Team

Principal Investigator

Qin (Maggie) Qi @maggieqigroup

Ph.D., Stanford University, 2018
M.S., Stanford University, 2017
B.S., Cornell University, 2013

Dr. Qin (Maggie) Qi joined MIT’s department of chemical engineering as the James R. Mares ’24 Career Development Chair Assistant Professor in Chemical Engineering in January 2022. Her research applies fundamental principles of complex fluids and soft matter to develop precision medicine for human health. She obtained her bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering and operations research at Cornell University in 2013. She received her Ph.D. in chemical engineering with Prof. Eric Shaqfeh at Stanford University in 2018, where she developed a diagnostic model of platelet adhesion and bleeding based on a microhydrodynamic theory of cellular suspensions. She conducted postdoctoral research with Prof. Samir Mitragotri in the Wyss Institute of Biologically Inspired Engineering and the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences at Harvard University. There she explored the use of macromolecular transport mechanisms for drug delivery and tool development, including transdermal delivery enhanced by ionic liquids and subcutaneous injection tested by an organ-on-a-chip approach. She was a member of the inaugural class of MIT Rising Stars in Chemical Engineering.

Curriculum Vitae | Chemical Engineering Faculty Profile 

Other affiliations:
Multi-cellular engineered living systems (M-CELS) at MIT

Postdocs

Isaac Pincus –

BE, BSc, University of Queensland, 2017

PhD, Monash University, 2022

Isaac Pincus studies the application of theory and computer simulations to problems in rheology, soft matter and complex fluids, with a particular focus on polymer solutions. He has recently submitted for examination a PhD thesis at the Monash University Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, and previously completed a dual Bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering and Physics at the University of Queensland in 2017. For this PhD thesis, he was supervised by J. Ravi Prakash and Alison Rodger, studying the use of Brownian dynamics simulations to predict Linear Dichroism and rheology of polymer solutions in flow. During his time at Monash, he was vice president of the Chemical Engineering Student Association (CEPA), and helped to organise two postgraduate student conferences. He has also worked on undergraduate experimental rheology and soft matter research projects at UQ. Isaac’s current research focuses on cellular biomechanics and engineering. Outside of research, Isaac enjoys hiking, rock climbing, and reading, amongst other hobbies.

    Etienne Boulais –

BE, PhD, Polytechnique Montreal

Etienne Boulais studies transport phenomena with an emphasis on diffusion processes, disordered media, and the transition from the microscopic to the macroscopic world. He finished his PhD on the theoretical analysis of microfluidic systems at MuFO lab with prof. Thomas Gervais. His PhD work focused on the application of classical results of complex analysis to problems in health sciences. His current research is on the development of analytical models for biocompatible ionic liquids. Beyond his technical work, Etienne likes ink drawing, reading philosophy, and the intersection of science with other fields of knowledge.

 

 

 

 

Graduate Students


Nicholas King

Nicholas King

Graduate Student

B.Eng (Chemical Engineering), National University of Singapore, 2022. Nicholas King is interested to study the application of soft matter and transport phenomena principles to biological systems, with potential applications in pharmaceuticals and therapeutics. He obtained his Bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering from the National University of Singapore in 2022, with a minor in Japanese language studies. During his undergraduate studies, Nicholas has worked on projects regarding nanocluster encapsulation with Prof Xie Jianping, and photocatalytic reactor design and prototyping with Prof Saif A Khan. In his free time, he likes to read, go for a run, watch anime or enjoy some Mando-pop. He officially joined Maggie Qi’s research group in January 2023, and his current focus is on how nanoparticles influence cellular biomechanics and flow properties. gxking@mit.edu

Andrea Goertzen

Andrea Goertzen

Graduate Student

B.Eng (Chemical Engineering), University of Nebraska, 2023. Andrea Goertzen joined the Qi Lab in January 2024 where she focuses on developing retina-on-a-chip models to better understand disease and potential therapeutic strategies. Prior to MIT, she earned her bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Nebraska in 2023. During her undergraduate career, she worked with Professor Rajib Saha to build computational metabolic models of healthy and diseased cells to identify targets for treatment. She enjoys spending time in the outdoors and is passionate about engineering outreach. agoertz@mit.edu

Efstathios Iliakis

Efstathios Iliakis

Graduate Student

Integrated M.Eng (Chemical Engineering), National Technical University of Athens, 2023. Stathis Iliakis is interested in understanding non-Newtonian properties of biocompatible ionic liquids and their aqueous mixtures, employing principles of rheology and transport phenomena. He earned his Integrated Master’s degree in Chemical Engineering from the National Technical University of Athens in 2023. During his undergraduate studies, his research focused on studying nonlinear phenomena in differential equations, utilizing machine learning techniques with Prof Mihalis Kavousanakis. In his free time, Stathis enjoys immersing himself in literature and cinema, as well as taking leisurely strolls around Boston. He officially joined Maggie Qi’s research group in January 2024. His current focus is on modelling ionic liquids as biomaterials for pharmaceutical applications. iliakis@mit.edu

Technical Associates

B.S (Bioengineering), Caltech, 2023 Eunice Park is working on translating mammalian cell cultures and relevant characterization methods into microfluidic co-culture systems to create accurate and reproducible organ-on-a-chip models, which can be cost-effective, highly reproducible, and very insightful live models for studying disease mechanisms as well as testing drugs. She graduated from the Bioengineering program at Caltech and worked in Professor Alexei Aravin’s lab to study piRNA pathways in D. melanogaster. She joined the Qi group in October 2023 to transition her research into medical applications. In her free time, Eunice likes doodling, playing the flute, singing, and attempting to rearrange popular songs into odd arrangements. And when she actually has time, she likes to play video games. ehypark@mit.edu

Undergraduate Students


Fiona Duong

Fiona Duong

Undergraduate Student

fduong@mit.edu

Kevin Liu

Kevin Liu

Undergraduate Student

kliu963@mit.edu

Former Members


Duha Syar

Duha Syar

Undergraduate Student

Now PhD at UC Berkeley.

Krishnapriya Rajaram

Krishnapriya Rajaram

Undergraduate Student

prajaram@mit.edu

Ananth P. Shyamal

Ananth P. Shyamal

Undergraduate Student


Hong Nguyen

Hong Nguyen

Undergraduate Student

hongn@mit.edu