Principal Investigator
Hadi T. Nia, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, Department of Biomedical Engineering
Email: htnia@bu.edu
Education and Training
Postdoctoral training: NIH NCI Ruth L. Kirschstein Postdoctoral Fellow, Harvard Medical School/Massachusetts General Hospital, Department of Radiation Oncology, Advisor: Rakesh K. Jain, Ph.D.
Doctoral training: Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Center for Biomedical Engineering and Department of Mechanical Engineering, Advisors: Alan Grodzinsky, Ph.D. and Christine Ortiz, Ph.D.
Honors and Awards
2024-2027
DoD Idea Award
2024-2026
Sloan Research Fellowship
2023-2026
Kilachand Fund Award for Integrated Life Sciences and Engineering
2023
Career Excellence Award, College of Engineering, Boston University
2023
American Thoracic Society Science and Innovation Center Abstract Award
2023-2028
NSF CAREER
2022-2027
NIH Director’s New Innovator Award (DP2)
2022-2026
Beckman Young Investigator Award
2022-2024
NIBIB Trailblazer Award
2020-2021
Center for Translational Multiscale Biomechanics Award
2020-2022
Dean’s Catalyst Award
2020-2021
ACS-BU pilot Award
2017-2019
National Cancer Institute, Ruth L. Kirschstein (NRSA) Postdoctoral Fellowship (F32)
2017
Best poster award (3rd place), Gordon Research Conference on Physical Sciences of Cancer
2016-2017
Tosteson Postdoctoral Fellowship Award
2016
MGPA Travel Award
2011-2013
Whitaker Health Sciences Fellowship Award
2011
YC FUNG Student Paper Competition in Bio-mechanics and Bio-physics, Finalist
2008-2011
Office of Naval Research (ONR) Research Fellowship Awards
2004-2005
Japan Student Service Organization Fellowship Award
2003
8th Iranian National Mechanical Engineering Olympiad, Finalist
1998
Silver Medal, Iranian National Computer Olympiad
Graduate Students
Sue Zhang
Biomedical Engineering PhD Student (2018-present)
Email: suezhang@bu.edu
Sue graduated from the University of Rochester with a B.S. in Biomedical Engineering in 2018 and is currently pursuing her PhD in Biomedical Engineering. At the University of Rochester, she was a member of Prof. Danielle Benoit’s lab and performed research on degradable hydrogels for nanoparticle-mediated siRNA delivery. In the Nia lab, Sue is interested in studying the tumor microenvironment at the interface of polymer science and mechanobiology. In her free time, she enjoys painting, hiking and cooking and eating yummy food.
Rohin Banerji
Biomedical Engineering PhD Student (2019-present)
Email: rohinb96@bu.edu
Rohin graduated from Boston University in May 2019 with a major in Biomedical Engineering and a minor in Material Science & Engineering. His area of focus for his PhD is biomechanics and data sciences within biomedical engineering. While an undergraduate at BU, Rohin did research with Dr Doug Densmore at the CIDAR Lab and Dr Elise Morgan in the Orthopaedic and Developmental Biomechanics Laboratory. If caught outside lab Rohin can be found cooking up something sumptuous yet simple, behind the lens of a camera or listening to birds sing their songs.
Kathryn Regan
Biomedical Engineering PhD Student (2019-present)
Email: kregan@bu.edu
A 2018 graduate from the University of San Diego with a degree in Biophysics, Kathryn spent her undergraduate and post-baccalaureate years in a soft matter lab studying conformational and diffusive dynamics of single DNA constructs in cytoskeletal networks under Dr. Rae Robertson-Anderson. She joins the Nia Lab excited to shift her work to the engineering realm, focusing on studying the solid stresses within the tumor microenvironment. An avid baker, Kathryn also enjoys running and hiking when not in lab.
Gabrielle Grifno
Biomedical Engineering PhD Student (2020-present)
Email: ggrifno@bu.edu
Gabrielle graduated from Johns Hopkins University with a B.S. in Biomedical Engineering and a minor in Philosophy in 2020, and is now pursuing a PhD in Biomedical Engineering. At Johns Hopkins she worked to optimize stem cells sources for generating 3D in vitro models of blood-brain barrier in Prof. Peter Searson’s lab. In the Nia lab, Gabrielle studies mouse models of normal and disease lung physiology using the crystal ribcage platform. Her work focuses on respiratory, vascular and lymphatic dynamics in health and during lung cancer cancer, at multiple spatial scales in the whole, functional mouse lung. Additionally, she is studying real-time immune dynamics in response to acute infection and in the tumor microenvironment.
