Technology Advancement

Scientist II
Kwasi Adu-Berchie, Ph.D.
Kwasi leverages the unique capabilities of biomaterials to both develop new therapies and enhance the efficacy of existing therapies in the areas of cancer, infectious disease and regeneration. He completed his PhD training in Dr. David Mooney’s lab at the Wyss Institute, which was focused on applying the principles of immunology and engineering to modulating...
Director, Wyss Diagnostics Accelerator
Rushdy Ahmad, Ph.D.
Rushdy has over 19 years of experience as a biomarker hunter with the goal of translating the biomarkers into live saving diagnostics that deliver outcome and save lives. Therefore, it’s quite natural for him to be at the Wyss to help lead and promote the Wyss Diagnostics Accelerator (Wyss DxA). Prior to this he was...
Biofabrication Engineer I
Gozde Basara, Ph.D.
Gozde Basara is a trained mechanical engineer who received her Ph.D. from the University of Notre Dame. She is experienced in utilizing 3D bioprinting in various cardiac tissue engineering applications such as creating biomimetic post-heart attack tissue models and therapies using human stem cell-derived cardiac cells. She joined the Wyss Institute in 2023 to help...
Senior Principal Scientist
Sylvie Bernier, Ph.D.
Highly motivated and committed scientist with several years of experience in the biopharmaceutical industry. Strong background in cell biology and pharmacology of small molecule drug discovery. Extensive hands-on experience in biochemical and cellular assays. Actively participated in several multi-disciplinary teams to provide expertise and leadership in support of preclinical and clinical research for programs in...
Principal Scientist
Bogdan Budnik, Ph.D.
Bogdan has over 20 years of extensive experience in mass spectrometry-based proteomics analysis in the characterization of peptides and proteins utilizing a broad range of biological samples. He joins the Wyss Institute to help lead the Multi-omics Discovery Engine (MoDE) under the Wyss Diagnostics Accelerator (Wyss DxA) with the goal of catalyzing innovation in the...
Director of Translational R&D
Ken Carlson, Ph.D.
Carlson has over 25 years experience as a drug hunter in biotech and big pharma and came to the Wyss in 2020 to help promote therapeutic innovation across the Institute. Trained as a biochemist, pharmacologist and molecular biologist, Carlson has a scientific reputation as an expert in receptor biology, allosterism and cell signaling. Carlson has...
Senior Scientist II
Mark J. Cartwright, Ph.D.
Cartwright’s research interests focus on the discovery and engineering of therapeutic and diagnostic antibodies. Before joining the Wyss, he worked in the pharmaceutical industry for three years using Phage Display for the discovery, design, and production of therapeutic monoclonal antibodies for cancer treatment. Prior research includes the study of age-related changes in preadipocytes and work...
Senior Scientist II
David Chou, M.D., Ph.D.
David Chou graduated from Caltech in 2003 with a B.S. in Applied and Computational Mathematics. He obtained his M.D. from the University of Pittsburgh and Ph.D. from the University of Paris Diderot in 2012. His graduate studies focused on how systemic inflammation affects hematopoiesis and the marrow microenvironment. Following residency in Anatomic Pathology and fellowship...
Engineer I
Nikolaos Dimitrakakis, M.Eng., M.S.
Niko, with his versatile and rich academic background, holds a unique blend of knowledge and expertise in the areas of drug delivery systems, mathematical modeling, and biostatistics. At the Wyss Institute, he primarily focuses on Immuno-materials and developing innovative therapeutic delivery solutions. His commitment to his work is reflected in his active contributions to different...
Scientist II
Nina M. Donghia
Nina Donghia is a Staff Scientist in the Living Cellular Devices Platform, where she focuses on applications of freeze-dried cell-free protein synthesis systems. Her research interests include design and testing of synthetic gene networks, protein engineering and expression in cell-free systems, and on-demand protein manufacturing. She received her B.A. in Cellular Biology from Sarah Lawrence...
Scientist II
Sandy Elmehrath, Ph.D.
Sandy joined the Wyss Institute in 2023 as a staff scientist in the Immuno-Materials platform. Before joining the Wyss, Sandy played a pivotal role in the design, synthesis, and structural characterization of reticular biomaterials using multi-step synthesis techniques. Her doctoral research focused on developing copper-based Metal-Organic Frameworks (MOFs) and encapsulating them with bioactive phenolic compounds...
