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Nisha Iyer
Principle Investigator
Tiampo Family Assistant Professor of Biomedical Engineering
(she/her/hers)
Dr. Nisha Iyer is the Tiampo Family Assistant Professor of the Department of Biomedical Engineering at Tufts University. Her research interests are at the intersection of developmental biology and regenerative medicine, using stem cells to understand and advance neural repair. She received her BS from Johns Hopkins University and PhD from Washington University in St. Louis in Biomedical Engineering. As an NIH-NINDS F31 Predoctoral Fellow working with Dr. Shelly Sakiyama-Elbert, she used CRISPR gene-editing in mouse stem cells to generate spinal locomotor interneurons for in vitro modeling and transplantation. Dr. Iyer conducted her postdoctoral research with Randolph Ashton at the Wisconsin Institute for Discovery at the University of Wisconsin--Madison, where she was a Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine Center and NIH-NINDS F32 Postdoctoral Fellow. There she developed translational methods to derive regionally and phenotypically specified hindbrain and spinal cord tissues from human pluripotent stem cells. Her lab now focuses on how regional specificity impacts development, degeneration, and regeneration in the central and peripheral nervous systems and beyond, developing biomanufacturing strategies and organoid technologies to direct drug discovery and cell therapy research. She is a recipient of the NIH HEAL Initiative New Innovator Award (DP2). Dr. Iyer is also a passionate educator who seeks to lower barriers to higher education in STEM and to engage the broader community in conversations about science and society. Outside the lab, she is an avid traveler who enjoys photography, reading, and gardening.
If you are interested in joining our team, check out our open positions!
Graduate Students
Graduate Students
Emily Pallack
(she/her/hers)
3rd Year PhD Student
In the Lab: Fall 2023--Present
Tufts Dean's Fellow
NSF GRFP Fellow
PhD Biomedical Engineering,
Tufts University (----)
BS Microbiology & Cell Science,
University of Florida, (2023)
Patrick Flynn
(he/him/his)
3rd Year PhD Student
In the Lab: Fall 2023--Present
PhD Biomedical Engineering,
Tufts University (----)
BS Neuroscience,
Johns Hopkins University (2017)
Natalie Parker
(she/her/hers)
2nd Year PhD Student
In the Lab: Fall 2023--Present
PhD Biomedical Engineering,
Tufts University (----)
Bachelor of Science, Amsterdam University College, (2023)
Nicole Teaney
(she/her/hers)
2nd Year PhD Student
In the Lab: Spring 2025-Present
Tufts Provost's Leadership Fellow
NSF GRFP Fellow
PhD Neuroscience,
Tufts School of Medicine (----)
BS Neuroscience
Stonehill College (2021)
Zhixin Liao
(she/her/hers)
1st Year PhD Student
In the Lab: Summer 2023--Present
PhD Biomedical Engineering,
Tufts University (----)
BS Neuroscience,
Smith College (2023)
Maddie Szoo
(she/her/hers)
1st Year PhD Student
In the Lab: Fall 2025--Present
Tufts Provost's Leadership Fellow
NSF GRFP Fellow
PhD Biomedical Engineering,
Tufts University (----)
BS Chemical Engineering and Biochemistry,
Northeastern University (2025)
Izabela Zmirksa
(she/her/hers)
1st Year PhD Student
In the Lab: Fall 2025--Present
NSF GRFP Fellow
PhD Biomedical Engineering,
Tufts University (----)
BS Biomedical Engineering,
University of Florida (2025)
Julian Chow
(he/him/his)
1st Year PhD Student
In the Lab: Fall 2025--Present
PhD Biomedical Engineering,
Tufts University (----)
BS Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering,
Johns Hopkins University (2025)
India Cabot
(she/her/hers)
Masters Thesis Student
In the Lab: Fall 2024-Present
MS Biomedical Engineering,
MS Innovation Management
Tufts University (----)
BS Biology,
Tufts University (2022)
Oluwadamilola (Dami) Kolawole
(he/him/his)
Masters Thesis Student
In the Lab: Fall 2024-Present
MS Biomedical Engineering,
Tufts University (----)
BS Biomedical Engineering,
University of Maine (2024)
Postdoctoral Scholars & Staff
Postdoctoral Scholars & Staff
Ezekiel Benshirim
(he/him/his)
Postdoc
In the Lab: Summer 2025--Present
PhD, Biological and Biomedical Sciences
Harvard University (2025)
AB, Integrative Biology
Harvard University (2019)
Undergraduate Researchers
Undergraduate Researchers
Farsin Syed
(she/her/hers)
In the Lab: Spring 2023--Present
Laidlaw Scholar
BS Biomedical Engineering,
Tufts University (2026)
Kara Moquin
(she/her/hers)
In the Lab: Summer 2024-Present
BS Biomedical Engineering,
Tufts University (2026)
Rola Kazaer
(she/her/hers)
In the Lab: Spring 2025-Present
BS Biomedical Engineering
Tufts University (2026)
Yan Kolpakov
(he/him/his)
In the Lab: Spring 2025-Present
BS Biomedical Engineering
Tufts University (2027)
Lucy Moss
(she/her/hers)
In the Lab: Spring 2025-Present
BS Biology & Biotechnology
Tufts University (2028)
Hannah Goldberg
(she/her/hers)
In the Lab: Summer 2025-Present
BS Biomedical Engineering
Tufts University (2026)
Michael Mazurek
(he/him/his)
In the Lab: Summer 2025-Present
BS Biomedical Engineering
Tufts University (2028)
BME Senior Capstone Team 2025-2026
Farsin Syed, Kara Moquin, Rola Kazaer, Layla Schaffer
BS Biomedical Engineering,
Tufts University (2026)
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