People

Krystyn Van Vliet

Professor, Vice President for Research & Innovation

Department of Materials Science & Engineering
Meinig School of Biomedical Engineering

[Biography, Research, Teaching & Leadership]

Email: krystyn.vv@cornell.edu
Mail: Tata Innovation Center at Cornell Tech; 11 E Loop Rd, Room 215, New York, NY 10044

Julia Dias

Laboratory Operations Manager

Julia received her B.S. in Psychology from Brigham Young University. Prior to joining the Van Vliet lab, she worked as a Clinical Research Coordinator within the emergency department at Baylor College of Medicine. During her undergraduate studies, she also worked as a Research Assistant within the Brain and Behavior lab at Brigham Young University. Julia plans to become a physician with interests in neurology and psychiatry, among others.

Email: jmd552@cornell.edu

Anna Jagielska

Senior Research Scientist

Anna 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).

Mingyu Yang

PhD Candidate, Harvard-MIT Health Sciences & Technology

Ming’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.

Brandon Krupczak

PhD Student, Harvard-MIT Health Sciences & Technology

Brandon 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.