School of Engineering
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Anja Redecker, MD
Postdoctoral Scholar, Chemical Engineering
BioAnja Redecker attended medical school in Germany (RWTH Aachen). For her doctoral thesis - under the guidance of Univ.-Prof. Dr. rer. nat. Lüscher – she studied the functions of a protein called ASH2L, which plays a role in tumorigenesis. She analyzed the effects of ASH2L domain deletion mutants on cell growth and histone trimethylation as well as targeted ASH2L fused to dCas9 to specific promoters and examined its effects on transcription activation.
Her current research in the Swartz Lab at Stanford University focusses on engineering Hepatitis B core virus-like particles (HBc VLP) for targeted delivery of chemotherapeutics and for vaccines. The envisioned targeting delivery system allows loading the HBc VLPs with chemotherapeutics and attaching targeting ligands like single chain antibody fragments to the HBc VLP surface. This would increase targeted accumulation of the chemotherapeutic at the tumor site and decrease therapy-limiting side effects by minimizing off-target effects. To combat any new pandemic efficiently, vaccines need to be engineered and produced quickly. This fast response can be made possible by using pre-produced HBc VLPs to which the antigen of the new circulating pathogen can be attached. This technology has the potential to curb the outbreak of a new pandemic. -
Laura Rijns
Postdoctoral Scholar, Chemical Engineering
BioLaura Rijns was born in the Netherlands (Nov 10, 1996) and is currently a postdoc at Stanford University with prof. Zhenan Bao in close collaboration with prof. Karl Deisseroth, developing new (opto)genetic, electrical and chemical tools to improve the modulation of neurons both in-vitro and in-vivo.
Laura obtained her PhD (2023) in Biomedical Engineering “cum laude” from Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e) with prof. Patricia Dankers and prof. E.W. (Bert) Meijer. Supramolecular hydrogels as mimics of the extracellular matrix were developed for cell and organoid culture.
Prior to graduate school, Laura received her BSc (2017) and MSc (2019) in Biomedical Engineering at TU/e in the lab of prof. E.W. (Bert) Meijer, focused on supramolecular assemblies. During her undergraduate studies, she was the Lab Captain of the iGEM TU/e 2016 team, studying regulatable scaffold proteins. In 2017, she worked at UC Santa Barbara in the group of prof. Songi Han, studying liquid-liquid phase separated coacervate polymers. In 2019 and 2023, she worked at EPFL (Switzerland) with prof. Maartje Bastings, studying multivalent interactions using DNA origami. -
Luca Rosalia
Postdoctoral Scholar, Bioengineering
BioLuca Rosalia received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Glasgow (UK). During his studies, he visited the National University of Singapore and the University of Cambridge, where he gained his first exposure to the fields of soft robotics and tissue biomechanics. He pursued doctoral studies in the Health Sciences and Technology (HST) Ph.D. program of Harvard University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the lab of Ellen Roche and he's currently at Stanford University as a Postdoctoral Scholar in Bioengineering in the Skylar-Scott lab.
His doctoral work primarily focused on high-fidelity and patient-specific soft robotic preclinical models of valvular heart disease, congenital defects, and heart failure with preserved ejection fraction. Luca leveraged these platforms for the testing and development of medical devices through several partnerships with industry. During his studies, he also worked as an R&D engineer in the Structural Heart division of Abbott Laboratories on the development of transcatheter aortic valve replacements (TAVR). He also gained clinical experience at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Boston and at Boston Children's Hospital. In the Skylar-Scott lab, Luca will be working on whole-heart bioprinting.
