Principal Investigator
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Krystyn Van VlietAssociate Provost and Koerner ProfessorDepartment of Materials Science & Engineering [Biography, Research, Teaching & Leadership] Email: krystyn@mit.edu |
Research Scientists
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Anna JagielskaResearch Scientist, MIT Materials Science & EngineeringAnna is interested in understanding the interplay between in vivo chemomechanical environment and stem cell differentiation, with an ultimate goal of improving stem cell based therapies. She is currently focused on the role of mechanical factors in neural stem cell differentiation and myelin repair in neurodegenerative diseases such as Multiple Sclerosis. Anna’s past research fields include quantum chemistry (PhD), and computational biology and biophysics (postdoctoral). |
Graduate Students
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Mingyu YangPhD Candidate, Harvard-MIT Health Sciences & TechnologyMing’s research lies at the intersection of polymer engineering and neurobiology. His current work leverages additive manufacturing technologies to develop in vitro models of myelination. Ming is also passionate about democratizing STEM education, and he enjoys developing content for MIT’s open education / MOOC initiatives. |
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Brandon KrupczakPhD Student, Harvard-MIT Health Sciences & TechnologyBrandon is interested in the use of stem cells, tissue engineering, and genetic drug delivery for applications in regenerative medicine. His current research is focused on improving MSC characterization and culture conditions in order to streamline the pathway to clinical translation. When he grows up, Brandon wants to be a NASA Astronaut and apply his regenerative medicine research at the final frontier. Outside of lab, Brandon enjoys backpacking, woodworking, and photography. |
SMART CAMP Researchers
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Yie Hou LeeScientific Director, SMART CAMPDr Lee obtained his Ph.D. in Singapore, and continued his postdoctoral work with Prof. Steven Tannenbaum in MIT’s Department of Biological Engineering, at both the Singapore and MIT locations. He joined SMART-CAMP as scientific director where he works with Prof. Krystyn and Prof. Yu and interfaces with the Singapore-based and MIT-based researchers who work on CAMP flagship projects of critical quality attributes and process analytic technologies for cell therapy manufacturing. Dr Lee also engages the larger cell therapy manufacturing ecosystem of clinics, companies, and complementary research teams in Singapore and globally. |
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Bala NarayananSenior Program Manager, SMART CAMPBala is CAMP’s Senior Program Manager. He brings years of experience in R&D program management and process engineering in industry and academic research settings. |
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Nishtha SinghPostdoctoral Associate, SMART CAMPNishtha is interested in developing process analytic technologies for cell therapy manufacturing. Specifically, she aims to understand how the physical, chemical, and mechanical properties of microcarriers influence the 3D-proliferation and recovery of mesenchymal stem cells that are culture-expanded in microbioreactors. Nishtha’s past research experience includes non-viral gene delivery for cancer theranostics and microfluidic flow cytometry. She is also a keen Netflixer and an enthusiastic yoga learner. |
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Naresh GnanasegaranPostdoctoral Associate, SMART CAMPNaresh currently serves as a post-doc at SMART CAMP, where he explores the intrinsic features of bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) and ways to leverage them for therapeutic applications. To this end, extensive cell culture and molecular approaches will be explored with the end goal of bridging these findings from bench to bedside. Naresh also helps in conducting pre-clinical works while considering the regulations involved from the current Good Manufacturing Practice (cGMP) perspectives. |
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Lakshmi VenkatramanSenior Postdoctoral Associate, SMART CAMPLakshmi uses computational techniques to correlate morphology of MSCs with their phenotypic behaviour and in vivo efficacy. She applies image analysis, proteome and trascriptome profiling methods together with machine learning to study the critical quality attributes of the MSCs. She is also in involved in the design of a control feedback for the MSC bioreactor at CAMP. Lakshmi is interested in running, glass painting and reading. |
