Our Team

Principal Investigator

Majid Ebrahimi Warkiani, Ph.D.
Professor, School of Biomedical Engineering
Core member, Center for Health Technologies (CHT) & Institute for Biomedical Materials & Devices (IBMD)
University of Technology Sydney (UTS)
Email: majid.warkiani@uts.edu.au
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Graduate Students

Postdoc

Sareh Zhand completed her PhD in Microbiology in 2017 and during her PhD she focused on virotherapy of colorectal cancer using oncolytic poliovirus and built strong background in molecular and cellular biology. Due to her interest in cancer immunotherapy, she joined UTS School of Biomedical Engineering under the supervision of Prof Warkiani in 2019. Her main research focus is on small extracellular Vesicles (exosomes), characterization of highly sensitive method for the detection of cancer derived exosome, separation of exosome subpopulation using microfluidic devices, and molecular analysis of the exosome content in various cancers. She is currently working on multiple joint projects between faculty of Science and Engineering related to exosomes.

Direct Supervisor

Steven Vasilescu (2019-2023) is a PhD candidate in the School of Biomedical Engineering at UTS. He concluded his undergraduate study at UTS in 2018 with a Bachelor of Mechanical Engineering and a Bachelor of Biotechnology. Steven has been heavily involved in the development of nanomaterials for medical diagnostics within the Institute of Biomedical Materials and Devices (IBMD) at UTS for the past three years. Steven is currently tackling infertility issues through the development of microfluidic assisted reproductive technologies. Under the supervision of Associate Professor Majid Ebrahimi Warkiani, Steven aims to create safer and more reliable treatment options for couples undergoing fertility treatments.

Dorsa Morshedi Rad (2019-2023) is a PhD candidate at the UTS School of Biomedical Engineering. She received her bachelor degree in cell and molecular biology with honors (1st rank) from the Ferdowsi University of Mashhad (FUM). Afterwards, she completed her master degree in Medical Genetics at Mashhad University of Medical Sciences (MUMS) where she worked on the expression profiling of miRNAs in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) through miRNA sequencing. Her current research interests focus on design and development of new microfluidic systems for intra-cellular delivery of various cargos into the cells.

Dale Mark Goss (2021-2025) is a PhD candidate in the School of Biomedical Engineering at UTS. He attained a Bachelor of Science with Honours, and a Master of Science in Medical Physiology with a focus on Male Reproductive Biology, at the University of Stellenbosch (South Africa). In 2019, he moved to Australia and undertook a Master of Clinical Embryology at Monash University (Melbourne) and began performing research in age-related infertility at the Fertility Research Centre and Ageing Lab at University of New South Wales (Sydney). Dale then decided to utilise his specialised training in Embryology and migrate into Clinical IVF. Dale currently works at Australia’s largest IVF network, IVFAustralia, as an Embryologist performing all laboratory aspects of IVF. With a keen interest in male infertility and embryology, Dale is focussing on Microfluidic applications to improve outcomes of fertility treatment, as well as the important mechanisms by which seminal exosomes influence fertility.

Hojjatollah Nazari (2021-2025) is a PhD candidate at UTS. He earned his B.Sc. in Medical Laboratory Sciences from Rafsanjan University of Medical Sciences in 2012 and his M.Sc. in Medical Nanotechnology from Iran University of Medical Sciences in 2017. His M.Sc. thesis focused on fabricating nanostructures for biomedical applications. He worked as a research assistant at the Research Center for Advanced Technologies in Cardiovascular Medicine (Tehran University of Medical Sciences) from 2017-2021, where he researched biomaterials, microfluidics, and exosome therapy. He expanded his research into clinical trial phases I at a Colorectal Surgery Research Center (Tehran University of Medical Sciences) from 2019-2021. His current research interests focus on using microfluidic applications to manipulate exosomes in micro/nanoscale and improve our understanding of cellular and molecular mechanisms of exosome-therapy in regenerative medicine.

Vahid Yaghoubi Naei (2022-2026) is a Ph.D. candidate at the School of Biomedical Engineering at UTS. In 2013, after completing his bachelor's in cellular and molecular biology at Islamic Azad University of Mashhad, he started his master's in Medical Immunology at Mashhad University of Medical Sciences. During his master program, he worked on various projects oriented toward allergy and immune response. Upon graduation, he started to work as a full-time lecturer at the Varastegan Institute for Medical Sciences for five years. Vahid’s main interests are cancer immunology, cancer-immune cell interaction, cancer immunotherapy, and targeted therapy. His PhD thesis revolve around the immune profiling of CTC clusters using Microfluidics and advanced Single cell technologies and also Digital Spacial Profiling.

Milad Sabbagh (2022-2026) Is a Ph.D. candidate at the School of Biomedical Engineering at UTS. He received his master’s degree in Biomedical Engineering with Distinction GPA (1st rank) and holds a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering. He consistently ranked among the top 1% of students and holds numerous teachings, assistantships, and academic recognitions. He is currently working on the design and development of Droplet Microfluidics Systems for single-cell analysis and metabolomics assays.

Co/joint-Supervisor

Pritam Bordhan (2020-2024) is a PhD candidate from the Faculty of Science, jointly supervised by Distinguished Professor Dayong Jin (Faculty of Science) and Associate Professor Majid Ebrahimi Warkiani (Faculty of Biomedical Engineering). He completed a Bachelor of Biotechnology degree in 2019 and Bachelor of Biotechnology (Honours) research year in 2020 from UTS, during which he focused on generating isogenic ovarian cancer cell lines targeting p53 using plasmid based CRISPR-cas9 technology. He has keen interest in cancer genetics and molecular oncology and has relevant industry experiences at Westmead Hospital, Royal Prince Alfred Hospital and SpeeDx Pty Ltd (Sydney based molecular diagnostic company). His PhD research work will focus on ‘Targeting circulating tumour cells (CTCs) using a novel integrated microfluidic system as a potential diagnostic medium for cancer cell analysis’.

