Meet our team
Sangeeta Bhatia, M.D., Ph.D.
Principal investigator
John J. and Dorothy Wilson Professor of Engineering
Director, Laboratory for Multiscale Regenerative Technologies
Sangeeta N. Bhatia MD, PhD is an inventor, Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor and biotech entrepreneur who adapts technologies developed in the computer industry for medical innovation. At MIT, she is the John J. and Dorothy Wilson Professor of Engineering, Director of the Marble Center for Cancer Nanomedicine at the Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research, and Investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. Trained as both a physician and engineer, Sangeeta’s laboratory leverages miniaturization tools from the computer industry for medical innovation with applications in liver disease, cancer and infectious diseases. She and her over 150 trainees have contributed to more than 50 issued or pending patents, launched multiple biotechnology companies to improve human health, and published more than 200 peer-reviewed papers. Bhatia was the 25th person in history to be an elected member of all three US National Academies: NAS, NAM, and NAE. She has been honored with the Lemelson-MIT Prize (known as the “Oscar” for inventors), the Heinz Medal, and the Othmer Gold Medal for groundbreaking inventions and advocacy for women in STEM fields. She has presented her vision for the application of engineering solutions to solve medical problems on international stages such as the World Economic Forum, TED, the Gates Grand Challenges, and the Biden Cancer Moonshot. She currently serves as a Trustee at Brown University and Director at Vertex Pharmaceuticals.
Learn more about each lab member by clicking on their name.
You can also learn more about our group by checking out our gallery.
Administration
Lian-Ee Ch'ng Lab Manager
Lab Manager
I work on internal day-to-day lab operations and budgets and am the #fixer and safety 'czar' of the lab!
Prior to my time at LMRT, I also worked as a lab manager at Brigham and Women's and Children's Hospital, and have also held positions as a research technician at Mt Sinai School of Medicine (with R. A. Lazzarini) and Dana Farber Cancer Institute (with David M. Livingston).
Education:
- Eons ago, Cornell University: Biochemistry
- Decades ago, Tufts University School of Medicine: Ph.D. in Molecular Microbiology (Effects of the chromosome environment on retroviral expression with John Coffin)
Tarek Fadel Assistant Director of the
Marble Center for Cancer Nanomedicine,
Founder of CSP
Assistant Director of the
Marble Center for Cancer Nanomedicine,
Founder of CSP
Before coming to LMRT, I worked as a Product & Systems Engineer at Hewlett-Packard, Staff Scientist at the National Nanotechnology Coordination Office, VP of Research at the International Technology Research Institute, Postdoctoral fellow at Yale Univ.
I am a multilingual, father of 2, croissant connoisseur, and judo instructor (MIT and Yale judo clubs, formerly).
Education:
- 2003 Oregon State University: BS in Chemical Engineering
- 2011 Yale University: PhD in Chemical/Biomedical Engineering
Awards: Executive member of the Yale Graduate School Alumni Association Board (maybe that goes above), Advanced Graduate Leadership fellow (Yale), Harding Bliss Prize for excellence in engineering (Yale).
Socials: LinkedIn, Google Scholar, Instagram , Twitter
Heather Fleming Research Director
Research Director
I serve as a secondary mentor to all, with a focus on the professional development, research planning, and communication skills of all trainees. Before working at LMRT I was a postdoc at Harvard / MGH in the lab of Dr. David Scadden (2004-2007). I also worked as a co-founding Editor at Cell Stem Cell from 2007-2011.
Outside of LMRT, I volunteer as a career coach, and work to establish networking links to share best practices in trainee development between research management, communication, and mentoring professionals. I am also heavily involved in promoting civic, scientific, and conservation engagement within my rural/suburban community.
Education:
- Queen's University, Kingston, ON: BScH in Life Sciences
- University of Toronto: PhD Department of Immunolgy (Laboratory of Dr. Christopher Paige)
Socials: LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram
Susanna Elledge Postdoctoral researcher
Postdoctoral researcher
I am interested in developing sensitive diagnostics for early detection of ovarian cancer. Additionally, I'm interested in developing microenvironment stimulated therapeutics for immune cell activation in cancer.
