
Serpooshan
for tissue manufacturing & analysis
Lab

video courtesy of Advanced Solutions
About Us
The Serpooshan Team uses a multidisciplinary approach to design and develop micro/nano-scale tissue engineering technologies with the ultimate goal of generating functional tissues and organs. Current projects in my lab include:
1) Bioengineering iPSC-based, functional cardiovascular tissue models, via 3D bioprinting technologies, as in vitro platforms to study human heart development and diseases;
2) Design and manufacturing novel patient-specific cardiac patch systems to regenerate damaged myocardium following ischemic heart injury;
3) 3D bioprinting of functional in vitro models of cortical organoids to study human brain development; and
4) Engineering highly tunable bioprinted models to study pediatric tumor growth, aggression, and response to therapies.
Serpooshan Lab NEWS

OUR LINES OF RESEARCH
Using state-of-the-art 3D bioprinting, perfusion bioreactor, and induced pluripotent stem cell technologies to engineer in vitro models of human heart development and diseases. Studying various cellular and environmental factors underlying congenital heart defects and their therapies.
Synthesis, characterization, and application of various nano/micro-scale biomaterials for diverse biomedical applications in vitro and in vivo. Examples include: magnetic nanoparticles for antibacterial and imaging applications, conductive nanorods to enhance cardiac tissue function, and nanostructured scaffolds.

Meet The Team

Zinah Ghazi, BS
Lab Research Specialist
Departments of Biomedical Engineering and Pediatrics
Emory University School of Medicine
Georgia Institute of Technology
Zinah Ghazi received her Bachelor of Science in Biotechnology and her Master of Science in Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology from Baghdad University in Iraq. After moving to the US, Zinah also received an Associate of Science degree from Georgia Piedmont Technical College, in the area of Computer Information System, and graduated with honors. Zinah has extensive international research and job experiences. In the US, she worked as Research Specialist at Emory University School of Medicine, Department of Physiology, and as Database Manager at Amplio Recruiting. Zinah joined the Serpooshan-Bauser-Heaton labs in August 2021 as a Research Specialist, and has been leading the labs managerial works ever since. She has been also leading the lab research efforts in the synthesis and characterization of gelatin methacrylate (gelMA) hydrogel products and their use, as bioink, for 3D bioprinting applications.

Katherine Pham Do, MS
Lab Research Specialist
Departments of Biomedical Engineering and Pediatrics
Emory University School of Medicine
Georgia Institute of Technology
Katherine Do received her B.S. degree (2017) in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at Hardin-Simmons University in Abilene, Texas where her undergraduate research focused on the identification of a genus of bacteria with the capabilities to degrade crude oil. After completing her Bachelor’s, she obtained her M.S. degree (2019) in Biomedical Sciences from The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center UTHealth Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences in the lab of Dr. Rodrigo Morales working on projects concerning neurodegenerative diseases. Her M.S. thesis topic was the optimization of the protein misfolding cyclic amplification (PMCA) technique for high-throughput format and utilizing this technique to screen a selection of small molecules for the ability to inhibit the in vitro prion misfolding process. Katherine joined the Serpooshan lab in June 2019 as a Research Lab Specialist, and her research involves working with Dr. Bauser-Heaton to create 3D bioprinted models for congenital heart diseases to study the fluid dynamics and cellular growth of these models
Students

Carmen J. Gil
PhD Student
Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering
Emory University and
Georgia Institute of Technology

Melissa Cadena
PhD Student

Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering
Emory University and
Georgia Institute of Technology
Boeun Hwang

PhD Student
Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering
Emory University and
Georgia Institute of Technology
Linqi Jin
PhD Student
Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering
Emory University and
Georgia Institute of Technology


Maher Saadeh
PhD Student
Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering
Emory University and
Georgia Institute of Technology
Stefano Zanella
MS Student
Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering
Emory University and
Georgia Institute of Technology
Lab Alumni

Liqun Ning, PhD
Now: Assistant Professor @ Ohio State U.




