Our Research
The long-term vision of the Iyer Stem Cell & Regeneration Lab is to exploit advances in stem cell biology and emerging engineering technologies to develop personalized therapeutic strategies for neural repair. We focus on using human pluripotent stem cells to determine how regional and phenotypic specificity drives neural circuit formation, degeneration, and regeneration in the spinal cord and beyond.
November 24, 2025
Best Poster! Congrats to Nicole for winning first place at the 2025 Earle P. Charlton Poster Competition in the GSBS Junior category at Tufts School of Medicine! Nicole shared her work developing new methods to rapidly generate oligodendrocytes from hPSCs. Thanks to the many judges and who helped evaluate a very competitive event.
November 9-12, 2025
Nisha at TERMIS. Nisha is co-organizing two Neural TWIG sessions at TERMIS, "Tissue Engineering Models of the Nervous System” and “Strategies for Regeneration of the Nervous System”. Come say hi!
September 17-19, 2025
Nisha at ISRT. Nisha is giving a keynote talk at the International Spinal Research Trust Network Meeting in London, UK September 18, discussing the lab's recent progress on generating diverse spinal and peripheral nervous system cell types and applications in spinal cord injury and tissue modeling.
September 15, 2025
Milestone achieved! Congrats to Patrick for passing his Original Research Proposal exam in pursuit of his PhD! Thanks to his thesis committee members and the BME community for supporting him through this important milestone so early in the day!
We are growing! The lab welcomes new PhD student Julian Chow to the lab (after an unexpectedly delayed start)! Julian completed his BS in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering from Johns Hopkins University and has extensive experience working with microphysiological systems for cardiac dysfunction using hiPSCs. We look forward to his contributions to the lab expanding models for autonomic innervation!
September 12, 2025
Iyer Lab wins at the BME Department Retreat! We had a great day showcasing research in the Iyer lab! Patrick and Natalie came away with 3rd and 1st prizes for poster presentations respectively. Natalie and Izabela also brought their competitive spirit to networking-bingo. Many thanks to all the volunteers from our lab and others in the department who helped Nisha run the event in her first turn as chair.
September 3, 2025
Nisha named Tiampo Family Assistant Professor for the School of Engineering! Nisha and the lab are incredibly grateful for the honor and opportunities that the professorship will support in the next few years! The professorship was established in 2018 to recruit and retain outstanding junior faculty members with a generous gift from James J., E83 and A83, and Kristy F., E83, Tiampo. A named endowed professorship is the highest tribute Tufts bestows on a faculty member and ensures Tufts students have accesss to great minds, creative researchers, and engaged mentors.
September 2, 2025
We are growing! The lab welcomes new PhD students Izabela Zmirska and Madeleine Szoo to the lab!
Izabela joins us from the University of Florida, where she completed her BS in Biomedical Engineering and was engaged in biomaterials research for spinal cord injury (SCI). She was awarded the prestigious Goldwater Scholarship and NSF GRFP Fellowship! We are excited for her to work on growing collaborations developing new strategies for cell therapies for SCI.
Maddie joins us from Northeastern University, where she majored in Chemical Engineering and Biochemistry and developed a wide repertoire of research experiences spanning microphysiological systems development, biomaterials, cancer, and engineering education. The Tufts Provost Fellowship and NSF GRFP Fellowship are among Maddie's numerous awards! She will be co-mentored by our group in the Peyton lab to advance new models for cancer metastasis in the spinal cord.
August 29, 2025
Milestone achieved! Congrats to Emily for passing her Original Research Proposal exam in pursuit of her PhD! Thanks to her thesis committee members and the BME community for supporting her through this important milestone--the first in our lab!
August 1, 2025
We are celebrating! Congrats to Michael on winning a Tufts Undergraduate Research Fund Award! He will be using these funds to develop imaging tools to characterize glial morphology during stem cell differentiation with his lab mentor!
July 15, 2025
We are growing! The lab welcomes Zeke Benshirim as a postdoctoral scholar. He joins us from Harvard University, where he earned his undergraduate degree in Integrative Biology and completed his PhD in Biological and Biomedical Sciences under the mentorship of Paola Arlotta. His research focused on developing organoid methods to support long-term self-organization essential for cortical development. We’re excited for him to advance organoid-based disease and pain modeling in the lab!
