Diagnostic Devices with Microfluidics

Francesco Piraino is currently a research scientist at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (Switzerland). He uses microscale technologies to develop next-generation microfluidic diagnostics platforms. Following his graduate studies in Biomedical Engineering at Politecnico di Milano (Italy) and at Harvard-MIT Division of Health Science & Technology (USA), he joined the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard (USA) to develop devices for single-cell genomics. Dr. Piraino is a trained bioengineer who has also attended programs at the Universitat de Barcelona (Spain), the City College of the City University of New York (USA), and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (USA). His work aims to solve problems at the intersection of biomedical engineering and medicine. His research interests include in vitro diagnostics, tissue engineering, and biomaterials.

Seila Selimovic is director of the NIBIB programs in tissue chips/tissue preservation technologies and biosensors. Her other scientific interests include lab-on-a-chip platforms, paper microfluidics, and point-of-care diagnostics. In 2015, she was selected as one of the "50 Leaders of Tomorrow" from among hundreds of young biotech leaders in the Mid-Atlantic region. Prior to her current position, she was chosen by the American Association for the Advancement of Science to serve as a Science and Technology Policy Fellow at the U.S. Department of State, where she covered science diplomacy issues related to energy security, climate, and innovation. Previously, she was a postdoctoral research fellow at Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts. Dr. Selimovic's research has focused on the development of microfluidic platforms for applications in biophysics and biological engineering, and her research interests include the physics of microscale flows, protein crystallization, colloidal suspensions, and rheology and microrheology. Dr. Selimovic earned her PhD and MSc in physics from Brandeis University, with National Science Foundation support, and her BA in physics and German from Wellesley College. She is a member of Sigma Xi.