Artzi Lab
Principal Investigator
Natalie Artzi is an Associate Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. She is a Principal Research Scientist at the Institute for Medical Engineering and Science at MIT, is an Associate Faculty of the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, and is an Associate Member of the Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT. Leveraging material science, chemistry, imaging, and biology, Dr. Artzi’s laboratory is dedicated to designing smart biomaterial platforms and medical devices to improve human health.
Trained as a chemical engineer at the Technion (Israel Institute of Technology) and MIT, Artzi pioneered basic understanding of the contextual performance of biomaterials under different environments and pathological states, and concepts learned have changed the way we view materials. Materials and devices are designed to be tissue responsive, that is, to sense and respond to specific cues in the tissue microenvironment that are altered in the face of disease. Her multidisciplinary team works on developing materials for diagnosis and therapy, including the engineering of libraries of nanoparticles for targeted gene therapy, and exploits the toolkit available for material scientists to create multifaceted medical devices.
Artzi has received many honors including the inaugural Kabiller Rising Star Award in Nanotechnology and Nanomedicine, the One Brave Idea Award, Stepping Strong Innovator Award, Mid-Career Award from the Society for Biomaterials, Controlled Release Society Young Investigator Award, Bright Futures Prize, and the Massachusetts Life Science Center for women entrepreneurs. Artzi’s passion lies in medical innovation and as a biomedical researcher, professor, and an entrepreneur she works to translate new technologies to the clinic.
The Group
Instructors
Pere Dosta Pons, PhD
"Drug delivery and nanotechnology"
Pere Dosta Pons is a postdoctoral researcher in biomaterials. He received his Ph.D. from Chemical Institute of Sarria in Bioengineering under the direction of Prof. Salvador Borros, focusing on nanoparticles synthesis for gene delivery applications. Previously, he obtained a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from University of Barcelona. Currently, Pere is developing smart nanomaterials for drug delivery and immunotherapy.
Postdoctoral fellows
Núria Puigmal Domínguez, PhD
"Immunoengineering and biomaterials"
Núria received her PhD in Bioengineering at the Institut Químic de Sarrià (IQS). She received her B.S. in Biotechnology from the University of Girona and completed her Master’s in Bioengineering at IQS. Her PhD research has been focused on development of nanoparticles for local delivery to the skin and DNA/RNA vaccines. Currently, she is working on microneedle fabrication and drug delivery.
Alexander Cryer, PhD
"Nanotechnology and drug delivery"
Alex is a postdoctoral research associate in cancer immunoengineering. He received his Bachelor of Science in Biochemistry (2014) and Masters in Biomedical Research (2015) prior to obtaining a Ph.D. from Imperial College London, U.K. (2019), focused on the development of nanoparticle drug delivery systems for cancer therapy. His current work centralizes around engineering therapeutic cancer vaccines and improving immunotherapy delivery using biomaterials and nanotechnology.
Fiona Freeman, PhD
"Regenerative Medicine and Biofabrication"
Fiona is a Marie Skłodowska Curie Research Fellow in Biomedical Engineering. She obtained a PhD from the National University of Ireland Galway in 2011, focusing on developing new strategies for bone tissue regeneration. She then moved to Trinity College Dublin, Ireland for her postdoctoral studies in the Lab of Professor Daniel Kelly where she began working on her own 2-year Government of Ireland Postdoctoral research grant using 3D bioprinting to generate cell-free composite constructs for large bone defect repair. This year she was awarded the Marie Skłodowska Curie global fellowship where she is currently developing a 3D bioprinted osteoinductive constructs that delivers chemotherapeutics within large bone defects that are surgically created when removing bone tumours. Her expertise is regenerative medicine and biofabrication.
Eliz Amar-Lewis, PhD
"Biomaterials and drug delivery"
Eliz Amar-Lewis is a postdoctoral research fellow in drug delivery, gene therapy and biomaterials. She received her B.Sc. in Chemical Engineering from Ben-Gurion University (BGU) and completed her M.Sc. and Ph.D at BGU under the supervision of Prof. Joseph Kost. In her research she studied polysaccharides for the delivery of nucleic acids (siRNA and pDNA) as a platform for cancer gene therapy and the application of therapeutic ultrasound as a means to overcome delivery barriers. In addition, studied and developed biomaterials for controlled release of drugs for several therapeutic applications. Her current focus is on the development of biomaterials-based nanoparticles for gene editing applications and cancer immunotherapy.