Federico Prokopczuk
Hannah Komanapalli
Huyun Chen
Rithvik Sarasani
SURE Program 2018
SURE Program 2018
Undergraduate Researcher
Georgia Institute of Technology
California State University, Northridge
Purdue University
Undergraduate Researcher
Georgia Institute of Technology


Rommi Kashlan
Rebecca R. Xu
High School Intern
Now @: BME Undergrad at Georgia Tech
Undergraduate Researcher
Georgia Institute of Technology

Bryanna J. Lima
Undergraduate Researcher
Georgia Institute of Technology

Alpravinta Alagesan
Undergraduate Researcher
Georgia Institute of Technology


Agastya Vaidya
Allison Wombwell
Undergraduate Researcher
Emory University
Undergraduate Researcher
Georgia Institute of Technology

Vahid Serpooshan, PhD
Principlal Investigator
Vahid Serpooshan did his BSc and MSc in Materials Science and Engineering at Sharif University (Tehran, Iran, 1998-2003) and his PhD in biomaterials and tissue engineering at McGill University (Montreal, Canada, 2007-2011). His PhD thesis research focused on the design and optimization of scaffolding biomaterials for bone tissue engineering applications. Following his PhD, Dr. Serpooshan worked for 7 years at Stanford University School of Medicine as Postdoctoral Fellow (Pediatric Cardiology) and Instructor (Stanford Cardiovascular Institute). At Stanford, Dr. Serpooshan's training and research were mainly centered on developing a new generation of engineered cardiac patch device to repair damaged heart tissue following myocardial infarction (heart attack). The engineered patch was successfully tested in mouse and pig models and is now in preparation for clinical trials. He also worked on enabling technologies for human-machine hybrid cardiac tissue, using 3D bioprinting to assemble complex arrays of interfaces between synthetic and biological materials. In 2018, Dr. Vahid Serpooshan joined Emory University and Georgia Institute of Tech as Assistant Professor of Biomedical Engineering and Pediatrics, where his multidisciplinary team is now working on a variety of 3D bioprinting-based tissue engineering and disease modeling projects.
Assistant Professor of Biomedical Engineering
and Pediatrics
Georgia Institute of Technology
Emory University School of Medicine
404.712.9717
Holly Bauser-Heaton is an interventional pediatric cardiologist and physician scientist at Sibley Heart Center at Children’s Healthcare of Altanta. She completed her MD, PhD in 2009 at Indiana University. Dr. Bauser-Heaton focused on signaling mechanisms of nitric oxide in hypoxic conditions and continues to investigate the role of NO in endothelial function. As a clinician, she completed her training at Stanford University and joined faculty of Sibley Heart Center in 2016. Pulmonary artery disease and its management is the focus for Dr. Heaton both in the clinical arena and the lab. She is interested in developing new procedures via transcatheter (in the cardiac catheterization laboratory) technique for individuals with pulmonary artery disease. Additionally, she has interest in utilizing 3D bioprinting to create pulmonary artery constructs that have the ability to keep up with a patient’s somatic growth. She is very excited to join forces with the Serpooshan lab.

Holly Bauser-Heaton, MD PhD
Assistant Professor
Pediatric Cardiologist
Sibley Heart Center, Pediatric Cardiology
Emory University School of Medicine

Martin L. Tomov, PhD
Martin Tomov received his BSc in Biochemistry in Ithaca College in New York (2007) and his PhD in Nanoscale and Materials Bio-Engineering from the Colleges of Nanoscale Science and Engineering in SUNY Polytechnic Institute (2016). His PhD thesis focused on Nanotechnology and Human Stem Cells: Applications in Cardiogenesis and Neurogenesis. He next moved to Boston in 2016, joining the laboratories of Dr. Lee Rubin (Broad/Harvard) and Dr. Mark Bathe (Broad/MIT) at Harvard-MIT, as Postdoctoral Fellow. Dr. Tomov’s postdoctoral research was centered on developing and applying the next generation imaging methods towards drug discovery, analysis of complex cultures, and 3D tissue analogs in low and high throughput settings. Martin is joining the Serpooshan Lab in July 2018, where his research is mainly focusing on using human iPSC technology, 3D bioprinting, and perfusion bioreactor technologies to study congenital heart disease.
Postdoctoral Research Fellow
Departments of Biomedical Engineering and Pediatrics
Emory University School of Medicine
Georgia Institute of Technology




