Parinaz Fathi, PhD
Independent Research Scholar (PI), National Institutes of Health
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Research Experience
Research Experience
National Institutes of Health (NIH)
NIBIB Unit for NanoEngineering and MicroPhysiological Systems: Independent Research Scholar (July 2022-Present)
NIBIB Section on Immunoengineering: IRTA Postdoctoral Fellow (Sept. 2020- July 2022)
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Laboratory for Materials in Medicine: Graduate Research Fellow (Aug. 2016- Aug. 2020)
National Institute of Standards & Technology (NIST)
Nanobiotechnology Laboratory: NPSC/GMSE Fellow (June 2017- Aug. 2020)
Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
Division of Applied Mechanics: ORISE Research Fellow (June- Dec. 2015)
University of Maryland, College Park
Functional Macromolecular Laboratory: Gemstone Undergraduate Researcher (Aug. 2012- Dec. 2015)
Orthopaedic Mechanobiology Laboratory: Undergraduate Research Assistant (Aug.- Dec. 2013)
Current Research
Current Research
Research conducted in the Unit for NanoEngineering and MicroPhysiological Systems (UNEMPS) integrates biomedical engineering and mechanical engineering with basic mechanistic biology to understand and develop therapies for autoimmune diseases and cancer. This involves developing microfluidic models of immune-related conditions, as well as studying the role of different factors such as biological nanoparticles in inducing specific immune responses.
Postdoctoral Research
Postdoctoral Research
Immunoengineering
The focus of my postdoctoral research was evaluating biomarkers associated with trauma. We studied the levels of 59 proteins in 1000 human trauma patient samples and 50 control samples to identify biomarkers that were associated with a higher likelihood of death. We also evaluated the effects of variables such as injury mechanism, injury level, age, and biological sex on analyte profiles. Check out our pre-print here.
To develop in vitro models that can be used to study biomaterial-immune interactions, I evaluated the effects of different conditions on in vitro collagen deposition. We evaluated culture substrate, cell species and organ, presence of a fibronectin coating, macromolecular crowding, and staining conditions on visualization of collagen deposited in vitro. Read our paper here.
Cover of Tissue Engineering Part A
Volume 30, Issues 9 &10
Additionally, I used high-throughput ELISA assays to study serologic reactivity to SARS-CoV-2 antigens.
Doctoral Research
Doctoral Research
Nanomaterials
During my time as a graduate student at the University of Illinois, I worked on theranostic (therapeutic + diagnostic) materials. These include nanoparticles for drug delivery, photoacoustic imaging, fluorescence imaging, MR imaging, near-infrared II (NIR-II) imaging, and laser photothermal ablation. I was particularly interested in applying these nanoparticles to cancer treatment.
Read our ACS Nano paper on biodegradable photoacoustic and fluorescent biliverdin nanoparticles here. We have conducted further work on using these nanoparticles for multimodal imaging and therapy.
Fathi et al., ACS Nano, 2019
Read our Nanoscale paper on tuning the fluorescence of biliverdin and biliverdin nanoparticles here.
Fathi et al., Nanoscale, 2021
Inside Front Cover
Nanoscale, 07 March 2021, Issue 9
Cover Design by Ella Maru Studio
Read our Nanoscale paper on stimuli-responsive carbon dots derived from biliverdin and bilirubin here.
Fathi et al., Nanoscale, 2021
Read our Advanced Healthcare Materials paper on surface-directed assembly of antibacterial copper nanoplatelets here.
Fathi et al., Advanced Healthcare Materials, 2022
Inside Front Cover
Advanced Healthcare Materials, Oct. 2022
Read our review paper on porphyrin and tetrapyrrole-derived nanoparticles here.
Read our Carbon paper on carbon dot properties at the single-particle level here.
Fathi et al., Carbon, 2019
Read my mini-review on nanoparticles coated with extracellular vesicles here.
Fathi et al., VIEW, 2020
Inside Front Cover (VIEW 2/2021)
Microfluidics
As an National Physical Science Consortium (NPSC)/Graduate Student Measurement Science and Engineering (GMSE) fellow at the National Institute of Standards & Technology (NIST), I worked on organ on-a-chip models of lymph nodes and lymphatic vessels. We developed an entirely pumpless microfluidic system for culture of lymphatic endothelial cells under high shear.
Read our ACS Applied Bio Materials paper about the pumpless lymphatic vessel chip here.
Fathi et al., ACS Applied Bio Materials, 2020
Past Research
Past Research
Biomaterials
For my M.S. research at the University of Illinois, I worked with clinical collaborators to develop personalized gastrointestinal stents for use in treating gastrointestinal tract obstructions and perforations.
Watch a brief video from my Research Live! presentation about this technology:
Read our Biomaterials paper on 3D-printed stents here.
Fathi et al., Biomaterials, 2019
As an undergraduate in the University of Maryland Gemstone Honors Program, I worked as part of a team that developed alginate-chitosan hydrogel beads that could induce blood coagulation in less than 30 seconds. These beads have potential for use as surgical hemostats or in the the treatment of traumatic injuries.
Read our paper here
Learn more about the Gemstone program here.
Biomechanics
During my time as an ORISE fellow at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), I worked on determining the effects of bioprosthetic heart valve deformation geometry on their mechanical and hydrodynamic properties. Read our work here.
As an undergraduate at the University of Maryland, I also worked on determining the effects of radial pressure on deformation in bovine aortas. As part of this work, I categorized and quantified the different types of deformation caused by the application of radial pressure. The published work can be found here.
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