Maria Poley, PhD
"Nanotechnology and drug delivery"
Maria received her B.Sc. in Biochemical Engineering from the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology. In July 2022, she received her Ph.D. from the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology. Her research focus was nanotechnology distribution in the female reproductive system and brain-targeted drug delivery to treat Parkinson’s Disease.
Graduate Students
Michelle Dion
"Nanotechnology and drug delivery"
Michelle is a PhD student in the Harvard-MIT Health Sciences and Technology Medical Engineering and Medical Physics program, concentrating in Biological Engineering. Her research interests are in nanotechnology, immune engineering, and drug delivery. Prior to graduate school, she worked at Genentech developing long-acting ocular drug delivery technologies and applying antibody engineering techniques for the optimization of ocular therapeutics. She received her S.B. in Chemical-Biological Engineering from MIT. As an undergraduate, Michelle worked in Ron Weiss’s lab as a member of the iGEM team, applying synthetic biology techniques to develop self-assembling mammalian tissues.
Daniel Dahis
"Ultrasound-induced Immunotherapy Delivery "
Daniel is a graduate student at the Biomedical Engineering Department at the Technion, Israel Institute of Technology. He is implementing collaborative research between the Medical Imaging Lab At the Technion, led by Prof. Haim Azhari, and our lab. Daniel received his BSc from the Federal University of Brazil in Electrical Engineering, Cum Laude. During his Masters at the Technion, Daniel developed an alternative ultrasonic thermometry modality that can be accessible for clinicians and patients. In his Ph.D., Daniel aims to improve brain cancer therapy by combining focused ultrasound and immunotherapy.
Kalaumari Mayoral Peña
"Cancer diagnosis and nanotechnology"
Kalaumari is a PhD student in Biotechnology at Tecnologico de Monterrey. He received his B.S. in Biotechnology Engineering from Tecnologico de Monterrey and completed a master’s in Food Science and Technology at Autonomous University of Queretaro. During his master’s degree, Kalaumari developed an electrochemical biosensor for the quantification of legume’s lectins. He has been a faculty mentor in the Biomolecular Design Competition (BIOMOD) since 2016. His current work is focused in the development of microfluidic devices for the detection and analysis of cancer cells.
Undergraduates
Michaela Nicole Prado Larrea
"Nanotechnology and drug delivery "
Michaela is a senior student of B.S. Chemistry and Nanotechnology Engineering at Tecnológico de Monterrey, Mexico. Her past research experience includes working as a Mitacs Globalink Research Intern at the University of Windsor in Canada, and as an Undergraduate Research Student at the Nanostructured Materials Lab and the FEMSA Biotechnology Center at Tecnológico de Monterrey, México. She has worked on projects related to nanoparticle drug delivery for immunotherapy and chemotherapy. She is currently pursuing her undergraduate thesis at Artzi Lab focused on the development of hydrogel-mediated combinatory immunotherapy for cancer treatment.
Ana Sofia Kay Carrasco Brito
Sofia is an undergrad student of the Biomedical Engineering Honors Program at Tecnológico de Monterrey in Mexico. She had the opportunity to attend Polytechnique Montréal and be part of the emerging biomedical technologies clusters in engineering program where she was enrolled in laboratories such as 3D reconstruction of medical images and biomedical nanotechnologies. Sofia is interested in immunotherapy, brain diseases, cancer treatment and Point-of-care technology (POCT).
Alejandro A. Espinosa Perez
Alejandro is a senior student in the Biomedical Engineering program at Tecnológico de Monterrey. He completed the Emerging Biomedical Technology cluster at Polytechnique Montréal, while he collaborated at CHU Sainte-Justine hospital doing a research internship in pediatric rehabilitations with haptic devices. Currently, he is pursuing research on drug delivery and immunotherapy for cancer at Artzi Lab.
Diana Michelle Ocampo Alvarado
Diana is an undergraduate student in Biotechnology engineering at Tecnológico de Monterrey, campus Guadalajara. Diana is always looking to contribute to meaningful research projects while developing personally and professionally. She has a concentration in molecular biology and has participated in several lab-based projects within her classes. She has also developed solid experience regarding industrial biotechnology and pharmaceuticals while being an intern at research centers and large-scale production companies, both in Mexico.