Riya Mehta
Davis White
Corinna Shimalla
Kevin M. McCoy
Undergraduate Researcher
Emory University
Undergraduate Researcher
Georgia Institute of Technology
Undergraduate Researcher
Georgia Institute of Technology
Undergraduate Researcher
Georgia Institute of Technology




Alex Cetnar
Linqi Jin
Gabriella Kabboul
Joy E. Nish
BME MS Student
BME MS Program
Undergraduate Researcher
Now: PhD Student @ Levit Lab
Now: R&D Eng II @ Medtronic
Now: BME PhD Student @ Serpooshan Lab
Undergraduate Researcher
Georgia Institute of Technology

RECENT PUBLICATIONS
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J.B. Hu, M.L. Tomov, J.W. Buikema, C. Chen, M. Mahmoudi, S.M. Wu, and. . Applied Physics Reviews , 2018 ( APR Featured Article).
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N.F. Huang,, V.B. Morris, N. Sayed, G. Pardon, O.J. Abilez, K.H. Nakayama, B.L. Pruitt, S.M. Wu, Y. Yoon, J. Zhang, and J.C. Wu. Nature Communications Biology , 2018.
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E. Dzilic, O. Chirikian, A. Shieh, A. Ribeiro, R.G. Goodyer,, G. Li, A. Kumar, M. Dressen, H. Lahm, S. Doppler, R. Lange, M. Krane, and S.M. Wu. European Heart Journal 39, 6220, 2018.
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V. Serpooshan, S. Sheibani, P. Pushparaj, M. Wojcik, A.Y. Jang, M.R. Santoso, J.H. Jang, H. Huang, R. Safavi-Sohi, N. Haghjoo, H. Nejadnik, H. Aghaverdi, H. Vali, J.M. Kinsella, J. Presley, K. Xu, P.C. Yang, and M. Mahmoudi. Effect of cell sex on uptake of nanoparticles: The overlooked factor at the nanobio interface. ACS Nano 12, 2253-66, 2018.
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A. Sharma, Y. Zhang, J.W. Buikema, V. Serpooshan, O. Chirikian, N Kosaric, J.M. Churko, E. Dzilic, A. Shieh, P.W. Burridge, J.C. Wu, S.M. Wu. Stage-specific Effects of Bioactive Lipids on Human iPSC Cardiac Differentiation and Cardiomyocyte Proliferation. Scientific reports 8, 6618, 2018.
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E. Dzilic, O. Chirikian, A. Shieh, A. Ribeiro, R.G. Goodyer, V. Serpooshan, G Li, A. Kumar, M. Dressen, H. Lahm, S. Doppler, R. Lange, M. Krane, S.M. Wu. MYL2 reporter line allows purification of ventricular human iPSC induced cardiomyocytes. European Heart Journal 39, ehy566. P6220.
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V. Serpooshan, J.B. Hu, O. Chirikian, D.A. Hu, M. Mahmoudi, S.M. Wu. 4D Printing of Actuating Cardiac Tissue. 3D Printing Applications in Cardiovascular Medicine, 153-162.
- S. Lee, V. Serpooshan, ..., J.C. Wu, S.M. Wu, and F. Yang. Contractile force generation by 3D hiPSC-derived cardiac tissues is enhanced by rapid establishment of cellular interconnection in matrix with muscle-mimicking stiffness. Biomaterials 131, 111-120, 2017.


CONTACT US
Emory (primary) address:
Lab 260
Emory Children's Center
Emory University School of Medicine
Atlanta, GA 30322
---------------------------
Georgia Tech address:
313 Ferst Dr NW
Georgia Inst. of Tech.
Atlanta, GA 30332
vahid.serpooshan@bme.gatech.edu
Office: 404-712-9717