Honors and Awards
- National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Program (NSF GRFP) – Fellow (March 2021-present)
- Gordon Research Conference Carl Strom Underrepresented Minority Fellowship (2023), Gordon Physical Science of Cancer Research Conference, Galveston TX
- Clare Booth Luce Graduate Fellowship, Boston University (2021-2023)
- NIH Translational Research in Biomaterials Training Grant, Boston University (2020-2021)
Ling Shi
Biomedical Engineering MD/PhD Student (2021-present)
Email: lingshi@bu.edu
Linzheng (Ling) Shi is a graduate of Vanderbilt University and a current MD/PhD candidate at Boston University. At Vanderbilt, he majored in biomedical engineering while researching cardiovascular and stem cell biology. Coming to the Nia lab, Ling is interested in studying mechanobiology and computational biology. In the future, he aspires to integrate his academic and clinical work together as a physician-scientist. On the side, one can often find Ling cycling outside of the city, playing the fiddle, and relaxing in nature.
Rob LeBourdais
Biomedical Engineering PhD Student (2021-present)
Email: rlebourd@bu.edu
Rob graduated from Boston University majoring in Biomedical Engineering with a chemistry minor in 2014. He focused on research in theoretical fluid mechanics. Post-undergraduate he worked at Beta Bionics as a software engineer developing the iLet for the past 6 years, developing components from UI, low-level hardware comms, BLE, iOS companion apps, and cybersecurity. His lab interests include biomechanics, CS, and AI. Outside lab his interests are reading (math, physics, software) and skiing.
Wenwen Li
Electrical Engineering PhD Student (2022-present)
Email: wenwenli@bu.edu
Wenwen Li received her Bachelor of Science (B.S.) degree in Biomedical Engineering from Zhejiang University. Her previous research includes photoacoustic neural modulation and MRI-based studies of mental disorders, showcasing her expertise in computational and experimental methodologies. Wenwen is now aiming to work in lung development research.
Lauren Castle
Biomedical Engineering PhD Student (2023-present)
Email: castlelm@bu.edu
Lauren is a PhD student who graduated from MIT in May 2023 where she majored in biological engineering. At MIT, Lauren did research in the Furst lab on the development of electrochemical sensors for detecting foodborne pathogens and Covid-19. In the Nia lab, she is interested in studying the dynamic immune landscape of the lung in health, aging and disease. In her free time, Lauren enjoys playing soccer, skiing and spending time outside.
Azeo Torre
Biomedical Engineering M.S. Student (2022-present)
Email: atorre@bu.edu
Azeo is a M.S. student in Biomedical Engineering, whose research with the Nia Lab is focused on image registration of the NLST dataset, and involves longitudinal deformation mapping for the purpose of extracting mechanistic features from CT-scans of lung cancer. Azeo has a B.A. from the University of New Orleans, where he studied classical piano as a performance and composition major. Azeo enjoys skiing, rock climbing, and sailing.
Dylan Smolen
Undergraduate Students
Johnathan Muhvich
B.S. Biomedical Engineering (2023)
Email: jmuhvich@bu.edu
Johnathan Muhvich is a senior in Biomedical Engineering. He is currently focused on lung mechanics including the biomechanics of lung ventilation. Outside of lab work he enjoys woodworking, reading, and riding his motorcycle.
Honors and Awards
- Distinguished Summer Research Fellowship (DSRF), Boston University, Summer 2022
Alumni
Jason Inirio
B.S. Computer Engineering (2022)
Elizabeth Hanchar
B.S. Biomedical Engineering (2022)
Joey Huang
B.S. Biomedical Engineering (2021)
Rachel Passaro
M.S. Biomedical Engineering (2021)
Cate Eberman
M.S. Biomedical Engineering (2021)
Kevin Peters
M.S. Biomedical Engineering (2021)
Aditya Jain
B.S. Biomedical Engineering (2021)
Logan O’Connor
B.S. Biomedical Engineering (2021)
Vinson Chu
M.S. Biomedical Engineering (2020)
Scott Gaines Jr.
B.S. Biomedical Engineering (2020)
Robby Boparai
M.S. Biomedical Engineering (2020)
Tasneem Jivanjee
B.S. Biomedical Engineering (2020)
Sung Yeon Kim
B.S. Biomedical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering (2020)
Sunny Kapadia
M.S. Biomedical Engineering (2019)
Xin Li
M.S. Electrical and Computer Engineering (2019)
