Associate Professor

Class 1954 Career Development Chair

Department of Mechanical Engineering

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Fan Liu received his B.S. from Beihang University (2016) and M.S. from Tsinghua University (2019), where he worked on medical robotics, triboelectric nanogenerators, and microplasma technologies. He earned his Ph.D. at MIT in 2024 under the supervision of Prof. Ming Guo, and is currently a postdoctoral researcher co-advised by Prof. Ming Guo and Prof. Roger Kamm. Fan’s research interests focus on cell and tissue mechanics, interstitial fluid flow, and the roles these properties play in diseases such as diabetes, aging, cancer, and neurodegenerative disorders like Alzheimer’s disease.

Xun is a postdoc fellow co-advised by Profs. Roger Kamm and Ming Guo at MIT, and Prof. Se Hoon Choi at Mass General Hospital/Harvard Medical School. He is currently engineering physiologically relevant 3D human brain models integrated with mechanical measurement platforms to uncover the mechanobiological mechanisms in Alzheimer’s disease (AD). By bridging engineering, biology, and medicine, he aims to accelerate therapeutic discovery for AD and other neurological disorders. Xun holds a BS in Mechanical Engineering from Shanghai Jiao Tong University and a PhD in Mechanical Engineering from Columbia University. In his free time, he likes cooking, traveling, and dragon boat racing.

Haiqian is a MechE graduate student. He is working on understanding spatial and temporal organization of multicellular systems.

Camille earned a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering at the University of Florida in 2021. She is currently studying the non-linear mechanics and role of intermediate filaments within the cytoskeletal network. In her free time she likes to paint, read, and explore.

Lani received her S.B. in Mechanical Engineering with a concentration in Computing from MIT in 2021. Her previous experience includes product design and quality assurance for biological settings. She is currently working to characterize the cell mechanics of aging. 

Elise earned her B.S. in Biomedical Engineering at Yale in 2018. Her work is focused on generating functional tissue engineered models of mucosal barrier tissues, co-advised with Prof. Linda Griffith. Her primary interest is in the interplay of cell-generated mechanical forces with differentiation, regeneration, and morphogenic pattern development.

Shaoxun is a MechE graduate student. He received his B.S. in Mechanics at Tsinghua University in 2024. He is currently working on cell collective behaviors and cell-matrix interaction. He likes swimming, playing volleyball, and travelling in his free time.

Jacqui earned her B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Georgia Tech in 2020. Her current work is focused on understanding the transport mechanics in the brain, including the role of cell mechanics in regulating the brain's waste system, co-advised by Prof. Roger Kamm. In her free time, she enjoys road tripping/backpacking, exploring the Boston music scene, and traveling.

​Mary obtained her B.Eng in Bioengineering at McGill University in 2024. She is interested in studying intermediate filaments, in particular their role in regulating the structural integrity and stress relaxation in cells as they experience mechanical perturbations and undergo cell state transitions. Beyond the lab, she enjoys exploring the outdoors, riding roller coasters, and watching hockey.

Abel earned his B.S. in Mathematics and Biomedical Engineering from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, in 2024. Following this, he was a Fulbright-Nehru visiting student at the National Centre for Biological Sciences in Bangalore, India. Abel is broadly interested in active-matter systems, and particularly in how cells mechanically coordinate with each other within tissue. Outside of the lab, Abel enjoys swimming, movies, cooking, and learning about history and languages.