I've long been fascinated by the sciences, and pursued an undergraduate degree in Biotechnology from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Guwahati. During my undergraduate studies, I had the opportunity to explore various aspects of biological sciences, focusing on how engineering principles can be harnessed to solve complex biological challenges. My journey into tissue engineering began in the Biomaterials and Tissue Engineering Laboratory at IIT Guwahati, where I was introduced to the transformative potential of this field and its applications in regenerative medicine.

This early exposure ignited my curiosity and motivated me to deepen my expertise by pursuing a Master’s degree in Biomedical Engineering at Columbia University (CU), with a specialization in Design, Innovation, and Entrepreneurship. When I began my Master’s at Columbia University, I was thrilled to join the GVN Lab, where I have been actively contributing for the past one and a half years. My time in the lab has been incredibly enriching, allowing me to further develop my skills and pursue innovative projects at the intersection of science and engineering.

I graduated in 2023 from Hofstra University with a B.S. in Bioengineering. I decided to get into tissue engineering because I've always had a passion for innovation, building solutions, and medicine - and tissue engineering is the perfect overlap of all of these.

Sitting at an orthopedic doctor’s office during my first year of undergrad was never a place I expected to be. Unfortunately, all it took was reaching for one rebound in a Columbia intramural basketball game and I had torn my ACL and meniscus upon landing. That summer, I worked at the Hospital for Special Surgery (HSS) under the mentorship of Dr. Matthew Koff where I was both a patient and a student researcher. With a new appreciation for joint injuries and tissue function, I joined the Cellular Engineering Lab under the guidance of Prof. Clark Hung in my sophomore year, where I was introduced to the fields of cartilage tissue engineering and biomechanics.

I was born and raised in Miami, and received my Bachelors degree in Biomedical Engineering from Harvard. It was there that I was serendipitously introduced to heart valve tissue engineering in the lab of Prof. Kit Parker. Since the very beginning, I've been absolutely fascinated by the field - particularly, the promise that living heart valve replacements hold in improving the standard of care for patients with congenital heart disease.

I studied Biology and Life Sciences as an undergrad in France, with a focus on cellular and molecular biology. I had an amazing genetics teacher that got me interested in biotechnology and decided to pursue a master's degree at the University of Lille 1. During my master's I had the opportunity to do an internship in an academic lab at KU Leuven, working on iPSC-derived liver models. There, I really got into tissue engineering and decided to go back to the same lab the year after to continue working with a great team. After graduating, I moved to London to do a PhD at King's College London and worked on vascular tissue engineering and microfluidic devices.

I originally wanted to go to veterinary school and so joined a tissue engineering lab after undergrad to get some biomed research experience. I ended up loving the work so much I stayed there for 3 years and then left to pursue my PhD in the same field. My research has primarily focused on cell replacement therapies for diabetes as well as organ and cancer modeling using adult stem cell clusters called organoids.

I grew up in a household where the passion for science and humanities was equally split. It wasn't until the end of high school that I decided to devote myself to science, while still finding solace in the arts. During my bachelor's thesis in Dr. Elisa Cimetta's lab, I became fascinated by tissue engineering, and soon set my mind on joining Dr. Vunjak-Novakovic's lab for my doctoral studies. My academic journey continued in Dr. Molly Stevens' lab at Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm, where I conducted my Master's thesis project. A pandemic later, and an ocean away, here I am pursuing my envisioned PhD!

My background experience has diversified over the years, transitioning from chemical engineering in my undergraduate studies to interdisciplinary work, including biomaterials, tissue engineering, regenerative medicine, and biomechanics in my Ph.D. program. I was eager to apply my engineering background to the fascinating realms of tissue engineering, regenerative medicine, and biomechanics. Therefore, I started Biomedical Engineering program at Stevens Institute of Technology after completing my master's program in Polymer Engineering. In my Ph.D studies, I have been working on bioengineering technologies and modalities that allows diagnosis and efficient treatment of lung tissues.​

I first started working in biomedical engineering in college, where I worked in the lab of Shayn Peirce-Cottler at the University of Virginia. Within a vascular engineering lab, my interests in tissue engineering grew throughout my college years, which led my friend and me to develop a student-taught short course on regenerative medicine to help showcase advances in tissue engineering and regenerative medicine to other undergraduates at UVA. After college, I pursued a research year abroad in Switzerland, focusing on regeneration of blood stem cells using biomaterial technologies with Olaia Naveiras. The direction towards more patient-centric research led me to pursuing my Ph.D. at Columbia with Gordana, where I've been continuing my postdoctoral work today.