Electrical Engineer II
Jarrad Fallon
Jarrad has 10+ years of experience as an Electrical Engineer specializing in custom fabrication, product development and industrial automation. Prior to joining the Wyss, Jarrad built an electronics manufacturing business focused on the intersection of LED technology and dance and has been awarded two US patents regarding his innovations in this field. Jarrad earned his...
Senior Scientist I
Haleh Fotowat, Ph.D.
Haleh received her B.S. in Electrical Engineering from Amirkabir University of Technology in Tehran, her M.S. in Electrical Engineering from University of Houston, and her Ph.D. in Neuroscience from Baylor College of Medicine. She has pursued postdoctoral research at McGill University, University of Ottawa, and most recently at Harvard University. Her PhD work focused on...
Senior Director, Translational R&D
James Gorman, M.D., Ph.D.
Jim is Principal Investigator on the Wyss Institute Brain Targeting Program (BTP). In this role, Jim leads a team developing new approaches to transport drugs through the blood brain barrier (BBB) into the CNS. The BTP collaborates broadly, using its brain shuttles to develop improved brain-targeted therapeutics to dramatically improve treatment of brain diseases. A...
Scientist I
Russell Gould
Russ joined the Wyss Institute in 2022 as a member of the Predictive Bioanalytics team. He supports various data science projects across the institute, leveraging his B.S. in Mathematics and M.S. in Machine Learning and Bioinformatics to bring unique computational experiences to the Wyss. Previously, he has worked on genome mining using classical machine learning,...
Principal Scientist
Girija Goyal, Ph.D.
Girija is an immunologist working with the organs-on-chips and diagnostics platforms to design better in vitro models of the human immune system and assays to test the performance of immunotherapeutics and vaccines. She spends her free time obsessing about scholarly communications and open science.
Director of Veterinary Services
Amanda Graveline, D.V.M.
As the Staff Veterinarian at the Wyss Institute, Amanda Graveline oversees a diverse portfolio of projects and provides guidance to the Wyss community in navigating steps for approval and implementation of in-vivo studies. Throughout her career, she has worked with investigators to successfully apply models for the innovation of diagnostics and therapeutics for DIC, sepsis,...
Scientist I
Isaac Han
Isaac is a Staff Scientist in the Synthetic Biology Platform who first joined the Wyss in 2017 as part of an effort to commercialize gene therapy technologies coming out of the Church lab. He has a diverse scientific background with a focus on molecular biology, assay development, and viral vector engineering. He is currently leading...
Senior Staff Scientist I
Christopher Johnson
Christopher Johnson is an accomplished analytical chemist boasting over 15 years of focused experience in advancing translational research. He possesses a strong grounding in both qualitative and quantitative research methodologies, complemented by specialized expertise in analytical and material chemistry. Serving as a valued member of the Immuno-Material Platform team, Christopher’s research pursuits encompass various areas,...
Scientist II
Abidemi Junaid, Ph.D.
Abidemi Junaid received his B.S. in Biometrics from Zuyd University of Applied Sciences, M.S. in Biomolecular Sciences from VU University and Ph.D. in Systems Biomedicine and Pharmacology from Leiden University. His PhD work was centered around the development of high-throughput human microvessels-on-chips for studying microvascular destabilization, infectious diseases and metabolomics. He also worked on integrating...
Senior Engineer I
David Kalish, M.Eng.
David Kalish is a Senior Engineer I who designs and fabricates devices and parts, develops motion control software, and improves device automation. He is currently the go-to mechanical engineer in the Synthetic Biology Focus Area, where he makes customized tools to aid scientists in their research. Dave received his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Mechanical...
Scientist II
Ninning Liu, Ph.D.
Ninning Liu is a staff scientist in the Molecular Robotics Initiative where his focus is on engineering DNA based tools for spatial-omics, biosensing, and high-throughput barcoding. His current interests include working at the interface between imaging and sequencing technologies, applied ML, and exploring application areas of translational technologies at the Wyss. Ninning received his Ph.D....
Scientist II - Neuroscience
Yifei Lu, Ph.D.
Yifei is a Staff Scientist working on the Wyss Institute’s Brain Targeting Program, which aims to develop brain shuttles to deliver therapeutics across the blood-brain barrier. His research interests are focused on nanomedicine-based drug delivery systems to address the obstacles in brain-related diseases, including brain tumor, and neurodegenerative diseases. Yifei received his Ph.D. in Pharmaceutical...
Collaborative Ethics Lead
Jeantine Lunshof
Jeantine’s research interests are concerned with philosophical research ethics in the field of genomic sciences and biological engineering where disruptive technological innovations call for epistemological and normative exploration. She conducts her philosophical and ethical work as a full-time ethicist on the workfloor of the lab. At the Wyss Institute, she leads the implementation of the...
