chemistry, Isfahan University of Technology, Iran, 1999
Research Interests: Tissue Engineering, biomaterial synthesis and processing, biosensors
Contact: mrbadros@seas.harvard.edu, (617) 495-3206 (lab)

 

Kartik Balachandran

Faculty Mentor: Kit Parker
Platform: Programmable Nanomaterials and Biomimetic Microsystems
Education: B.Eng. Mechanical Engineering, National University of Singapore, 2001; M.S. Mechanical Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, 2008, Ph.D. Bioengineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, 2010
Research Interests: Cardiovascular mechanics, Heart valve development and disease, Tissue engineering
Contact: kartikb@seas.harvard.edu, (617) 432-1640

 

Buz Barstow

Faculty Mentor: Pamela Silver
Platform: Synthetic Biology
Education: Ph.D., Cornell University, 2009
Research Interests: Directed evolution of enzymes that function in novel environments and catalyze novel reactions
Contact: buz.barstow@wyss.harvard.edu

 

 

Ahmed S. Bayoumi

Faculty Mentors: John E. Mayer, Donald E. Ingber
Platform: Biomimetic Microsystems
Education: M.D.: Faculty of Medicine, Cairo University; Residency, Department of Cardiac Surgery, University Hospital of Geneva, Switzerland; Residency, Department of General Surgery, University Hospital of Nimes, France; Post-doctoral fellow: Department of Cardiac Surgery, Children's Hospital Boston and Harvard Medical School
Research Interests: Bioengineering cardiac structures using a stem cell based approach guided by systems Biology
Contact: ahmed.bayoumi@wyss.harvard.edu, (617) 800-5838

 

Becky Belisle

Faculty Mentors: Joanna Aizenberg
Platform: Adaptive Material Technologies
Education: B.S., Engineering, Olin College of Engineering; MPhil, Mechanical Engineering, University of Bath.
Research Interests: Biomimetic/bio-inspired materials; materials for energy and the environment
Contact: becky.belisle@wyss.harvard.edu

 

 

Sidi A. Bencherif

Faculty Mentors: David Edwards, David Mooney
Platform: Programmable Nanomaterials
Education: Ph.D. Carnegie Mellon University, Chemistry, 2009; M.S. Carnegie Mellon University, Polymer science, 2009; M.S. Montpellier II University (France), Materials Science and Engineering, 2002; M.S. Montpellier II University (France), Physical Science, 2000
Research Interests: Design of edible eco-friendly water bottles; engineering of naturally derived injectable biomimetic macroporous scaffolds; developing of carbohydrate-based cancer vaccines
Contact: sidi@seas.harvard.edu

 

Zsofia Botyanszki

Faculty Mentor: Neel Joshi
Platform: Programmable Nanomaterials
Education: B.S. Chemistry and B.A. Physics from UC Berkeley; PhD candidate in Chemistry
Research Interests: Molecular assembly
Contact: zbotyans@fas.harvard.edu

 

 

Amy Brock

Faculty Mentor: Donald Ingber
Platform: Synthetic Biology
Education: Ph.D. Biological and Biomedical Sciences, Harvard University; B.S. Biology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Research Interests: Cancer differentiation therapy, cell state control by gene regulatory networks, population heterogeneity, dynamics of tumorigenesis and therapy, design principles of gene regulatory networks
Contact: amy.brock@wyss.harvard.edu

 

Otger Campas

Faculty Mentor: D. Ingber and L. Mahadaven
Platform: Biomimetic Microsystems
Education: Ph.D. in Biophysics at the Curie Institute (Paris) and the University of Barcelona, 2006
Research Interests: Morphogenesis and morphological variation
Contact: ocampas@seas.harvard.edu

 

 

Lan Cao

Faculty Mentor: David Mooney
Platform: Synthetic Biology
Education: B.S. Chemical Engineering, Dalian University of Technology, China; Ph.D. Chemical Engineering, University of Washington, Seattle
Research Interests: Controlling Notch signaling in angiogenesis and stem cells
Contact: lcao@deas.harvard.edu

 

 

Suelin Chen

Faculty Mentor: David Edwards
Platform: Adaptive Material Technologies
Education: Ph.D., Department of Materials Science and Engineering, MIT; B.S., Department of Biology, MIT
Research Interests: New materials for medical and sustainability applications
Contact: suelin@thelaboratory.harvard.edu