Education:
- 2016 BSc, University of California Berkeley - Chemical Biology
- 2021 PhD, UCSF - Chemistry and Chemical Biology
Sue Kangiser Senior Administrative Assistant
Senior Administrative Assistant
I am the administrative assistant of Sangeeta Bhatia and LMRT. I grew up in California, New Jersey, and Texas and started working at MIT in 2000, joining LMRT in 2005.
Education:
- UT Austin: B.S. in Psychology
- Texas A&M University: M.S. in Educational Psychology
Group members
Kasia Grzelak Graduate Student
(HST-MEMP)
Graduate Student
(HST-MEMP)
I am interested in leveraging chemical, mechanical, and electrical engineering tools to create bio-responsive implantable engineered tissues.
Education:
- 2018 BSc University College Roosevelt (Utrecht University) - (Investigated inhibitors of the ALKBH protein family expressed in head and neck cancers; Analyzed biosurfactants and siderophores microbial produced by an Antarctic bacterium)
- 2019 MSc Yale University (Investigated revascularization and remodeling of fibrotic tissue)
Sofia Neaher Lab technician
Lab technician
Under the mentorship of Dr. Susanna Elledge, I will explore protease-activatable nanoparticle technology as a possible diagnostic and/or treatment of early stage ovarian cancer.
Education:
- 2022 Williams College: Biology (Highest Honors). Worked in a microbiology lab investigating the host-pathogen relationships, and the unique defensive systems in retaliation to bacterial secretions.
Awards:
- Erastus C. Benedict Prize in Biology
Socials: LinkedIn
Joa Yun Lab technician
Lab technician
Under the guidance of my postdoctoral mentors, I am currently working on establishing in vitro model systems to study liver disease pathogenesis as well as engineering protease-based diagnostics for liver cancer.
Education:
- 2022 Columbia University: BS in Biomedical Engineering. Worked in a microfluidics lab where I focused on barcoded microparticles for selective drug release.
Socials: LinkedIn
Daniel Kim Graduate Student (MD/PhD)
Graduate Student (MD/PhD)
I am interested in studying new physics and systems to advance early detection of cancer and other diseases. Additionally, I am interested in applying nanoscale tools to develop new therapeutic modalities for clinical efficacy.
Education:
- 2019 Harvard University: BA in Chemical and Physical Biology
Awards:
2022 Irving M. London Fellowship, 2020 NIH MSTP
Socials: Linkedin, Twitter
Jesse Kirkpatrick Postdoctoral researcher
Postdoctoral researcher
I engineer protease sensors to diagnose and monitor pulmonary diseases. I'm also interested in using in vitro model systems to better understand and treat liver disease.
Education:
- 2015 MIT: BS in Biological Engineering (I studied innate immunity in digestive diseases. I also helped characterize a microfluidic device for intracellular delivery.)
- 2020 MIT: PhD in Medical Engineering and Medical Physics
Awards: Ludwig Center for Molecular Oncology Graduate Fellowship
Socials: LinkedIn, Google Scholar, Twitter
Henry Ko Research Technician
Research Technician
My research focuses on optimizing in vivo viral and bacterial models of pneumonia for activity-based nanosensor detection.
Education:
- 2015 University of Maryland: BS in Bioengineering at the (Three years in bioreactors & 3D bone tissue engineering research in Dr. John Fisher's lab.)
Vardhman Kumar Postdoctoral Researcher
Postdoctoral Researcher
My research focuses on employing microfabrication tools for liver tissue engineering. I am also interested in engineering protease sensors for liver diseases.
Education:
- 2022 Duke University: PhD in Biomedical Engineering
- 2017 Indian Institute of Technology Bombay: BTech. and MTech. in Chemical Engineering
Sandra March-Riera Research Scientist
Research Scientist
I work on establishing and applying an in vitro human liver platform for studying circadian rhythms and characterizing their impact on liver physiology and disease. Between 2010 and 2020, I was also the project leader of a team at LMRT that developed an in vitro system to recapitulate the liver stage of human malaria infection.
Education:
- 1999 University of Barcelona: B.S. at the School of Pharmacy
- 2008 University of Barcelona/Hospital Clinic: PhD in Liver pathophysiology/Immunology (working on the biology of hepatic stellate cells in the context of liver pathophysiology.)