I am originally from the Netherlands. My passion for engineering stems from my childhood, where I would build birdhouses and circuits with my dad as well as going to science museums. I pursued an undergraduate degree in Biomedical Engineering because advancing healthcare using engineering excited me. This is where I first learned about Tissue Engineering and I was immediately in love with working with cells.

As a little kid who got warned a lot about climbing too high and falling out of trees, I wondered about things like, "Well, why can't doctors fix a broken spinal cord? Then maybe Mom would stop hounding me...." Growing up in a rural area, I did not have a concept of who was solving these problems or where, but I did know I wanted to be a part of it someday. On applying to college, I learned that biomedical engineers were the people who solved the kinds of problems that I wanted to solve. I got involved in undergraduate research early, eventually completing a thesis on polymer-based long bone regeneration scaffolds. It is with great excitement that I've now joined the GVN Lab, where I am working on regenerative medicine technologies for the lung.

In high school, I took a summer college course on 3D bioprinting and was taken aback by the ability to engineer different pieces of the human body. The idea of culturing beating heart cells in the lab fascinated me. Since then, I have engaged in courseworks and research opportunities that allowed me to explore a variety of topics within biomedical engineering such as synthetic biology and microfluidics. Right now, my main interest lies in cardiovascular tissue engineering because of the heart's significance as a modulator of the human body as well as its symbolism as a bridge that connects people. Moving forward, I hope to continue to engage in research that redefines what is possible in cardiovascular care and to equalize global access to healthcare along the way.

I studied Bioengineering at UC Berkeley. There I studied the viscoelastic properties of single cells using a microfluidic platform coupled with electrical resistance sensing under Dr. Lydia Sohn. After doing a summer Amgen scholars research program in Dr. Gordana Vunjak-Novakovic lab the summer after my junior year, I was fascinated by tissue engineering and joined the lab in 2019 to begin my PhD training.

I graduated with a Bachelor's in Biology from Johns Hopkins University and knew I wanted to focus on laboratory research. I spent time in several academic and industry research labs executing pre-clinical studies, working with mouse models and at the bench. Specifically, I worked for Mount Sinai and Pfizer separately managing animal colonies and performing drug testing experiments, which taught me a lot of bench science and how to work in a laboratory environment.
By 2020 I realized I wanted to take my career in a different direction and focus on research support and administration, and applied to the GVN lab as a Lab Manager. I have been learning all about tissue engineering and BME in my time here, and have used my background as a researcher and skills for planning and organizing to the current role.

I was born and raised in Israel and lived there until I moved to NYC for my postdoc at Columbia University. During my childhood, my father was an enthusiastic chemistry graduate student who constantly devised “kid-friendly” scientific experiments for my sisters and me. That experience paved my way to choose a scientific career, and many years after, I earned my B.Sc from Tel-Aviv University in Biotechnology. Immediately after, I started my Graduate studies under the mentorship of Dr. Tal Dvir at Tel-Aviv University, in which I developed engineered cardiac tissues for regenerative medicine applications.

My initial interest in BME began when I was 12 and happened to meet a veteran who had a prosthetic leg. I remember thinking that the artificial limb was the coolest thing I had ever seen, and I decided right then that I wanted to be able to help people and improve their lives by making devices like that prosthesis. Since then, I’ve discovered that BME is a very diverse field, and have shifted from my initial interests in biomechanics over to a focus in tissue engineering, but the underlying motivation remains the same. I’m drawn to BME because it sits at the intersection of engineering and medicine, and aims to improve human health at all levels.

I grew up in Huntington, NY and remember wanting to join my high school's science research program after being amazed by the use of CRISPR-Cas9 for genome editing. My senior project investigating platinum-based chemoresistance in ovarian cancer then prompted me to study Biomedical Engineering at the University of Virginia. There, I learned both about the fascinating field of organs-on-chip (OOC) engineering and about the historical negligence of women's health in biomedicine. Thus, for my capstone project, I decided to apply OOC methods towards studying this underserved area and created the first design for a 'vagina-on-chip' model. All this led me to become a research assistant at the GVN lab, where I get to work on the most incredible, cutting-edge OOC development!