 

 

Mingjie Dai

Faculty Mentors: Peng Yin, George Church
Platform: Synthetic Biology, Programmable Nanomaterials
Education: Ph.D. candidate, Harvard Biophysics program; B.A./Sci.M. Physics, Cambridge University, UK 2010
Research Interests: Nucleic acid nanotechnology, synthetic biology, and biophysics
Contact: dai4@fas.harvard.edu

 

 

Alexander Epstein

Faculty Mentor: Joanna Aizenberg
Platform: Adaptive Material Technologies and Robotics
Education: B.S. Engineering, Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering; S.M. Applied Physics, Harvard University
Research Interests: Customizable high-aspect-ratio micro/nanostructures as sensors, actuators, special wettability and other smart surfaces; shape memory polymers; mechanically active and/or textured anti-biofouling surfaces; rapid application and scaling up of nanostructured surfaces; mechanical stability of sea sponge glass skeletons and applications to architecture
Contact: (617) 495-9727, alexepstein@gmail.com

Javier G. Fernandez

Faculty Mentor: Donald Ingber
Platform: Biomimetic Microsystems
Education: B.S. Fundamental Physics, University of Cantabria (Spain); MSc Nanotechnology, University of Lund (Sweden); Ph.D. BioNanoTechnology and Tissue Engineering, University of Barcelona (Spain); Postdoctoral scholar, Division of Health Sciences and technology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Research Interests: Study and development of novel materials and techniques for medical and technological applications
Contact:  Javier.fernandez@wyss.harvard.edu

 

Elaine Gee

Faculty Mentor: Donald Ingber and Collin Stultz
Platform: Programmable Nanomaterials
Education: B.S. Physics, California Institute of Technology, 2004; Ph.D. candidate in Biophysics, Harvard University
Research Interests: Exploring protein mechanotransduction during extracellular matrix formation with mechanical molecular devices; Manipulating extracellular matrix properties using structured protein-DNA biomaterials to control cell behavior
Contact: gee@fas.harvard.edu

 

Franziska Graf

Faculty Mentor: William Shih, Don Ingber
Platform: Programmable Nanomaterials
Education: B.Sc. Biochemistry and Cell Biology, Jacobs University, 2007; Ph.D. Candidate. Biological Sciences, Public Health, Harvard University
Research Interests: Developing artificial extracellular matrix material using DNA-protein hybrids
Contact: fgraf@fas.harvard.edu

 

Alexander A. Green

Faculty Mentor: James Collins, George Church
Platform: Synthetic Biology
Education: Ph.D., Materials Science & Engineering, Northwestern University, 2010; B.A.Sc. Engineering Science, University of Toronto, 2005
Research Interests: Nanomaterials, synthetic biology, self-assembly
Contact: 617-495-3206, alex.green@wyss.harvard.edu

 

 

Anna Grosberg

Faculty Mentor: Kit Parker
Platform: Programmable Nanomaterials and Biomimetic Microsystems
Education: B.Eng. Chemical Engineering and Biomedical Engineering, University of Minnesota, 2002; Ph.D. Bioengineering, California Institute of Technology, 2008
Research Interests: Cardiac mechanics, cell modeling, heart disease
Contact: 617-495-3206, grosberg@seas.harvard.edu

 

 

Basma Hashmi

Faculty Mentor: Donald Ingber
Platform: Synthetic Biology/Biomimetic Microsystems
Education: B.S. Biomedical Engineering, Boston University 2008; Ph.D. candidate Bioengineering, Harvard University.
Research Interests: Identifying critical mechanical and chemical cues for organogenesis in order to reprogram adult stem cells or iPS cells for therapeutic tissue and organ engineering; developing a synthetic ECM scaffold that mechanically and chemically mimics epithelium-mesenchymal cell interactions at critical stages that trigger organogenesis
Contact: bhashmi@seas.harvard.edu

 

Wade Hicks

Faculty Mentor: Pam Silver
Platform: Synthetic Biology
Education: Ph.D. Molecular and Cellular Biology, Brandeis University, 2010; B.A. Biology, North Central College, 2002
Research Interests: Metabolic engineering to develop novel bacteria that address sustainability issues
Contact: wade.hicks@wyss.harvard.edu

 

 