Carmen Martin-Alonso Graduate Student (HST-MEMP)
Graduate Student (HST-MEMP)
I am developing high throughput tools to understand and leverage protease biology for molecular diagnostics and therapeutics.
Education:
- 2017 Imperial College London: BEng Biomedical Engineering. (UROP: Engineering a POC device for amplification-free detection of microRNAs for prostate cancer detection)
- 2018 Imperial College London: MEng Biomedical Engineering (Master Thesis: Next-generation intracellular delivery device for NAVAN Technologies, CA.)
Awards: La Caixa Fellowship for Postgraduate Studies in North America 2020, Governor’s MEng Prize 2018 (best MEng student in the final year of Imperial College's undergraduate Biomedical Engineering course for all-round excellence)
Socials: LinkedIn, PubMed,
WiSDM
Lucia Castello-Pedrero Graduate Student (HST-MEMP)
Graduate Student (HST-MEMP)
I am interested in developing nanotechnologies for non-invasive early detection and effective interception of disease.
Education:
- University of Cambridge (2021-2022): MPhil in Bioscience Enterprise
- Polytechnic University of Valencia (2017-2021): BSc in Biomedical Engineering
Awards:
- “la Caixa” Foundation Postgraduate Fellowship Abroad
- First position in the national Biomedical Engineering ranking performed by SEDEA
- Selected on the Nova 111 Student List in Spain
- Best Student in the School of Industrial Engineering (XXI Edition of UPV's Social Council Awards)
- Extraordinary End-of-Degree prize for achieving the best overall grade in the Biomedical Engineering graduating class of 2021
Socials:
LinkedIn,
Google Scholar
Savan Patel Graduate Student (HST-MEMP)
Graduate Student (HST-MEMP)
I am interested in developing nanoparticle systems for early cancer diagnostics and solid tumor therapeutics. I am particularly interested in how we can target specific cell types and tissues to amplify diagnostic signals or achieve tumor-specific therapeutic outcomes.
Education:
- 2023 University of Pennsylvania: BSE in Bioengineering, Minor in Computer Science
- 2023 University of Pennsylvania: BS in Economics
Awards: NSF GRFP; MIT Presidential Fellowship; Tau Beta Pi Fellowship 2023
Socials: LinkedIn,
Twitter, Google Scholar
Kasturi Chakraborty Postdoctoral Researcher
Postdoctoral Researcher
I am interested in understanding how nanoparticles and cancer related biomarkers are eliminated from circulation to aid the development of novel and translatable nanotechnologies.
Education:
- PhD in Chemistry 2019, University of Chicago
- B.Sc in Chemistry 2010, St. Stephen's College, Delhi University, India
- M.Sc in Chemistry 2012, University of Pune, India
Awards:
Robert Dirks Molecular Programming Prize 2022
Schmidt Science Fellowship-ASG 2020
Schmidt Science Fellow 2019
International Society for Nanoscale Science, Computation and Engineering Best Presentation Award at 2018
William Rainey Harper Dissertation Fellowship 2018
Socials: LinkedIn, Google Scholar
Sahil Patel Clinical Fellow
Clinical Fellow
My research focuses on developing methods to improve early diagnosis of lung cancer utilizing nano-based techniques and next-generation sequencing.
Prior work:
Clinical Instructor, Division of Hospital Medicine at the San Francisco VA Medical Center
Education:
- 2009 Duke University (Majors: Biomedical Engineering and Electrical Engineering)
- 2014 David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA
- 2017 UCSF Internal Medicine Residency
- 2021 Harvard Combined Pulmonary Critical Care Fellowship (MGH and BIDMC)
Novalia Pishesha Postdoctoral researcher
Postdoctoral researcher
I am engineering a range of immune modulatory technologies for tackling autoimmune and infectious diseases.
Education:
- 2012 UC Berkeley: B.S. in Bioengineering
- 2018 MIT: PhD in Biological Engineering
Awards: 2021 STAT+ Wunderkind; 2021 MIT Technology Review (TR) Innovators under 35 Asia Pacific; 2018-2022 Junior Fellowship, Harvard Society of Fellows; 2018 Ambassador Award for Excellence from the Indonesian Embassy in Washington, DC; 2017 Siebel Scholar; 2017 MIT Hugh Hampton Young Fellowship; 2014-2017 Howard Hughes Medical Institute International Student Research Fellowship
Socials: LinkedIn,
Twitter
Tahoura Samad Postdoctoral Researcher
Postdoctoral Researcher
I am engineering drug delivery technologies to improve the therapeutic efficacy of antimicrobials.
