Technology Development Fellows

Wyss Technology Development Fellows currently working at the Institute:

Yevgeny Brudno received Bachelor's degrees in Chemistry and Biophysics from the University of Pennsylvania in 2004 and a Ph.D. in Chemical Biology from Harvard University in 2010. As an NSF graduate student in the laboratory of David Liu, Yevgeny developed methods for the evolution of unnatural polymers through non-enzymatic translation of nucleic-acid code into unnatural polymers followed by functional selection. Yevgeny's current research interests include understanding and manipulating perivascular cell-endothelial cell interactions during angiogenesis to promote wound healing as well as developing novel self-assembly approaches for the cellular delivery of antisense therapeutics. Contact: yevgeny.brudno@wyss.harvard.edu.

Ian Burgess completed a Bachelor's Degree in Mathematical Physics with a minor in Chemistry at the University of Waterloo in Canada in 2008 and a PhD in Applied Physics at Harvard University in 2012. Working as a graduate student with Profs. Marko Loncar and Joanna Aizenberg, he developed a highly selective low-cost platform for colorimetric distinction of organic liquids based on wetting. His research at Wyss focuses on the development and translation of technologies based on adaptive photonic materials. He is interested in applications ranging from inexpensive-yet-powerful chemical sensors to smart, environment-adaptive materials for uses such as energy efficiency in buildings and dynamic camouflage. Contact: ibburges@fas.harvard.edu.

Nima Dehghani received a Ph.D. in Computational Neuroscience from the Universitee Pierre et Marie Curie, Paris, France, and an M.D. from the Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. After his medical training, as a research fellow at the Harvard/MIT Martinos center and then at the UCSD Multimodal Imaging Lab & MGH Cortical Neurophysiology Lab, he worked on multimodal investigation and electromagnetic source localization of sleep rhythms and thalamocortical oscillations.  His work at Unite de Neurosciences, Information et Complexite (UNIC) of CNRS, was on spectral dynamics of MEG/EEG, assessment of self-organized criticality in invasive ensemble recordings, and analyzing network properties of excitation/inhibition in micro-circuitry of the cerebral cortex. At the Wyss, Nima is planning to use multimodal techniques in conjunction with the theoretical implications of bioelectromagnetism, multiscale interaction, and complex systems to characterize the dynamic patterns of neuro-signals obtained from miniaturized high-throughput microdevices and large-scale recordings. He aims to predict the behavior of such signals with higher accuracy and further enhance their usability for clinical purposes. Contact: Nima.Dehghani@wyss.harvard.edu.

Kevin Esvelt received Bachelor's degrees in Biology and Chemistry from Harvey Mudd College in 2004 and a Ph.D. in Biochemistry from Harvard University in 2010. As a Hertz and NSF Fellow in the laboratory of David Liu, he developed the Phage-Assisted Continuous Evolution (PACE) system enabling the rapid directed evolution of novel biomolecules. He is the recipient of the Harold M. Weintraub Award recognizing outstanding achievement during graduate studies in the biological sciences. Kevin's current research interests include enabling the controlled survival of engineered organisms in diverse environments, preventing the evolution of defined genetic sequences in living cells, and evolving targetable recombinases to drive unfavorable traits through populations. Contact: kevin.esvelt@wyss.harvard.edu.

Joo H. Kang received double Bachelor's degrees in Chemical Engineering and Life Science from Sogang University in 2002 and his M.S. and Ph.D. in Bioengineering from Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) in 2004 and 2008, respectively. He also received the Best Ph.D. Dissertation Award in 2008. He joined the Ingber group at Children's Hospital Boston as a research fellow in 2009, where he worked on human progenitor cells for vasculogenesis and breast tumor metastasis using biomimetic microsystems. He continued his work at the Wyss Institute as a postdoctoral research fellow under the supervision of Don Ingber from 2010, where he developed the biomimetic Spleen-on-a-chip system for sepsis therapy. His research interests include micro- and nanotechnolgies to study infectious diseases, cancer metastasis, magnetophoresis, and various fluid dynamic principles in the micro- and nano-meter regime. Contact: joo.kang@wyss.harvard.edu.