July 8, 2025
We are celebrating! Congrats to Lucy and Yan on winning Tufts Undergraduate Research Funds! They will be using these funds to understand the impact of the physical and chemical microenvironment on neuron function in different contexts with their lab mentors!
July 1, 2025
Warm welcomes! High school student Emily Mbi Ojong joins the lab as part of the Tufts TUBERS program . This year Nisha, Nicole, and Emily (P) helped organize a new bootcamp for the long-running TUBERS program, which was featured in Tufts Now. Undergraduates Hannah Goldberg and Michael Mazurek (Biomedical Engineering) also join our team to contribute to ongoing research efforts by Emily and Nicole.
June 16, 2025
Warm welcomes! MD/ PhD student Somaia Saba joins us for her second research rotation.
June 4, 2025
Milestone achieved! Natalie Parker passed her PhD qualifying exam! We are excited for Natalie to transition from her masters work to further expand hybrid methods for neural differentiation. Congrats on this important milestone!
May 18, 2025
Graduation farewells! We wish the best to our graduating seniors Jed and Dylan, who were among the first students to join the lab in fall 2022 when we opened. They made a huge impact on our lab culture and we can't wait to see them succeed moving forward!
May 16, 2025
It's NOA Day! Nisha has received an NIH-NINDS R21 Exploratory Neuroscience Research Grant! This project, led by Natalie and Nicole, will use hybrid differentiation and reprogramming approaches to generate diverse neural crest and oligodendrocyte lineages!
May 7, 2025
Milestone achieved! Masters students India and Dami both passed their original research proposals in preparation for their theses. Congrats!
May 1, 2025
We are celebrating! Congratulations to Emily and Patrick on winning a Tufts Graduate Student Research Competition award! They will be using the funds to develop scalable methods to generate astrocytes and new spinal organoids respectively.
April 8, 2025
Nicole Teaney Awarded NSF GRFP Fellowship! We’re thrilled to share that Neuroscience PhD student Nicole Teaney has been selected for the prestigious NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP)! Nicole will be developing innovative in vitro models to study neurodegenerative diseases of the spinal cord. The GRFP is always highly competitive, but with this year’s significant funding cuts—resulting in fewer than 1,000 awards (less than half the typical number)—this achievement is even more remarkable. We are extra proud of Nicole and can't wait to see the impact of her research!
March 3, 2025
We are growing! We’re excited to welcome Nicole Teaney to the lab as a PhD student! Nicole joins us with a background in Neuroscience from Stonehill College and brings valuable experience from her time as a research technician at Boston Children’s Hospital, where she worked with patient-derived iPSCs to model neurological diseases. We’re thrilled to have her on board helping us develop models for neurodegenerative disease.
January 13, 2025
Warm welcomes! Neuroscience PhD student Lina Oh joins us for her third research rotation.
January 6, 2025
We are growing! We’re excited to welcome several new members to the lab! Undergraduates Rola Kazaer and Yan Kolpakov (Biomedical Engineering) and Lucy Moss (Biology) are joining us to contribute to our ongoing research efforts by Emily and Zhixin. We’re also thrilled to have Niyera Mitchell and Ishaan Tiwari join as lab technicians, supporting our gene editing and organoid projects.
December 13, 2024
We are celebrating! Congratulations to India on winning a Tufts Graduate Student Research Competition award! She will be using the funds to develop scalable methods to generate Schwann cells, the glial cells of the peripheral nervous system.
December 11, 2024
We are celebrating! Congrats to Emily for receiving a travel award from Tufts' Dean's office to attend the 2024 BMES Meeting!
November 22, 2024
We are celebrating! Congrats to Farsin and Kara on winning Tufts Undergraduate Research Funds! They will be using these funds to develop gene edited cell lines for reporter expression.
October 23-26, 2024
BMES 2024: Nisha, Zhixin, Natalie and Emily will be attending the Biomedical Engineering Society Annual Meeting 2024 in Baltimore, MD. Everyone has a packed schedule! Nisha is session chair for Cell Engineering Thursday morning. Natalie and Emily are presenting posters on Thursday and Friday respectively. Zhixin is presenting her first oral presentation on Saturday afternoon! We are so excited to see great science and friends!