Joanne Ho

Faculty Mentor: Peng Yin
Platform: Synthetic Biology, Programmable Nanomaterials
Education: B.S./M.S. Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry, Yale University, 2009; Ph.D. candidate in Biological and Biomedical Sciences, Harvard Medical School
Research Interests: Making a programmable and dynamic RNA nanodevice with applications in real-time RNA imaging inside living cells; RNA synthetic biology
Contact: joanneho@fas.harvard.edu

 

Ryosuke Iinuma

Faculty Mentor: Peng Yin
Platform: Programmable Nanomaterials
Education: M.S. in electronic chemistry from Tokyo University of Technology, 2003; B.S. in applied chemistry from Chuo University, 2001
Research Interests: Precise 3D addressability of components with DNA self-assembly technologies and general polymer science, and its application to actual products
Contact: ryosuke.iinuma@wyss.harvard.edu

 

Abhishek Jain

Faculty Mentors: Don Ingber
Platform: Biomimetic Microsystems
Education: B.Tech., Mechanical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi 2003; M.S., Mechanical Engineering, Arizona State University, 2007; Ph.D. Biomedical Engineering, Boston University, 2011 (Affiliated to Steele Lab for Tumor Biology, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School)
Research Interests: Microfluidics, blood rheology, biomimetic microsystems, spleen-on-a-chip
Contact: ajain@wyss.harvard.edu

 

Kyung-Jin Jang

Faculty Mentor: Don Ingber
Platform: Biomimetic Microsystems
Education: BS, Hanyang University, Seoul, Korea; Ph. D candidate in Interdisciplinary Program in Nano Science and Technology, Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea
Research Interests: Organ-on-a-chip microdevices for drug screening and clinical therapy
Contact: kjjang@snu.ac.kr

 

Ralf Jungmann

Faculty Mentor: Peng Yin
Platform: Programmable Nanomaterials
Education: Diploma in Physics, 2006, Saarland University and UC Santa Barbara; Ph.D. in Physics, 2010, Technische Universitaet Muenchen
Research Interests: DNA self assembly, DNA-based probes for fluorescent microscopy, DNA binding kinetics investigated by single-molecule fluorescence, super-resolution fluorescence microscopy, microfluidics and microdroplets for compartmentalization, synthetic biochemical circuits
Contact: ralf.jungmann@wyss.harvard.edu

 

Umai Kanapathipillai

Faculty Mentor: Donald Ingber
Platform: Programmable Nanomaterials
Education: M.Sc. Chemical Engineering, Arizona State University; Ph.D. Chemical Engineering, Iowa State University 2008
Research Interests: Programmable biomimetic polymer scaffolds for organ development and cancer reversion
Contact: mathumai.kanapathipillai@childrens.harvard.edu

 

Joo H. Kang

Faculty Mentor: Don Ingber
Platform: Biomimetic Microsystems
Education: B.S. Chemical Engineering / Life Science, Sogang University, Korea, 2002; M.S. BioSystems, KAIST, Korea, 2004; Ph.D. Bioengineering, KAIST, 2008
Research Interests: Infectious disease, cancer, biomimetic microsystems
Contact: joo.kang@wyss.harvard.edu

 

 

 

Hyun Jung Kim

Faculty Mentor: Donald Ingber
Platform: Biomimetic Microsystems Platform
Education: B.S. Biotechnology, Yonsei University, 1998; M.S. Biotechnology, Yonsei University, 2000; Ph.D. Biotechnology, Yonsei University, 2005
Experience: Postdoctoral scholar, Department of Chemistry, University of Chicago, 2007-2009
Research Interests: Artificial intestine microsystems
Contact: hjkim@wyss.harvard.edu

 

Jaeyun Kim

Faculty Mentor: David Mooney
Platform: Programmable Nanomaterials
Education: B.S. Seoul National University, Chemical Engineering, 2001; M.S. Seoul National University, Chemical and Biological Engineering, 2003; Ph.D. Seoul National University, Chemical and Biological Engineering, 2007
Research Interests: Cancer vaccine using biodegradable polymer scaffold, immune adjuvant, cancer imaging and targeted drug delivery using nanoparticles
Contact: (617) 496-1940, jaeyun@seas.harvard.edu

 

Netanel (Nati) Korin

Faculty Mentor: Don Ingber
Platform: Biomimetic Microsystems
Education: Ph.D. Biomedical Engineering, Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, 2008
Research Interests: Blood-tissue interactions in Cancer and atherosclerosis, 3D Gel microfluidic devices, Platelet-cancer cell interactions, gel rheology, flow modeling
Contact: netanel.korin@childrens.harvard.edu