Sam Kesner received his Bachelor's and Master's degrees in Mechanical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 2006 and 2007, and his PhD in Biomedical and Mechanical Engineering from Harvard University in 2011. His PhD research was conducted with Prof. Robert Howe on the development of a robotic catheter system that uses ultrasound image guidance to enable surgical repair on the inside of the beating heart. After completing his PhD, Sam was a lecturer at Harvard where he taught Computer-Aided Machine Design and completed a postdoc with Prof. Robert Howe. His main research interest is the application of intelligent mechanical design and robotics to innovative medical devices. Sam has four medical technology-related provisional and pending patents and has mentored student teams in the medical device development process. The focus of his research at the Wyss is the use of Pop-Up fabrication to create miniaturized and articulated medical devices for minimally-invasive procedures. Contact: samuel.kesner@wyss.harvard.edu. Website: http://people.seas.harvard.edu/~skesner.

Hyun Jung Kim received B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. degrees in Biotechnology from Yonsei University, Korea, where he developed a novel biocatalysis system for industry scale application using principles of bioprocess engineering and applied microbiology. In 2007, he joined the laboratory of Rustem Ismagilov at the University of Chicago as a Kadanoff and Rice postdoctoral scholar, where he explored a synthetic microbial community using microfluidic technologies for investigating syntrophic symbiosis in microbial ecosystem. As an alternative approach of synthetic biology, he developed a pre-structured, artificial bacterial community performing complex bioremediation functions. In 2009, Hyun Jung joined the Ingber group at the Wyss Institute as a postdoctoral fellow, where he focused on developing the human Gut-on-a-Chip technology mimicking intestinal microenvironment and physiological functions under peristalsis-like motions and flow. Hyun Jung is now spearheading the translational research to develop an in vitro model for testing efficacy and safety of drugs and understanding pathophysiology of human intestinal disorders such as Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis. Contact: hjkim@wyss.harvard.edu.

Netanel Korin received a B.Sc. in Mechanical Engineering from Ben-Gurion University in Israel and M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Biomedical Engineering from the Technion - Israel Institute of Technology. During his graduate studies he developed microsystems for culturing and interrogating human stem cells as well as for studying red blood cell mechanics. In 2008, Netanel joined the Ingber group as a postdoctoral fellow, where he focused on developing a biomimetic nano-therapeutic that uses abnormal elevated shear stress as a mechanism to target delivery of drugs to stenotic blood vessels. His research interests include hemodynamics, vascular biomechanics, nano-biotechology, and microfluidics. Contact: netanel.korin@wyss.harvard.edu.

Yong-Lae Park received a Bachelor's degree in Industrial Engineering from Korea University. He received his Master's degree in Mechanical Engineering in 2005 and a Ph.D. degree in Mechanical Engineering in 2010 from Stanford University, working on embedded optical sensing for robots for space and medical applications, design of haptic master-slave systems for minimally invasive surgery robots, and fabrication of 3D smart-robot-structures. His research interests include the design of active, soft orthotic devices for treating gait pathologies associated with neuromuscular disorders, development of wearable skin technologies based on hyper-elastomeric pressure and strain sensitive materials, and development of novel manufacturing processes for micro-scale robotic structures. Contact: ylpark@wyss.harvard.edu. Website: people.seas.harvard.edu/~ylpark

Steven Perrault received a Bachelor's degree in Molecular Biology and Genetics from the University of Guelph in Ontario, Canada, in 2002, and a Ph.D. in Bioengineering from the University of Toronto in 2010. As a graduate student with Warren Chan, and with funding from the National Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, he developed a new method for synthesizing plasmonic nanomaterials, characterized how nanoparticle design determines tumor targeting efficiency, and demonstrated a nanotechnology-based device capable of in vivo assembly. He joined William Shih's laboratory in 2010 as a Canadian Institutes of Health Research Fellow to develop structural DNA nanotechnology towards biomedical applications. As a Wyss Technology Development Fellow, Steven is developing molecular-scale technologies with the goal of improving detection and treatment of cancer, as well as modulation of the immune system. Contact: steven.perrault@wyss.harvard.edu.

Diana Young received her B.S. in Electrical Engineering and B.A. in Music from The Johns Hopkins University, her Performer's Certificate in Violin from the Peabody Conservatory of Music, and her M.S. from the MIT Media Laboratory, where she also completed her Ph.D. in 2007. Diana continued her work at MIT as a Postdoctoral Associate in the Biomechatronics research group of Hugh Herr, where she contributed to the development of measurement systems that capture human locomotion for use in active lower limb prostheses. Her research interests include measurement and understanding of human motion, both functional and expressive, and the development of human-computer interfaces for rehabilitation and the enhancement of skill acquisition. Contact: Diana.Young@wyss.harvard.edu.