Artzi LAB
Principal Investigator
Natalie Artzi is an Assistant 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
Postdoctoral fellows
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.
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.
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
![Alma[3].jpeg](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/db1d86_66a5e7a164564a2fab75a28393e10ed8~mv2.jpeg/v1/crop/x_115,y_0,w_656,h_656/fill/w_240,h_240,al_c,q_80,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,enc_auto/Alma%5B3%5D.jpeg)
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.
Alma L. Rodríguez Curiel
"Microneedles and drug delivery "
Alma is an undergraduate student in Biotechnology Engineering at Tecnologico de Monterrey. Along with her team, she participated in the Biomolecular Design Competition (BIOMOD) in 2018, earning a bronze medal for their project on an electrochemical biosensor for molecular diagnosis. In 2021, she did an internship at the Quality Assurance department of a P&G factory in Mexico. Currently, she is a research intern at the lab.
Cristóbal José Riojas Javelly
Cristobal is an undergrad student in biotechnology engineering with a concentration in bioprocess engineering at Tecnológico de Monterrey Campus Guadalajara. As an undergraduate, Cristobal has worked in student lab-based projects, applying bioprocesses and food chemistry principles to develop products for a social or environmental causes. Concurrently, he has had the opportunity to participate in engineering related internships in different sectors of the Mexican industry.
Mariana Alonso Riquelme
Mariana is a Biotechnology Engineering undergraduate student at the Mexican university Tecnológico de Monterrey. She has collaborated with Dr. Goldi Oza in the documentary research, on cancer devices on a chip and three-dimensional tumor cell culture methods, for the publication of a review article in 2021. Additionally, she is the co-creator of a startup since early 2021, focused on science democratization during the COVID-19 pandemic. Lab @ Home is a new entrepreneurship focused on generating laboratory materials kits, facilitating the creation of at-home laboratories, accessible for everyone. She is currently working as a research intern at the lab.
Ivana Ling Villanueva Chou
Ivana is a fourth year M.D. and Biosciences undergraduate student at Tecnológico de Monterrey. She completed two internships at her university's Bioengineering and Regenerative Medicine Department, where she worked on projects related to circadian rhythms and stem cells. She was also a summer intern in Dr. Jichao Chen's lab at MD Anderson Cancer Center. Ivana is passionate about astrocytes, pharmacology, and genetics and aspires to develop innovative therapeutic approaches with translational applications within these fields.
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.
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
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.
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.