Education:
- 2013 UC Berkeley: Bioengineering
- 2019 MIT: PhD in Biological Engineering
Awards: 2018 Siebel Scholar, 2018 Collamore-Rogers Fellowship, 2014 NSF GRFP
Socials: LinkedIn
Qian Zhong Research Scientist
Research Scientist
I am interested in advancing cancer diagnosis and therapies with multidisciplinary tools, as well as promoting clinical translation of new technologies. After earning my PhD in 2016, I started my postdoctoral training at joined School of Medicine of Stanford University co-advised by Drs. Raag Airan and Sanjiv Gambhir, where I used ultrasound-mediated nanoparticles to modulate neural activity.
Education:
- 2008 Tongji University (China): Bachelors in Material Science and Engineering
- 2011 Fudan University (China): Master of Engineering in Material Science
- 2016 Wayne State University (Detroit, MI): PhD in Material Science (Doctoral research was on design of novel stimuli-responsive therapeutics for cancer treatment advised in the da Rocha lab.)
Awards: 2015 Ralph H. Kummler Research Excellence Award, College of Engineering, Wayne State University.
Socials: LinkedIn, Twitter
Cathy Wang Graduate Student
(MIT-Bioengineering)
Graduate Student
(MIT-Bioengineering)
Developing locally activated cancer therapeutics via protease profiling
Education:
- 2020 Harvard University: Bachelors in Bioengineering (Undergraduate research in Prof. David Mooney's lab developing hydrogel scaffold for tendon cell delivery)
Awards: NSF Graduate Research Fellowship
Socials: LinkedIn, Twitter, WiSDM
Christine Wang Postdoctoral researcher
Postdoctoral researcher
Designing Molecular Probes for Cancer Profiling.
Education:
- Master 2012-2013, National Cheng Kung University, Materials Science and Engineering, Photoluminescence of Nanoparticle-conjugated Graphene Oxide
- PhD 2013-2017, Imperial College London, Materials Science, Type 2 Diabetes Related Biosensing and Amyloid Fibrillation"
Awards: 2021 STAT+ Wunderkind; 2021 MIT Technology Review (TR) Innovators under 35 Asia Pacific; 2018-2022 Junior Fellowship, Harvard Society of Fellows; 2018 Ambassador Award for Excellence from the Indonesian Embassy in Washington, DC; 2017 Siebel Scholar; 2017 MIT Hugh Hampton Young Fellowship; 2014-2017 Howard Hughes Medical Institute International Student Research Fellowship
Socials: LinkedIn,
Twitter, Google Scholar
Ashley Westerfield Graduate Student
(HST-MEMP)
Graduate Student
(HST-MEMP)
My project focuses on fabricating 3D lumenized bile duct networks in vitro, with the goal of building functional engineered liver tissue constructs for transplantation.
Education:
- 2020 Stanford University: Bachelors in Bioengineering
Awards:NSF Graduate Research Fellowship
Socials: LinkedIn
Alumni
Postdoctoral researchers
Soonjo Kwon - Assistant Professor, Utah State University
Greg Szulgit - Assistant Professor, Hiram College, OH
Elliot Hui - Associate Professor, UC Irvine
Warren Chan - Professor, University of Toronto
Greg Underhill - Associate Professor, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
David Eddington - Professor, University of Illinois at Chicago
Dal-Hee Min - Professor, Seoul National Univ.
Amit Agrawal - Global Head of Portfolio Strategy & Management, Novartis
David Wood - Associate Professor, University of Minnesota
Neetu Singh - Associate Professor, Indian Institute of Technology
Kelly Stevens - Assistant Professor, University of Washington
Robert Schwartz - Assistant Professor of Medicine, Weill Cornell Medical College
Gabe Kwong - Assistant Professor, Georgia Institute of Technology
Salil Desai - Director of Engineering, Bayesian Diagnostics
Kathleen Christine - CEO, Sweet Cakes
Sabine Hauert - Lecturer in Robotics, Engineering Mathematics, Univ. of Bristol
Tal Danino - Assistant Professor of Biomedical Engineering, Columbia U.