September 25, 2024
Milestone achieved! And more! Masters student Natalie Parker passed her original research proposal in preparation for her thesis. Natalie also received a travel award from Tufts' Dean's office to attend the 2024 BMES Meeting in October. Congrats Natalie!
September 19-20, 2024
SfB Northeast: Nisha and Emily will be attending the Society for Biomaterials Northeast Symposium. Nisha is a co-organizer and Emily is presenting her first oral presentation as a PhD student!
September 16, 2024
Warm welcomes! Neuroscience PhD student Nicole Teaney joins us for her first research rotation.
September 13, 2024
We are growing! We’re excited to welcome Oluwadamilola (Dami) Kolawole and India Cabot as new Master's students in the lab! Dami joins us from the University of Maine, bringing valuable experience in genetic analyses for ecological applications, which will support our gene editing efforts. India, a former Jumbo, is part of the dual Master's program in Biomedical Engineering and Innovation Management, with prior clinical and bioprocessing experience.
September 6, 2024
It's NOA Day! Nisha has received a New Innovator Award (DP2) from NINDS through the NIH HEAL (Helping to End Addiction Long-term) Initiative! The DP2 mechanism supports highly creative early-career investigators proposing bold, innovative research with the potential for high impact. Our project will focus on developing novel stem cell tools for region-specific in vitro models to better understand and treat pain. We're thrilled to begin this new chapter of research!
July 22, 2024
STEEM GRC: Emily will be attending and presenting a poster at the Gordon Research Conference for Signal Transduction by Engineered Extracellular Matrices this week!
July 15, 2024
We are celebrating! Congrats to Brandon Hernandez Pacheco, who successfully defended his master's thesis today! We are so proud of this accomplishment and huge milestone for Brandon and the lab!
July 1, 2024
Warm welcomes! High school students Annika Ziegler and Alessio Polito join the lab as part of the Tufts TUBERS program .
June 21, 2024
Warm welcomes! MD/PhD student Hudson Kussie joins for his first research rotation before starting at Tufts Medical School.
June 11, 2024
Milestone achieved! PhD students Emily Pallack and Patrick Flynn passed their qualifying exams. Congrats on this important milestone!
April 30, 2024
We are celebrating! Congrats to Justin Wang for passing his senior honors thesis defense with distinction! Justin has been spearheading a collaboration between the Iyer and Timko labs to use nanomaterials to improve neuronal maturation. Justin's next stop is New York University for medical school!
March 27, 2024
We are celebrating! Undergraduate researcher Farsin Syed was accepted to the Laidlaw Undergraduate Research and Leadership Program! As a Laidlaw Scholar, Farsin will spend this summer working on independent gene editing projects in human stem cells, and next summer abroad developing her leadership skills outside the lab. Congrats Farsin!
January 24, 2024
Funding for exciting research! The Iyer Lab received a First Look Award from the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center (MLSC) Women’s Health Initiative last summer to develop new stem cell tools to model women's pelvic pain. Read about it in Tufts Now!
January 10, 2024
We are celebrating AGAIN! Congratulations to Natalie on winning a Tufts Graduate Student Research Competition award! She will be using the funds to develop hybrid differentiation strategies to efficiently generate region-specific neurons.
“Nisha Iyer named Tiampo Family Assistant Professor”
--Tufts Now (September 2025)
"Putting Science at the Forefront for the Next Generation"
--Tufts Now (July 2025)
"Iyer recognized for innovative approach to pain research"
--Tufts Now (October 2024)
"‘It’s About Increasing Access’: Universal Design for Learning at Tufts"
--Tufts Now (May 2024)
“Four Tufts faculty members receive grants for women’s health research”
--Tufts Daily (February 2024)
"Tufts research advancing women’s health"
--Tufts Now (January 2024)
"When the Syllabus Includes 'Jurassic Park' and Genetic Engineering"
--Tufts Now (August 2023)
"Re-GENE-rative Medicine's Future in Biomedical Engineering"
--STARTS Podcast (August 2023)
"Exploring the Science in Sci-fi Movies"
--Curiously Podcast (July 2023)
"How a Tufts professor is using 'Jurassic Park' to sculpt the next generation of bioengineers"
--WBUR Radio Boston (May 2023)
"Improved understanding of early spinal cord development paves the way for new treatments"
-- UW Madison News (October 2022)
"New BME Faculty" --Tufts Now (October 2022)