Principal Investigator
Dr Warkiani is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Biomedical Engineering, UTS, Sydney, Australia. He received his PhD in Mechanical Engineering from Nanyang Technological University (NTU), and undertook postdoctoral training at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (SMART centre). He is also a member of Institute for Biomedical Materials & Devices (IBMD) and Center for Health Technologies (CHT) at UTS.
Dr Warkiani’s current research activities focus on three key areas of (i) Microfluidics involving the design and development of novel microfluidic systems for particle and cell sorting (e.g., circulating tumor cells, fetal cells & stem cells) for diagnostic and therapeutic applications, (ii) Bio-MEMS involving the fabrication and characterization of novel 3D lab-on-a-chip systems to model physiological functions of tissues and organs, and (iii) 3D Printing involving the design and development of novel miniaturized systems (e.g., micromixers, micro-cyclones) for basic and applied research.
Researcher ID: J-8838-2015
ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-4184-1944
Google scholar: Link
Selected Honors/Awards
Dr Warkiani’s current research activities focus on three key areas of (i) Microfluidics involving the design and development of novel microfluidic systems for particle and cell sorting (e.g., circulating tumor cells, fetal cells & stem cells) for diagnostic and therapeutic applications, (ii) Bio-MEMS involving the fabrication and characterization of novel 3D lab-on-a-chip systems to model physiological functions of tissues and organs, and (iii) 3D Printing involving the design and development of novel miniaturized systems (e.g., micromixers, micro-cyclones) for basic and applied research.
Researcher ID: J-8838-2015
ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-4184-1944
Google scholar: Link
Selected Honors/Awards
- Nanyang Outstanding Young Alumni Award (2016).
- MIT TR35 young investigator, Asia-Pacific Region (2016).
- Fresh Science Program, Australia (2015).
- Students’ Design Gold Award, Biomedical Engineering Society, Singapore, (2014).
- SMART prestigious fellowship (2013).
- Best student paper award at AMN-APLOC 2011, 5-7 January, Singapore.
- Best research proposal award at NanoMemCourse 2010 at Netherlands.
- A*STAR prestigious scholarship for PhD study at NTU (2009)
Postdoc
Dr Navid Kashaninejad received his Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering in 2013 from the Division of Thermal and Fluid Engineering, Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore under a SINGA prestigious scholarship. During his PhD studies, he developed various microfluidic platforms under the direct supervision of Prof. Nam-Trung Nguyen. Following a 2-year industrial experience as a microfluidic product development engineer, he joined Sharif University of Technology (SUT-Iran) as a visiting assistant professor and postdoctoral research fellow. He co-founded Sharif BioEng Lab and mainly worked on the design and fabrication of tumour-on-chip platforms for chemosensitivity assays. He successfully co-supervised three MSc and two PhD students at SUT. In 2017, he joined Queensland Micro and Nanotechnology Centre (QMNC), Griffith University and worked on “IVF-on-a-chip” and “Digital microfluidics based on liquid marble”. He is now a postdoctoral research associate working jointly with Prof. Jin (from the Faculty of Science) and Dr. Warkiani (from the Faculty of Engineering and IT) at UTS.
His research interests include design, fabrication and numerical simulation of microfluidic platforms for cancer studies, disease modelling. He is also interested in the fabrication of biomimetic scaffolds, organoid-on-a-chip and tissue engineering. His awards include being selected as a distinguished scientist from Iran’s National Elites Foundation (INEF), plus being granted a full scholarship from INEF to work on “Lung tumour-on-a-chip” at Sharif University of Technology. He has received two more grants from Iran’s Cancer Biology Research Centre and Tabriz University of Medical Sciences (~$75,000) to design and fabricate microfluidic platforms in personalized cancer medicine. Google Scholar Profile ResearchGate Profile
His research interests include design, fabrication and numerical simulation of microfluidic platforms for cancer studies, disease modelling. He is also interested in the fabrication of biomimetic scaffolds, organoid-on-a-chip and tissue engineering. His awards include being selected as a distinguished scientist from Iran’s National Elites Foundation (INEF), plus being granted a full scholarship from INEF to work on “Lung tumour-on-a-chip” at Sharif University of Technology. He has received two more grants from Iran’s Cancer Biology Research Centre and Tabriz University of Medical Sciences (~$75,000) to design and fabricate microfluidic platforms in personalized cancer medicine. Google Scholar Profile ResearchGate Profile
PhD students
Direct Supervisor (UTS)
Hanjie Wu (2017-2020) is a PhD candidate in School of Biomedical Engineering at UTS. He received his B. Eng. degree from South China University of Technology, China. During his undergraduate study, he was enrolled in the joint training program of innovation genomics research. Afterwards, He joined BGI-Shenzhen and worked as a researcher in R&D Dept. His jobs focus on single tumor cell sequencing, and he published several articles in journals. He joined UTS as a PhD student in 2017. His research interests lie in isolation and analysis of circulating tumor cells by microfluidics system, massive parallel bio-material testing platform, point of care monitoring and diagnosis devices for health care.