 

Sriram Kosuri

Faculty Mentor: George Church
Platform: Synthetic Biology
Education: B.S. Bioengineering U.C. Berkeley, 2001; Sc.D. Biological Engineering MIT, 2006
Research Interests: Genome Engineering & DNA Synthesis
Contact: skosuri@genetics.med.harvard.edu

 

 

Mirko Kovac

Faculty Mentor: Rob Wood
Platform: Biomimetic Microsystems
Education: M.Sc. in Mechanical Engineering from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich (ETHZ); Master Thesis at the University of California at Berkeley (UCB); Ph.D. from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (EPFL)
Research Interests: Wing optimization for gliding and flapping microrobotic insects
Website: http://kovac.me
Contact: mirko.kovac@wyss.harvard.edu

 

 

Minseok Kwak

Faculty Mentor: William Shih
Platform: Programmable Nanomaterials
Education: Ph.D. Polymer Chemistry, University of Groningen (Netherlands) and Max-Planck-Institute for Polymer Research (Germany); M.Sc. and B.Sc. Chemistry, Ajou Univeristy (South Korea)
Research Interests: Applications of DNA nanostructures in (bio)materials science
Website: http://mkwak.org
Contact: minseok.kwak@wyss.harvard.edu

 

 

Dan Leslie

Faculty Mentor: Donald Ingber
Platform: Programmable Nanomaterials
Education: Ph.D. Chemistry, University of Virginia; B.S. Chemistry, Colorado State University
Research Interests: Human heart-lung biomimetic microsystems, aerosol drug delivery, microfluidic flow control and molecular detection, blood diagnostics, superparamagnetic microparticles, and biocompatible materials
Contact: Dan.Leslie at wyss.harvard.edu

 

Daniel Levner

Faculty Mentor: George Church
Platform: Synthetic Biology, Biomimetic Microsystems
Education: Ph.D. Electrical Engineering, Stanford University; M.S. Aeronautics & Astronautics, Stanford University; B.A.Sc Engineering Science, University of Toronto
Research Interests: Infectious disease diagnostics, single-cell proteomics, DNA nanorobotics and computation
Contact: wyssweb@levner.com

 

 

Hu Li

Faculty Mentor: James Collins
Platform: Synthetic Biology
Education: B.S. Applied Mathematics, Jilin University; Ph.D. Computational Biology, National University of Singapore
Research Interests: Developing and applying systems biology approaches to studying nature and the underlying principles of complex biological systems, and to better understand how individual network components interact to generate specific biological functions on a global scale. Specifically, focusing on breast cancer, stem cells and neurodegenerative diseases
Contact: huli@bu.edu

 

Chenxiang Lin

Faculty Mentor: William Shih
Platform: Programmable Nanomaterials
Education: B.S. Chemistry, Peking University, 2004; Ph.D. Chemistry, Arizona State University, 2009
Research Interests: Therapeutic drug delivery to cells enabled by DNA nanotechnology
Contact: chenxiang.lin@wyss.harvard.edu

 

Drew MacKellar

Faculty Mentors: Pam Silver
Platform: Synthetic Biology
Education: B.A. Biology, Oberlin College 2005; Ph.D. Molecular and Cellular Biology, University of Washington, 2011
Research Interests: Synthetic biology, metabolic engineering, energy production
Contact: drew_mackellar@hms.harvard.edu

 

 

Glenna Meister

Faculty Mentor: Neel Joshi
Platform: Programmable Nanomaterials
Education: B.S. Chemical Engineering, University of Illinois, 2004.  Ph.D. Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Johns Hopkins University, 2009
Research Interests: Directed evolution of proteins to create new biosensors and materials
Contact: glenna.meister@wyss.harvard.edu

 

 

Adam Marblestone

Faculty Mentors: George Church, William Shih, Peng Yin
Platform: Programmable Nanomaterials
Education: B.S., Yale, Physics
Research Interests: Information-directed fabrication, top-down nanotechnology meets bottom-up, biophysics, physics of computation
Contact: amarbles [AT] fas.harvard.edu

 

 