Natalia Ramírez
Natalia is an undergraduate student of B.Sc. Nanotechnology and Chemical Sciences Engineering at Tecnológico de Monterrey, in Mexico. Her past research experience includes being an Undergraduate Research Student at Tecnológico de Monterrey, México, where she has researched cognitive engagement with EEG signal processing. In 2021, Natalia organized the first international symposium about nanotechnology in the industry, 'NANO' in 2021. Natalia has also been an intern in the Materials industry in Mexico.
Diane Cruz Manjarrez
Diane is an undergraduate student in Biotechnology Engineering at Tecnológico de Monterrey. She has worked on research projects within her institution focusing on antibiotic resistance in diarrheagenic and uropathogenic pathotypes of Escherichia coli isolated from hospitalized child patients; winning a national award at an academic event for her research. Furthermore, she has collaborated on environmental engineering projects in the industry while working on a project to characterize TAU protein related to Alzheimer’s disease using bioinformatics.
Gabriela Garcia De Leon Carmona
Gabriela is an undergraduate student of Biotechnology Engineering at Tecnológico de Monterrey, Mexico. Her past research experience includes an internship in the Molecular Biology department at Universidad Autónoma de Querétaro, where she worked in the biosynthesis of silver nanoparticles for recombinant protein delivery to treat colon cancer. There she found her passion in contributing positively to the well-being of society through science, so she also collaborated with a senior students group in documentary research focused on the therapeutic potential of microRNAs in bone diseases. She is currently working as a research trainee at the lab aiming to keep learning and developing professionally within the field of nanomaterials applied to immunotherapy.
Nelly Andrews Interiano
Nelly is an undergraduate senior student of B.S. Nanotechnology Engineering at Tecnológico de Monterrey, Mexico. Her past experience includes working on projects related to novel nanosystems of drug delivery for the treatment of Parkinson's and Alzheimer's, and the characterization of ibuprophen-naproxen cocrystals as anti-inflammatories for the SARS-CoV-2 virus. She has also been involved in the design of SPR based sensors for cardiac biomarker detection, and the synthesis of metal nanoparticles to improve the sensibility of electrochemical glucose sensors. Nelly is passionate about the development of novel nanotherapeutics for the treatment of genetic diseases and cancer. She is currently working as a research trainee in the Artzi Lab
Claudia Andrea Morales Garay
Claudia is an undergraduate student in Biotechnology Engineering with a concentration in Biocatalysis and Molecular Biology at Tecnológico de Monterrey. As an undergrad, Claudia has collaborated with different research projects that apply immunology to cancer theranostics. Her experience includes research internships in the Immunology department at the Biomedical Institute UNAM, and Instituto Nacional de Rehabilitación Mexico (INR). She is the author of a book chapter “Asthma beyond Adaptive Immunity” and is in the process of publishing a review article in cancer nanotheranostics with Dr. Goldie Oza. Additionally, she completed an internship in Patient Safety at Novartis Mexico.
María Alejandra Hernández Mustieles
María is a senior undergraduate student in the Biomedical Engineering program at Tecnológico de Monterrey. As a research enthusiast, she is always looking for opportunities to participate in projects that contribute to people’s health. Currently, she is a member of Tec BASE National Sequence Laboratory and the NSF IUCRC BRAIN Center at Tec. At Tec BASE she has worked with metagenomics and bioinformatics to determine the anticancer properties of a medicinal Mexican plant, whereas at BRAIN she has worked with EEG signal processing, machine learning and data science to assist in personalized academic learning. She is also participating in the writing of two scientific reviews about BMIoT and Biometry in education. Her interests include immunotherapy, nanomedicine, drug delivery, neuroscience and programming.
Alumni
Kristen Alexandra Rodrigues
Yi Zhang, PhD
Kui Wang, PhD
Sara Strecker, PhD
Shimon Unterman, PhD
Shani Elgin, Bs
Lyndon Charles, PhD
Christina Arnold, PhD
Hyun Seok Song, PhD
Nuria Oliva, PhD
João Conde, PhD
Nir Margalit
Mariana Atilano
Ana Paula Cosme Lozano
Cynthia Ramírez Rodríguez
Orlando González Ortiz
Pau Hurtado Niubò
© 2021 by Artzi Research Group