Behrokh Abbasnejad (2016-2019) is a PhD candidate in the School of Biomedical Engineering at UTS and recipient of the prestigious Australian Government Research Training Program Scholarship (2016). She received both her B.Sc. and M.Sc. degree in Mechanical Engineering (Applied Design) from Urmia University, Iran. She is working under the supervision of Dr Warkaini, Prof. Dayong Jin and Dr. Asadnia on Biomimetic Flow sensors and their applications.
Dr Jesus Shrestha (2018-2020) is a Masters by Research Candidate at the University of Technology Sydney in the faculty of Biomedical Engineering. He completed his Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS) degree from Kathmandu Medical College, Nepal followed by over 2 years of clinical experience as a Medical doctor. He also worked as an overseas researcher for “Re-sequencing project of 1,000 Southeast Asian Individuals using the 100 Pharmacogene-NGS panel” project. He is currently working under the supervision of Prof. Majid Warkiani and Prof. Dr Maliheh Ghadiri on development of Microfluidic Lung-on-a-Chip models.
- Sajad Razavi Bazaz (2018-2021) is a Ph.D. candidate at University of Technology Sydney (UTS). He received his Bachelor degree in Mechanical Engineering from Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Iran in 2015. Afterwards, he completed his Master degree at Tehran University, Iran, as a first rank student in Biomedical Engineering in 2017. During his Master thesis, he focused on microfluidic devices, especially their numerical modeling in terms of micromixing, droplet generation, and polymerase chain reaction (PCR); and established a keen interest in modeling in microscales. His Master thesis concerned the formation of a “hybrid” micromixer constituting of different mixing units. As an engineer, he developed an interest in statistical optimization methods and began to apply these to microfluidic devices. Following his passion in microfluidic devices, he joined UTS’ school of Biomedical Engineering under the supervision of Prof. Warkiani. Currently, he is engaged in developing of different “plug-and-play” microfluidic devices via 3D printing methods.
Co/joint-Supervisor
Maira S. Syed (2014-2018) is a PhD candidate in the School of Mechanical & Manufacturing Engineering at UNSW and recipient of the prestigious Australian Postgraduate Award (APA). She received her M.Sc. degree in Thermal Power Engineering from University of Engineering & Technology, Pakistan. She is working under the supervision of Dr Warkaini and Dr Taylor on the design and development of 3D printed mini-cyclones for high throughput particle/cell sorting.
Amin Hassanzadeh-Barforoushi (2016-2019) is a PhD candidate in the school of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering at UNSW. He received both his BSc and MSc degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Tehran. In his MSc thesis, he investigated the fluid behavior within different types of microfluidic components including micromixers and micropumps. This includes unsteady pulsating flow in valve-less micropumps as flow rectifiers and combined passive and active (electroosmotic) methods to enhance micro-mixing efficiency. He joined UNSW as a PhD student in 2015. His research interests are micro/nanofluidics, biomedical microdevices, micro/nanofabrication and BioMEMS. His current research involves microfluidic co-culture systems.
Alireza Gerami (2015-2018) is a PhD candidate at the school of petroleum engineering of UNSW working under supervision of Dr. Mostaghimi & Warkiani. He is recipient of the prestigious Australian Postgraduate Award (APA) scholarship in 2014. He got his master degree in Mechanical Engineering and obtained professional work experiences in Oil & Gas and manufacturing industries too. He has valuable skills in 3D modelling using AutoCAD, Solidworks and ANSYS and currently exploring rapid prototyping using additive manufacturing and softlitoghraphy for his research.