Mariko Matsunaga

Faculty Mentor: Joanna Aizenberg
Platform: Adaptive Material Technologies
Education: B.S. Applied Chemistry, Waseda University, Japan, 2003; Ph.D. Nano-Science and Nano-Engineering, Waseda University, Japan, 2008
Research Interests: Self-assembly/dispersion and other controllable actuations of 3D micro- and nano-patterns, Appilcations of dynamic functionality imparted to the 3D micro (nano)-patterns, Chirality, and Interfacial chemistry and electrochemistry
Contact: (617) 495-9727, mmatsuna@seas.harvard.edu

 

Matt Mattozzi

Faculty Mentor: Pam Silver
Platform: Synthetic Biology
Education: B.S. Chemistry, Harvey Mudd College, 2002;  Ph.D. Microbiology, UC Berkeley, 2008
Research Interests: Carbon fixation, metabolic engineering, synthetic biology, weird bacteria
Contact: matt.mattozzi@wyss.harvard.edu

 

 

Bobak Mosadegh

Faculty Mentor: George Whitesides
Platform: Biomimetic Microsystems
Education: Ph.D. Biomedical Engineering, Shuichi Takayama Lab-2010, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor; M.S./B.S. Biomedical Engineering, Noo Li Jeon Lab-2006, University of California, Irvine
Research Interests: Microfluidics, 3D tissue constructs
Contact: bmosadegh@gmwgroup.harvard.edu

 

Peter Nguyen

Faculty Mentor: Neel Joshi
Platform: Programmable Nanomaterials
Education: B.S. Biochemistry, B.A. Philosophy, University of Texas; M.Bs., Keck Graduate Institute; Ph.D. Biochemistry, Rice University
Research Interests: Engineering systems for the precise assembly and control of nanoscale structures; protein engineering for synthetic biology and biomedical applications
Contact: peter.nguyen@wyss.harvard.edu

 

Luvena Ong

Faculty Mentor: Peng Yin
Platform: Synthetic Biology, Programmable Nanomaterials
Education: Ph.D. candidate, Harvard-MIT Health Sciences and Technology Program; B.S. Chemical-Biological Engineering, MIT, 2010
Research Interests: Programmable DNA self-assembly and biomedical applications
Contact: luvena@mit.edu

 

 

Keith Pardee

Faculty Mentor: Jim Collins
Platform: Synthetic Biology
Education: B.Sc., University of Alberta; M.Sc., University of British Columbia; Ph.D. candidate, University of Toronto
Research Interests: My research background is in protein biochemistry and the interaction of small molecules with biological systems. I am using these approaches, in combination with systems biology, to study induced pluripotent stem cells and new ways to accelerate the transition of cells to a pluripotent state.
Contact: keith.pardee@wyss.harvard.edu

 

Hao Pei

Faculty Mentor: Conor Walsh
Platform: Bioinspired Robotics
Education: B.S. Mechanical Engineering and Automation, Tsinghua University, 2010; M.S. Mechanical and Material Science, Harvard University; Wyss Institute Fellow
Research Interests: Bioinspired robotics, focusing on effort on design and control of smart robotic tools for rehabilitation and surgical assistance
Contact: hao.pei@wyss.harvard.edu

 

Steve Perrault

Faculty Mentor: William Shih
Platform: Programmable Nanomaterials
Education: Ph.D. in Nanomedicine, Institute of Biomaterials & Biomedical Engineering, University of Toronto
Research Interests: Biomedical and biotechnological applications of nanomaterials, synthetic biology
Contact: steven.perrault@wyss.harvard.edu

 

Kirstin Hagelskjaer Petersen

Faculty Mentor: Radhika Nagpal
Education: Electrotechnical Engineer, Odense University College of Engineering, Denmark; Studies of Renewable Energy Sources, Nordex, Finland; M.Sc in Moden Artificial Intelligence, University of Southern Denmark
Research Interests: Electromechanical solutions to bio-inspired robotics design, in particular three-dimensional collective construction
Contact: kirstin.petersen@wyss.harvard.edu 

 

Michael Thomas Petralia

Faculty Mentor: Robert Wood
Platform: Adaptive Material Technologies and Robotics, Anticipatory Medical Devices
Education: B.E. in Mechanical Engineering, The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art, 2006; Ph.D. Candidate, Harvard Microrobotics Laboratory, 2012
Research Interests: Designing and fabricating soft actuators, generators, and sensors from 3D dielectric elastomer (DE) films; Applying particle-spring mesh models to predict the conformation of DE and other soft actuation systems
Contact: petralia@seas.harvard.edu