Rob Salomon (2020-2024) is an experienced cytometerist and technical scientist. With over 15 years supporting multiple cytometry projects he has provided technical support to thousands of projects. With expertise in the area of deep cellular characterisation, he has active collaborations across diverse field including cytometry, genomics, photonics and microfluidics. Since 2014 Rob has worked to advance the field of Single Cell Genomics. He successfully conceived, built and opened the Garvan-Weizmann Centre for Cellular Genomics, designed and built the ACRF Child Cancer Liquid Biopsy Program laboratories and was the program manager for the Institute for Biomedical Materials and Devices (IBMD) during the transition to IBMD 2.0. He also sits on the executive committee for The Australasian Cytometry Society and the International Society for the Advancement of Cytometry. Rob currently holds dual roles as the Operations and Technology Manager at the Child Cancer Liquid Biopsy program and is undertaking a PhD through the Institute of Biomedical Materials and Devices and the Warkiani Lab.

Habib Sadeghi Rad (2021-2024) is a PhD candidate at The University of Queensland (UQ), Brisbane, QLD, Australia. He graduated Bachelor of Science in Medical Laboratory Sciences from Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences (SBMU), Tehran, Iran, in 2013, and Master of Science in Medical Genetics from Tehran University of Medical Sciences (TUMS), Tehran, Iran, in 2017. After finishing his studies, he began working as a health care professional in medical laboratories of hospitals in Iran for several years. His educational background in medical sciences, combined with his work experience, inspired him to pursue a PhD in Medical Genetics. At the moment, Habib is working on spatial phenotyping of tumor microenvironment (TME) and predictive biomarkers of response to immunotherapy in tissue & liquid biopsies taken from cancer patients.

Lab Alumni (since 2014)

Undergraduates

Anthony Shi (B.Sc.)
Saiful Anuar (B.Sc.)
Shayla Carlin (B.Sc.)
Ashik Kavanakudy (B.Sc.)
Anthony Zada (B.Sc.)
Adam Joffe (B.Sc.)
Moses Lee (B.Sc.)
Ahmad Firdaus Abu Hanipah (B.Sc.)
Ainol basyiruddin ahmad (B.Sc.)
Muhammad Ikhlas (B.Sc.)
Benjamin Goodnow (B.Sc.)
Menglu Liu (B.Sc.)
Akrit Sethi (B.Sc.)
Kenny Ng (B.Sc.)
Steven Vasilescu (B.Sc.)
Nick Rabey (B.Sc.)
Issac Lee (B.Sc.)
Shayan Khorsandi (B.Sc.)
Sabrina Lo (B.Sc.)
Ayesha Syed (B.Sc.)
Katherine Dewick (B.Sc.)

Postgraduates
1. Danlin Zhao (M.Sc. by course)
2. Tejas Pitale (M.Sc. by course)
3. Hanming Zhang (M.Sc. by course)
4. Lei Sun (M.Sc. by course)
5. Jayden W (M.Sc. by course)
6. Jingrui Huang (M.Sc. by course)
7. Derek Chung (M.Sc. by research)
8. Raghav Lakshman (M.Sc.)
9. Alireza Gerami (Ph.D., co-supervisor)
10. Mehdi Rafeie (Ph.D.)
11. Shahin Hosseinzadeh (M.Sc. by research)
12. Fangxu Du (M.Sc. by research)
13. Navid Kashaninezhad (Postdoc)
14. Reza Moloudi (Ph.D., co-supervisor)
15. Maira Seyed (Ph.D.)
16. Amin Hassanzadeh (Ph.D.)
17. Meysam Rezaei (Ph.D., co-supervisor)
18. Mohammad Amin Raoufi (Ph.D, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad & MQ University)
19. Hossein Ahmadi Nejad Joushani (Research Assistant)
20. Joanna Kapeleris (Ph.D., co-supervisor)
21. Meysam Rezaei (Postdoc)
22. Mona Tarek Elsemary (Ph.D., co-supervisor)
23. Ziyao Zhang (M.Sc. by course)
24. Alexey Rzhevskiy (Ph.D., co-supervisor)
25. Mahsa Asadnia (Ph.D.)
26. Sajad Razavi Bazaz (Ph.D.)
27. Hamidreza Aboulkheyr (Ph.D.)
28. Lin Ding (Ph.D.)
29. Jesus Shrestha (Ph.D.)
30. Payar Radfar (Ph.D.)
31. Fateme Mirakhorli (Ph.D., co-supervisor)

Visiting Scholars
1. Marcel Welleweerd (M.Sc.), Visiting Student, University of Twente
2. Mathijs Bronkhorst (M.Sc.), Visiting Student, University of Twente
3. Omid Rouhi (M.Sc.), Visiting Student, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad
4. Asma Mihandoost (Ph.D), Visiting Student, Alzahra University
5. Eric Guthmann (B.Sc.), Visiting Student, Germany
6. Shohreh Azadi (Ph.D), Visiting Student, Amirkabir University, Iran
7. Melane Shanmugavel (B.Sc.), Visiting Student Germany
8. Olly Mills (B.Sc.), Visiting Student, U of Sydney
9. Fatemeh Ezheian (Ph.D), Royan Institute, Esfahan, Iran.

​Principal Investigator