Reza Moloudi (2014-2018) is a PhD student at the School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering of Nanyang Technological University. He is a recipient of prestigious Singapore International Graduate Award (SINGA)-ASTAR in 2015 and pursuing his PhD research at SIMTech, one of the Research Institutes of Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A-STAR). He graduated in Mechanical Engineering-Thermo fluid from Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Iran, in 2010 with first class honors in bachelor degree; afterwards, he continued his education in Mechanical Engineering-Energy Conversion in modeling of gas pipeline rupture granted by Provincial Gas Company, and received his MSc degree from FUM, Iran, in 2013. He is currently working on large-scale cell separation from manufactured cell product by exploiting Inertial Microfluidic techniques under the supervision of Dr. Warkiani (UNSW), Dr. Steve Oh (BTI) and Dr. May Win (SIMTech).
Meysam Rezaeishahmirzadi (2016-2019) is a PhD candidate in the school of Engineering - FII at University of South Australia (UNISA). He received his Bachelor's degree in Medical Laboratory of Science from Iran University of Medical Science (IUMS) in 2008.He graduated from Hormozgan University of Medical Science (HUMS) with a Master degree in Human Genetics at 2014. He has two accepted articles in Hormozgan Medical Journal (HMJ), a presentation & poster in International congress in Mashhad, Iran 2014 and two other papers proceeding.He has more than 6 years of professional experience in clinical, pathological and Genetic sciences consist of Molecular Biology& Molecular Genetic Techniques. He has been working as genetic counselor assistant for prenatal & premarital genetic counseling for 3 years.He was Executive Director of the Conference of HPV and cervical cancer, screening tests for fetal and prenatal genetic tests in 19th January 2015.For PhD he could win the University of South Australia President’s Scholarship (UPS) and School of Engineering - FII scholarship.As a PhD project he is studying and working on a new technology to isolate fetal cells in maternal blood for non-invasive prenatal diagnostic under the supervision of A/Prof. Benjamin Thierry (UNISA) and Dr. Majid Ebrahimi Warkiani (UTS).
Shahin Hosseinzadeh (2016-2018) is a M.Sc. student in the school of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering at UNSW working under supervision of Dr. Warkiani and A/P Barber. He received B.Sc. degree in Chemical Engineering from Sahand University of technology, Iran, in 2014. He is currently working on design and development of novel microfluidic systems for particle and cell sorting.
Fangxu Du (2016-2018) is a M.Sc. student in the school of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering at UNSW working under supervision of Dr. Warkiani and A/P Barber. He received B.Sc. degree in Mechanical Engineering from Dalian Jiaotong University, China, in 2016. His main research interests are focused on utility of 3D printing and softlithography for building functional microfluidic systems.
Mona Tarek Elsemary (2017-2020) is a PhD candidate at the University of South Australia. She received a Bachelor of Pharmacy and a Master in Microbiology and Immunology at Cairo University/Egypt. She also got another Master in Pharmaceutical Biotechnology at King Saud University/ Saudi Arabia. She later worked in Nanotechnology Research at the American University in Cairo/Egypt. She co-published two papers and a book. She is currently working under the supervision of Prof. Benjamin Theirry, Prof. Majid Warkiani, and Associate Prof. Louis Smith in the field of Microfluidic Manufacturing of Chimeric Antigen Receptor T cells in the therapy of cancers.
Alexey Rzhevskiy (2018-2021) is a medical doctor (MD) graduated from Sechenov University in Moscow in 2015. Then, he moved to Australia to undertake a master degree at Griffith University, investigating microneedles as a technique for drug delivery enhancement in diverse organs and tissues. In March 2018, he started his PhD program at the Macquarie University in the Centre for Nanoscale and Biophotonics. His current research interests are mainly related to the investigation of targeted drug delivery techniques, particularly microneedles, cancer treatment and diagnostics, and broad scope of investigations in the field of urology. He is currently working under supervision of Professor Andrei Zvyagin (MQ) and Dr Majid Ebrahimi Warkiani (UTS).
Mahsa Asadnia (2018-2021) is a PhD candidate in the school of science and engineering at Macquarie University. She has obtained Bachelor of Science degree in Chemistry from Isfahan University of Technology-Iran and Master of Science degree in Nanotechnology–Nanochemistry from University of Isfahan. She has great experiences on synthesis and characterization of artificial enzymes, nanocompounds, dendrimers and organic materials. She is currently working under the supervision of Dr. Majid Warkiani (UTS), Prof. Mukhopadhyay (MQ), and Dr. Amir Razmjou (UNSW). Her current research interests focus on human Mesenchymal Stem cells, 3D stem cell culture, Microcarriers and Tissue engineering.