In 2013, I received by BA in Biology from the University of Pennsylvania. I earned my medical degree at Albany Medical College in 2018. I joined the lab in July 2021 after completing three years of General Surgery residency at NYP-Weill Cornell and am currently taking time off for research prior to returning to residency for the final two years of training.

As a child, I had wanted to be a pediatrician. However, during my college years, I realized that I'd rather help with inventing new medical solutions. I ended up majoring in Chemical Engineering, International Studies, and Spanish at Lafayette College. My first experience in tissue engineering was my summer internship at Virginia Tech with Dr. Aaron Goldstein attempting to create a novel biomaterial for ACL repair. I then joined the Clark Hung and Nadeen Chahine labs to pursue my PhD at Columbia University.

Since I was a child I wished to “build” legs for someone who needs them. I was an active and athletic teenager and I was fascinated by paraplegic sportsmen, nevertheless appearing strong and successful. Growing up, I found my way to be part of a project focused on design prostheses. This became my area of expertise during my Bachelor’s years at Politecnico of Milan. What I learned on the engineering of prosthesis became my bachelor’s thesis on silicone implants. And from there, to Master and PhD.

I have bachelor's degrees in Molecular Biology and Genetics and in Chemistry, and MSc degree in Biotechnology. My analytical chemistry instructor during my bachelor's was studying biomaterials and tissue engineering, and I was introduced to the field during a presentation he gave, later joining his lab for my MSc degree.

My love for science and experimentation started at a young age. My dad is an engineer, and growing up we were always building things or turning household tasks into mini science experiments. As an undergraduate in Chemical Engineering at the University of Virginia, I worked in the Lampe Biomaterials Group where I was first introduced to the wonderful world of tissue engineering. This experience led me to pursue a PhD focused on tissue engineering and regenerative medicine.

As an undergraduate at UC Berkeley undecided about what to study, I found myself in a survey course on bioengineering topics. It hadn't occurred to me that we could grow body parts in the lab until I saw a picture of the infamous Vacanti mouse in that class, and then I couldn't stop thinking about it. I went on to receive my Bachelor of Science in Bioengineering from UC Berkeley in 2017 and joined the GVN lab that fall to start my Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering at Columbia.

I received my PhD degree at Hunter College, City University of New York, where I worked on mechanisms of transcriptional control and regulation in mammalian cells. I then conducted postdoctoral research at Columbia University, on the effect of enzyme acetylation and metabolism on cardiac function in human cardiovascular diseases, especially in heart failure. I joined the lab working with Dr. Barry Fine in 2019, using induced pluripotent stem cells and bioengineered tissues to further study human cardiac diseases.

I did my undergraduate studies in Chemical Engineering at UMass Amherst. There, I began my career in materials engineering research working under Prof. Al Crosby to study high-impulse, bioinspired materials and novel rheological techniques. I also dabbled in industry for a bit, but learned my passions lied in research and teaching. Thus, I transitioned to Biomedical Engineering for my PhD where I leverage my materials engineering background to develop novel biomaterial platforms to model the dynamic extracellular microenvironment.

My amazing AP Chem teach in high school saw potential in me, and urged me to consider chemical engineering. Thanks to her guidance, I earned my BS in Chemical Engineering in 2009 from Rowan University. At that time, I had never heard of tissue engineering. I was immediately fascinated with the idea of repairing and regenerating the body's tissues when I met Dr. Jennifer Vernengo, who as my Masters advisor introduced me to the world of Biomedical Engineering. I went on to earn my PhD in BME from Drexel University, under the mentorship of Dr. Kara Spiller, who not only helped me discover my love of macrophages (the coolest immune cells), but also profoundly shaped me as a researcher and scientist.

I earned my medical degree at the University of Maryland in 2018 and a Masters in Public Health from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in 2017. I joined the lab in July 2020 after completing two years of General Surgery residency to study whole lung tissue engineering utilizing the cross-circulation platform developed in the Laboratory for Stem Cells & Tissue Engineering and induction of immunotolerance in kidney transplantation.