Welcome Professor Delcassian!

photo of Delcassian

photo of DelcassianThe Department of Bioengineering is excited to announce that Dr. Derfogail Delcassian will be joining our faculty as an Assistant Professor in January 2021. 

Delcassian received her Ph.D. in the Department of Materials, Faculty of Engineering, Imperial College London, where she performed research under the mentorship of Dr. Iain Dunlop and Professor Molly Stevens.

After completion of her dissertation, she was awarded a prestigious EPSRC Marie Curie Fellowship, conducted jointly in the labs of Professor Kevin Shakesheff  at the University of Nottingham and Professors Dan Andersen and Robert Langer at MIT. In her graduate research, Dr. Delcassian focused on using polymer chemistry to create organized inorganic nanoparticle protein binding arrays that were used to stimulate immune cells, providing the first evidence of nanoscale inter-ligand spacing stimulation requirements in human immune cells. At MIT she developed new lipid and polymer nanoparticles to deliver mRNA for transient protein expression, applied to cancer vaccination and therapeutic protein expression in vivo, among other cutting-edge projects.

Dr. Delcassian will bring a new research area to the Bioengineering Department– precisely designed chemical tools in combination with 3D printing and materials– to controllably deliver signals which direct immune cell behavior. Her proposed research has high translational potential for treatment of diabetes, cancer and other diseases. Her experience teaching organic & medicinal chemistry, chemical kinetics, immunology and biomaterials subjects at the undergraduate and graduate levels make her a welcome addition to the department’s instructional team.

Welcome Professor Delcassian!