Visiting scholars
Asma Mihandoust is a PhD candidate at the University of Alzahra (Tehran-Iran). She received a Bachelor of Physics and a Master in Condensed Matter Physics at Arak University/Iran. She is currently performing her research as a visiting student at UNSW University in Sydney/Australia . She published five papers. She is currently working under the supervision of Prof. Shahin Rouhani, Prof. Majid Ebrahimi Warkiani, and Associate Prof. Nahid Maleki Jirsaraee in the field of Microchip fabrication to separate small-sized bacteria (less than 3µm) for microbiological applications by inertia forces.
Mohammadamin Raoufi is a PhD candidate of Mechanical Engineering at Ferdowsi University of Mashhad and Macquarie university (Cotutelle Program). He received his Bachelor degree in Mechanical Engineering from Shahrood University and a Master degree in Energy Conversion from Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, which is the largest and oldest university across the east of Iran. He has a great interest and passion in the field of cardiovascular diseases and Nano/Micro technology. Currently he is working on the mechanism of particle/cell focusing within non-Newtonian fluids using microfluidic systems, mimicking the condition of blood flow within arteries.
Shohreh Azadi is a PhD candidate at AmirKabir University of technology (Tehran Polytechnic/ Iran). She received both her Bachelor and Master degree in Biomedical Engineering at Tehran Polytechnic. During her study, she joined Pasteur Institute and Stem cell research center in Tehran/Iran and worked on cancer cell mechanics. She is currently working as a visiting student under the supervision of Prof. Majid Warkiani. Her current research involves mechanical behavior of cancer cells and their migration and invasion ability using 3D microfluidic systems.
Omid Rouhi is a M.Sc. student in the School of Engineering at the Ferdowsi University of Mashhad. He received his Bachelor degree in Mechanical Engineering from Birjand University. He is currently working on design and development of novel 3D micromixers using additive manufacturing under the supervision of Dr. Majid Ebrahimi Warkiani at UTS.
Lab Alumni (since 2014)
1- Raghav Lakshman (M.Sc.)
2- Anthony Shi (B.Sc.)
3- Saiful Anuar (B.Sc.)
4- Mathijs Bronkhorst (M.Sc.), Visiting Student, University of Twente
5- Shayla Carlin (B.Sc.)
6- Tejas Pitale (M.Sc.)
7- Ashik Kavanakudy (B.Sc.)
8- Anthony Zada (B.Sc.)
9- Adam Joffe (B.Sc.), Taste of Research
10- Marcel Welleweerd (M.Sc.), Visiting Student, University of Twente
11- Moses Lee (B.Sc.)
12- Danlin Zhao (M.Sc.)
13- Hanming Zhang (M.Sc.)
14- Lei Sun (M.Sc.)
15- Jayden W (M.Sc.)
16- Ahmad Firdaus Abu Hanipah (B.Sc.)
17- Ainol basyiruddin ahmad (B.Sc.)
18- Jingrui Huang (M.Sc.)
19- Muhammad Ikhlas (B.Sc.)
20- Derek Chung (M.Sc. by Research)
21- Benjamin Goodnow (TOR)
22- Menglu Liu
2- Anthony Shi (B.Sc.)
3- Saiful Anuar (B.Sc.)
4- Mathijs Bronkhorst (M.Sc.), Visiting Student, University of Twente
5- Shayla Carlin (B.Sc.)
6- Tejas Pitale (M.Sc.)
7- Ashik Kavanakudy (B.Sc.)
8- Anthony Zada (B.Sc.)
9- Adam Joffe (B.Sc.), Taste of Research
10- Marcel Welleweerd (M.Sc.), Visiting Student, University of Twente
11- Moses Lee (B.Sc.)
12- Danlin Zhao (M.Sc.)
13- Hanming Zhang (M.Sc.)
14- Lei Sun (M.Sc.)
15- Jayden W (M.Sc.)
16- Ahmad Firdaus Abu Hanipah (B.Sc.)
17- Ainol basyiruddin ahmad (B.Sc.)
18- Jingrui Huang (M.Sc.)
19- Muhammad Ikhlas (B.Sc.)
20- Derek Chung (M.Sc. by Research)
21- Benjamin Goodnow (TOR)
22- Menglu Liu