Ester Kwon - Assistant Professor of Bioengineering, UCSD
Arnout Schepers - Director Research, Cellpoint
Piyush Jain - Assistant Professor of Chemical Engineering, Univ. of Florida
Simone Schürle - Assistant Professor, ETH Zurich
Alex Albanese - Postdoctoral Fellow, MIT
Justin Voog, MD/PhD - Instructor, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
Leslie Chan - Assistant Professor, Georgia Institute of Technology
Tiffany Vo - Scientist, In-Vivo Biology at Sigilon Therapeutics, Inc.
Jiang He - Research Scientist, Harvard University
Liliana Mancio Silva - Research Associate at INSERM
Allison Demas - Scientist, Syros Pharmaceuticals
Quinton Smith - Assistant Professor, University of California Irvine
Ahmet Bekdemir - Scientist at Xilio Therapeutics, Inc
Liangliang Hao - Assistant Professor, Boston University
Graduate students
Mihrimah Ozkan - Professor, Electrical & Computer Engineering, UC Riverside
Jared Allen - Physician, Radiology
Valerie (Liu) Tsang - Technical Development Program Lead, Biogen / IDEC
Vicki (Chin) Albrecht - Head and VP, Cardio-Renal-Metabolic Patient Services, Novartis
Dirk Albrecht - Associate Professor, Worcester Polytech Institute
Christopher Flaim - Senior Medical Device Engineer at Vaxxas, Australia
Salman Khetani - Associate Professor, Bioengineering, UIC
Austin Derfus - Director of Consumables Engineering, Abbott
Geoffrey von Maltzahn - Partner, Flagship Pioneering
Todd Harris - Founder & CEO, Tyra Bioscience
Alice Chen - VP, Product and Head PMO, GRAIL, Inc.
Yin Ren - Assistant Professor, Department of Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery, Ohio State College of Medicine
Jing (Meghan) Shan - Resident, Ophthalmology, Univ. of Southern California
Nathan Reticker-Flynn - Postdoc Associate, Stanford
Kartik Trehan - Engagement Manager, McKinsey & Company
David Braga Malta - Co-Founder, Neurimm Therapeutics
Kevin Yu-Ming Lin - Senior Manager, Provider Data Strategy, Oscar Health
Cheri Yingjie Li - Bioprocess Engineer, Memphis Meats
Alex Bagley - Resident Physician, MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX
Justin Lo - Internal Medicine Resident, Vanderbilt Univ. Medical Center
Shengyong Ng - Postdoctoral Fellow, A*STAR Singapore
Vyas Ramanan - R&D, Maze Therapeutics
Andrew Warren - Associate, Third Rock Ventures
Jaideep Dudani - New Opportunities, Relay Therapeutics
Nil Gural - Consultant, Bain & Company
Colin Buss - Biotechnology Specialist, Wolf, Greenfield & Sacks, P.C.
Arnav Chabra - Co-founder, Satellite Bio
Amanda Chen - Scientist, Satellite Bio
Ava Soleimany - Senior Researcher, Microsoft
Melodi Anahtar - Program Manager, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health
Lab managers and technicians
Alex Miller - Graduate student, MIT-Harvard HST Program
Ani Galstian - Research associate, Kallyope
Candice Gurbatri - Graduate student, Columbia University
Chelsea Fortin - Graduate student, University of Washington
Emilia Pulver - Graduate student
Kelsey Hern - Graduate student, UC Berkeley
Lia Ingaharro
Maria Ibrahim - Graduate student, Rutgers University
Matt Skalak - Physician, Urology
Meghan Marquette - Scientist, bluebird bio
Renee Zhao - Medical student, UCLA
Keval Vyas - Scientist, Satellite Bio
Niketa Nerurkar - Graduate student, Tufts University
Nour-Saïda Harzallah- MD/PhD student, Harvard-MIT Health Sciences and Technology
Anisha Jain - MD/PhD student, University of Pittsburg