Senior Engineer I
Susan Marquez
Susan leads parallel systems engineering projects, including optical and mechanical design of high information content biosensing platforms to quantify the effect of therapeutic candidates on metabolic rate. She received her S.M. in Electronic Materials from MIT and B.A. in Chemistry from Wheaton College.
Engineer I
Ramsés Martínez, Msc.
Ramsés’ professional interest and expertise include low cost fabrication techniques, numerical simulation, design and fabrication of microfluidics and micro-electromechanical systems. He has been involved in projects from a wide range of fields including water sterilization systems, low-cost nasopharyngeal swabs development for COVID-19 testing, Point-of-care devices, lab automatization and high throughput screening systems for animal models....
Senior Scientist I
Katharina Meyer, Ph.D
Katharina is a Senior Scientist in the Synthetic Biology Platform with a strong background in neuroscience and stem cell applications. She received her M.S. in Biophysics, Biochemistry and Neuroscience, and obtained her Ph.D. in Molecular Biomedicine from the University of Bonn. Her Ph.D. work uncovered mechanisms causing mitochondrial dysfunction in progressive mitochondrial encephalomyopathies. She then...
Scientist I - Machine Learning
Michaël Moret
Michaël is a machine learning scientist with a background in life sciences. His expertise spans a wide range of applications, including cancer image analysis, systems biology, de novo small molecules design, and protein engineering. At the Wyss Institute, he is a key member of the AminoX team, a collaborative project with Northpond Labs focused on...
Senior Scientist II
Peter Q. Nguyen, Ph.D.
Peter received a B.S. in Biochemistry and B.A. in Philosophy from the University of Texas, his M.Bs. from the Keck Graduate Institute, and his Ph.D. in Biochemistry from Rice University. At the Wyss Institute, Peter currently works on programmable probiotics and freeze-dried cell-free manufacturing technology across multiple platforms. His research interests also include engineering systems...
Senior Director, Translational R&D
James Niemi, M.S.
Jim Niemi is a biomedical engineer with over 25 years of experience researching, developing, and commercializing high impact technologies. Prior to joining the Wyss Institute, Jim was involved in a series of medical device companies, ranging from small start-up ventures to large public companies. Jim has developed products and technologies involving implantable smart materials for...
Senior Scientist II
Luba Perry, Ph.D.
Luba has been working at the 3D Organ Engineering Initiative since 2018 and is leading a Wyss Validation Project aiming to fabricate vascularized functional tissues for transplantation. Her interest is in tissue and organ engineering, focusing on vascularization and implantation studies utilizing complex surgical models. Her background is in molecular biology, pharmacology, and biomedical engineering....
Scientist I
Alex Plesa
Alex is working on developing therapies for age-related chronic diseases. He completed his PhD in George Church’s lab, where he developed a cell rejuvenation discovery platform through the use of multiomic measurements and high throughput transcriptomic reprogramming screens. Using his platform, Alex discovered new gene therapies for rejuvenating primary human cells and mouse tissues. As...
Principal Scientist
Charles Reilly, Ph.D.
Charles Reilly is a Principal Scientist and lead of the Computational Design and Discovery Initiative that combines predictive bioanalytics and machine learning with physical and mathematical modeling and simulation. This initiative supports programs across the Wyss Institute. Specifically, Charles uses his computational approach that combines tools from the film special effects industry with scientific modeling...
Senior Engineer I
Hani Sallum, MSME
Sallum’s professional interests and expertise include automation systems and cross-discipline electromechanical design. Prior to joining the Wyss Institute he worked in the custom automation and defense R&D industries. He has been involved in projects from a wide range of fields including energy harvesting, specialized climbing equipment, packaging lines, biotech lab automation, and autonomous robot navigation....
Scientist I
Justin Scott
Engineering Lectins and other proteins for applications in diagnostics and treatments of everything from FGT abnormalities to infectious disease to Cancer. With experience in metabolomics, immunotherapy and phage engineering, Justin is interested in harnessing biological processes to solve complex challenges.
Senior Engineer II
Adama Marie Sesay, Ph.D.
Adama leads a dynamic team of bioscientists and bioengineers at the Wyss focussing on integrating and manipulating materials to develop novel biomaterials, micro-fluidic systems and bio-sensing analytical devices for medical/environmental diagnostics and industrial applications. She has over 17 years of experience working within the space of translational science and bridging the gap between research and...
