Yadir

Yadir Guerrero is a third-year doctoral candidate specializing in viral nanoparticle technologies in the Department of Bioengineering at the University of California Riverside (UCR). His work focuses on the nanoencapsulation of Indocyanine Green (ICG) using plant-infecting Brome Mosaic Virus (BMV). Currently he is working on the imaging and phototherapy of ovarian cancer.

Prior to coming to UCR he obtained a Bachelor of Science in Biological Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology where he worked under the guidance of Dr. Linda Griffith and visiting scientist Dr. Luis Alvarez. While at MIT, under the Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program, his research focused on designing and producing recombinant growth factors for bone tissue engineering applications. His work contributed to the publication of “Engineered Bivalent EGF Family Ligands as a New Tool to Regulate Cell Signaling and Phenotype” and several conference presentations.

He restored the Mexican-American Engineers and Scientists (MAES) chapter at MIT, leading the group as president for 2 years while being an active member of The Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers (SHPE). He was an instructor for MIT’s Science Technology Engineering and Math (STEM) program aimed at disadvantaged minority students to help foster their interest in higher education. At UCR he is an active member of The Society for the Advancement of Chicanos and Native Americans in Science (SACNAS) aiming at encouraging young Inland Empire students to pursue higher education. He has been in the past a Latino Health Scholar’s Recipient and has recently been recognized as an American Association of Hispanics in Higher Education (AAHHE) fellow.