 

Hao Qi

Faculty Mentor: Ali Khademhosseini
Platform: Programmable Nanomaterials
Education: Ph.D. and Master's (Medical Genome Science), The University of Tokyo, Japan; B.A. in Chemical Engineering, Tianjin University, China.
Research Interests: Stem cells, molecular engineering
Contact: qhiroshi@wyss.harvard.edu

 

 

Avi Robinson-Mosher

Faculty Mentor: Pamela Silver
Platform: Synthetic Biology
Education: Ph.D. Computer Science, Stanford University, 2010; M.Sc. Philosophy, Policy and Social Value, London School of Economics, 2005; B.S. Physics and Computer Science, Yale University, 2004
Research Interests: Protein engineering, synthetic biology, simulation of fluids and structures
Contact: avi.mosher@wyss.harvard.edu

 

John P. Sadowski

Faculty Mentor: Peng Yin
Platform: Programmable Nanomatials
Education:  M.A. Chemistry, Harvard University, 2009; B.S. Chemistry with minor in history and philosophy of science, California Institute of Technology, 2007; NSF Graduate Research Fellow
Research Interest: Use of nucleic acid structures and motifs for molecular self-assembly and other nanotechnological applications
Contact: john.sadowski@wyss.harvard.edu

 

Shilpa Sant

Faculty Mentor: Ali Khademhosseini
Platform: Programmable Nanomaterials
Education: B. Pharm. (Pharmaceutical Sciences), M. Pharm. (Pharmacology), University of Mumbai, India, Ph.D. (Pharmaceutical Technology), University of Montreal, Canada
Research Interests: Drug delivery and scaffold-based approaches for tissue engineering and stem cell differentiation, Targeted therapies for cancer
Contact: ssant@rics.bwh.harvard.edu

 

 

Thomas Schaus

Faculty Mentor: Peng Yin
Platform: Synthetic Biology, Programmable Nanomaterials
Education: BS & MS, Mechanical Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana/Champaign; PhD, Cell Biology, Northwestern University; MD, Northwestern University
Research Interests: Biophysics, DNA nanotechnology and medical applications
Contact: thomas.schaus@wyss.harvard.edu

 

Thorsten Schmidt

Faculty Mentor: William Shih
Platform: Programmable Nanomaterials
Education: Chemistry Diploma at Bonn University (Germany) PhD thesis at Goethe University Frankfurt (Germany)
Research Interests: Crossover and scaffold optimization for 3D DNA-origami
Contact: thorsten.schmidt@wyss.harvard.edu

 

 

Michael Sismour

Faculty Mentor: George Church
Platform: Synthetic Biology
Education: Ph.D. Chemistry, The University of Florida; B.S. Microbiology and Cell Science, The University of Florida
Research Interests: Integrating biological and chemical technologies; development of chemical and artificial biological systems capable of evolution
Contact: msismour@genetics.med.harvard.edu

 

Catherine (Katie) Spina

Faculty Mentor: Jim Collins
Platform: Synthetic Biology
Education: B.A. Chemistry: Biochemistry, Boston University, 2004; M.A Medical Science, Boston University School of Medicine, 2005; M.D./Ph.D. candidate at Boston University School of Medicine
Research Interests: Utilizing reverse-engineered gene networks to characterize stem cell development, breast carcinogenesis and identify targets that can be perturbed to regulate cancer
Contact: kspina@bu.edu

 

Damian Stephen

Faculty Mentor: Eugene Goldfield
Platform: Anticipatory Medical Devices
Education: B.S. in Psychology, College of William and Mary; Ph.D. in Psychology, University of Connecticut
Research Interests: Thermodynamic and statistical physical approaches to perception, action, and cognition
Contact: Damian.Stephen@wyss.harvard.edu

 

 

Colby Stoddard

Faculty Mentor: Pamela Silver
Platform: Synthetic Biology
Education: Ph.D. Biochemistry, University of Colorado, Boulder and B.S. Microbiology, University of Montana
Research Interests: Genetically modifying Shewanella oneidensis MR-1 so that it can use an electrode as an energy source and subsequently use that energy to drive metabolic processes including the production of octanol
Contact: colby.stoddard@wyss.harvard.edu

 