Scientist II
Sanjid Shahriar, Ph.D.
Sanjid Shahriar received his Ph.D. in Pathobiology and Molecular Medicine from Columbia University, where his research combined cell biology, molecular, in vivo, and transcriptomic approaches to determine mechanisms of pathogenic angiogenesis in multiple sclerosis. Through numerous collaborations, Sanjid also investigated retinal vascular development, in vitro human blood-brain barrier (BBB) models, ultrasound-mediated BBB opening, and BBB...
Scientist II, Computational Biology
Megan Sperry, Ph.D.
Megan Sperry graduated from Boston University in 2012 with a B.S. in Biomedical Engineering. She obtained an M.Phil from Imperial College London in 2014 and Ph.D. in Bioengineering from the University of Pennsylvania in 2019. Her doctoral work characterized central nervous system processes that contribute to the development of persistent temporomandibular (TMJ) pain, using principles...
Senior Scientist II
Alexander Stafford
Stafford brings to the Wyss over 10 years industrial experience in pharmaceutical development with extensive expertise in analytical development and product characterization. Prior to joining the Wyss, Stafford conducted and managed assay development, method validation, regulatory affairs, and quality control activities for a series of biotech and pharmaceutical companies advancing a wide range of therapeutic...
Principal Scientist, Sustainable Materials
Emily Stoler, Ph.D.
Dr. Emily Stoler is a Principal Scientist in Sustainable Materials at the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University. Emily has over two decades of experience in sustainable product development and scientific leadership. Prior to joining the Wyss, she served as a Director of Chemistry at Zymergen, where she led a team of...
Director, Immuno-Materials
Michael Super, Ph.D.
Super’s research leverages protein engineering to design therapeutic and diagnostic devices to treat cancer, and infectious and immunological diseases. Prior to joining the Wyss, Super spent 17 years in the Biotechnology industry, employed in companies ranging from start-ups to large Pharma. In industry, Super was the Director of the Protein Biochemistry, Immunobiology and Hybridoma Antibody...
Director, Synthetic Biology
Jenny Tam, Ph.D.
Jenny is leads the Synthetic Biology platform where she oversees research activities including a Department of Energy grant on genome engineering tools, Validation Projects for translational research, and Platform Projects for early-stage research. In this role, she also manages 50-60 staff, postdoctoral fellows, and students with Core Faculty member George Church. In addition, she leads...
Senior Scientist II
Dima Ter-Ovanesyan, Ph.D.
Dima is a Senior Scientist at the Wyss Institute working closely with the Wyss Diagnostics Accelerator and the Synthetic Biology Platform. His research primarily focuses on the biology and applications of extracellular vesicles. He was previously a postdoctoral fellow and, before that, graduate student co-advised by George Church at Harvard Medical School and Aviv Regev...
Scientist I
Jiapeng Wang, Ph.D.
JP (Jiapeng) received his Ph.D. in Pharmaceutical Sciences from the University of Cincinnati. His doctoral research focused on post-stroke neuronal repair and functional recovery by utilizing adult neurogenesis as an endogenous source. As a Staff Scientist in the Brain Targeting Program at the Wyss, JP’s work focuses on the discovery and validation of novel antibody...
Principal Scientist
Liqun Wang, Ph.D.
Liqun leads brain shuttle compound discovery and brain-targeted therapeutics discovery for the Wyss Institute’s Brain Targeting Program (BTP), an initiative that aims to address the urgent and unmet needs for drug delivery to treat brain diseases. Liqun’s work focuses on two main areas. The first is discovery and validation of novel antibody (Ab) shuttle compounds...
Scientist II
Shimin Wang, Ph.D.
Shimin is a scientist with two years of experience in small molecule discovery and demonstrated track record of achievement with 10+ years of professional experience in the fields of genetics, molecular and cellular biology, cancer biology, and functional genomic editing. A consistent and proven record of productivity in both academic and industrial environments.
Senior Scientist I
Andy Ward, Ph.D
I am an experimental scientist. Fundamentally, the question of “how do you measure something?” is one that doesn’t get old for me. It has ranged from measuring the rupture forces between two proteins bound together to the concentration of a hormone in a urine sample. I am currently working with the Molecular Robotics Initiative on...
Senior Scientist I
Marika Ziesack
Dr. Marika Ziesack is a Senior Scientist at the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University. With over a decade of expertise in synthetic biology and metabolic engineering, she has made significant contributions to microbiome research and bioprocesses for sustainable manufacturing. As a co-founder of the climate-tech startup Circe Bioscience, along with Prof....