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Shu Hui NeoPostdoctoral Associate, SMART CAMPShu Hui is interested to explore the MSC heterogeneity and identify critical quality attributes of MSCs that will provide guidelines for expansion during cell manufacturing. She aims to establish the relationship between expressions of genes/secretory proteins and biophysical parameters of MSCs with profiling approaches. She also investigates the mechanism about why cells of certain size are more inclined towards a certain differentiation pathway, or towards a certain function (immunomodulation). Shu Hui is interested in animal photography and hiking. |
Alumni
Name | Position in Group | Last Known Affiliation |
Jeremy M. Young | ScM, Harvard School of Dental Medicine 2004 | Private Practice |
Anita Shukla | NSF REU, Summer 2004 | PhD Student, MIT ChemE |
Patrick Barragan | UROP, 2004 | Undergraduate, MIT |
Yemisi Afere | NSF REU, Summer 2005 | Technician, Johns Hopkins University |
Irene Tobias | DMSE UROP, Summer 2005 | Graduate Student, UCSD |
Kendall Werts | DMSE UROP, Summer 2005 | |
Doria Holbrook | UROP, 2005 | Undergraduate, MIT |
Catherine Roberts | NSF RET, Summer 2005 | Somerville High School |
Esther Yu | NSF REU, Summer 2005 | |
Mitsuo Notomi | Visiting Scientist, 2005-2006 | Meiji University, Japan |
Binu Oommen | MS Student, 2004-2006 | Bose |
Ted Feldman | NSF REU, Summer 2006 | |
Georgios Constantinides | Postdoctoral Associate, 2006-2007 | University of Cyprus |
Tim Lau | MS Student, 2005-2007 | Simpson Thacher & Bartlett |
Jack Milwid | MS Student, 2005-2007 | Third Rock Ventures |
Dessy (Nikova) Long | Postdoctoral Associate, 2006-2007 | VA Boston Healthcare System |
Catherine Tweedie | PhD Student, 2004-2007 | Artist, Leap Metal |
Emilio Silva | PhD Student, 2004-2007 | Petrobras |
M. Todd Thompson | PhD Student, 2004-2008 | |
Christopher Bruce | DMSE Senior Thesis, 2008 | Boston Consulting Group |
James Dahlman | CMSE REU, Summer 2008 | PhD Student, HST |
Wing Yee Lau | NSF REU, Summer 2008 | |
John Oliverio | Summer Researcher, 2008 | |
Joan Mao | MS Student, 2006-2009 | |
Sunyoung Lee | PhD Student, 2003-2009 | |
Kyle Bryson | NSF REU, Summer 2009 | PhD Student, University of Massachusetts (Amherst) |
Ran Li | NSF REU, Summer 2009 | |
Sezen Buell | PhD Student, 2004-2010 | |
Jennifer DeBerardinis | NSF REU (BE), 2010 | Universities of Sydney and Melbourne |
Juan F. Rodriguez | NSF REU (CMSE), 2010 | |
Karen Stewart | Postdoctoral Associate, 2008-2010 | GVD Corporation |
Emily B. Walton | PhD Candidate, 2006-2011 | |
Qing (Kitty) Ji | Postdoctoral Associate, 2009-2011 | Chief Scientist of HPC Application and Marketing Manager, INSPUR (China) |
Fei Deng | Postdoctoral Associate, 2009-2011 | Interpretation Development Engineer, Schlumberger |
Mukul Kabir | Postdoctoral Associate, 2007-2011 | Assistant Professor, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (India) |
Meng Qu | Postdoctoral Associate, 2008-2011 | Postdoctoral Research Scientist, Schlumberger-Doll Research |
Jon Estrada | UROP (MSE), 2011 | Graduate Student, Brown University |
Eva Cheung | UROP (ChemE), 2011 | Sr. Research Associate, Gilead Sciences |
Ben Hinton | NSF REU (BE), Summer 2011 | Undergraduate, University of Minnesota-Twin Cities |
Jacob Wagner | NSF REU (CMSE), Summer 2011 | Undergraduate, Case Western Reserve University |
Eric Lehnhardt | NSF REU (BE), Summer 2011 | Undergraduate, Arizona State University |
John Maloney | MEng Student, 2005-2006; PhD student, 2006-2012 | Research Scientist, Van Vliet Group |
Romain Grossier | Postdoctoral Associate, 2010-2012 | Researcher, CINaM-7325 CNRS (France) |
Abdul Salam Thelakkadan | Postdoctoral Associate, 2010-2012 | Scientist, SABIC (Saudi Arabia) |
Ranjani K. Paradise | PhD Student, 2006-2012 | Research Associate, Institute for Community Health |
Ilke Kalcioglu | PhD Student, 2006-2012 | Technologist, Gore |
Remi Jolibois Quinot | MEng Student, 2010-2012 | Analyst, Summer Street Research Partners |
Lucy Lee | UROP (Wellesley), Summer 2012 | Undergraduate, Wellesley College |
Deepak Jagannathan | MS Student, 2010-2012 | Entrepreneurial Fellow, Flagship Ventures |
Roza Mahmoodian | Postdoctoral Associate, 2011-2013 | Parker Group, Wyss Institute, Harvard University |
Irene Chou Chen | PhD Student, 2008-2013 | Research Scientist, Gilead Sciences |
Adam Zeiger | NSF REU, Summer 2006; PhD Student, 2008-2013 | Technology Specialist, Wolf Greenfield |
Chia-Hua Lee | PhD Student, 2008-2014 | Research Engineer, Unilever |
Kwan Li | MS Student, 2011-2014 | |
Aarthy Adityan | MS Student, 2011-2014 | |
Will Herbert | PhD Student, 2010-2014 |