Wei Sun

Faculty Mentor: Peng Yin
Platform: Synthetic Biology, Programmable Nanomaterials
Education: Ph.D., Chemistry, Peking University
Research Interests: DNA-directed self-assembly
Contact: wei.sun@wyss.harvard.edu

 

 

Hiroto Tanaka

Faculty Mentor: Robert Wood
Platform: Biomimetic Microsystems
Education: B.Sc. in Mechanical Engineering from The University of Tokyo in 2003; M.Sc. in Mechano-Informatics from The University of Tokyo in 2005; Ph.D. in Information Science and Technology from The University of Tokyo in 2008
Research Interests: Aerodynamics of flapping wings of insects; Fabrication of insect-sized wings by micromolding
Contact: tanaka@seas.harvard.edu

 

Michael Tolley

Faculty Mentor: Rob Wood
Platform: Bioinspired Robotics
Education: Ph.D. and M.S. Mechanical Engineering, Cornell University, B. Eng. Mechanical Engineering, McGill University
Research Interests: Soft robotics and Programmable Matter
Website: www.michaeltolley.com
Contact: mike.tolley@wyss.harvard.edu

 

Yu-suke Torisawa

Faculty Mentor: Don Ingber
Platform: Biomimetic Microsystems
Education: B.S. Biomolecular Engineering, Tohoku University, 2001; Ph.D. Chemistry, Tohoku University, 2006; Postdoctoral Scholar, Biomedical Engineering, University of Michigan, 2009
Research Interests: Microfluidics; 3D cell cultures; hematopoiesis and cellular immunity; bone marrow on a chip
Contact: yusuke.torisawa@wyss.harvard.edu

 

Zeev Waks

Faculty Mentor: Pamela Silver
Platform: Synthetic Biology
Education: B.Sc. Biotechnology Engineering, Technion Institute of Technology
Research Interests:  Single molecule imaging, mRNA metabolism, heterogeneity in cell populations; synthetic biology
Contact: zeevwaks@fas.harvard.edu

 

 

Wendong Wang

Faculty Mentor: Joanna Aizenberg
Platform: Adaptive Material Technologies
Education: B.Sc. Chemistry, Nanjing University, 2006; PhD. Materials Chemistry, University of Toronto, 2011
Research Interests: Self-assembly, dynamic system, nanomachine, metamaterials, graphene, photonics, energy and environmental technology
Contact: wendong.wang@wyss.harvard.edu

 

 

Anna Waterhouse

Faculty Mentor: Donald Ingber
Platform: Biomimetic Microsystems
Education: Ph.D. Bioengineering Coronary Stents, University of Sydney, Australia, 2011; B.Sc. Hons Cell Biology, University of Manchester, U.K, 2005
Research Interests: Biocompatibility and thrombogenicity of materials and medical devices, blood diagnostics and tissue engineering
Contact: anna.waterhouse@wyss.harvard.edu

 

 

Bryan Wei

Faculty Mentor: Peng Yin
Platforms: Synthetic Biology, Programmable Nanomaterials
Education: B.S., Peking University; Ph.D., Hong Kong University of Science and Technology
Research Interests: DNA nanotechnology and the related applications
Contact: bryan.wei at wyss.harvard.edu

 

 

Tak-Sing Wong

Faculty Mentor: Joanna Aizenberg
Platform: Adaptive Material Technologies, Biomimetic Microsystems
Education: B.Eng., The Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2003; Ph.D., University of California, Los Angeles, 2009
Research Interests: Surface wetting, micro/nanofabrication, and bioinspired technologies with applications in materials science, medicine, and energy
Contact: tswong@wyss.harvard.edu

 

Lauren Zarzar

Faculty Mentor: Joanna Aizenberg
Platform: Adaptive Material Technologies and Robotics
Education: B.A. Chemistry, University of Pennsylvania; B.S. Economics; Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania; Ph.D. candidate, Chemistry, Harvard University
Research Interests: Responsive and reversible actuation of nano/microscale structured polymeric surfaces
Contact: zarzar@fas.harvard.edu 

 

David Zhang

Faculty Mentor: Peng Yin
Platform: Synthetic Biology, Programmable Nanomaterials
Education: Ph.D. California Institute of Technology, 2010.; B. S. California Institute of Technology, 2005
Research Interests: DNA nanotechnology and biophysics
Contact: David.Zhang@wyss.harvard.edu