Principal Investigator
Benedetto Marelli
Paul M. Cook Career Development Associate Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Research Interests:
biomaterials, self-assembly, food security, food safety, agriculture, regenerative medicine, additive manufacturing and emerging technologies
Education:
- B.Eng. Biomedical Engineering 2005, Politecnico di Milano
- M.Sc. Biomedical Engineering, 2008, Politecnico di Milano
- Ph.D. Materials Engineering, 2011, McGill University
- Postdoctoral Scholar, 2012-2015, Silklab, Tufts University


Graduate Students
Zeina Barghouti
Research Interests: sustainable agriculture, plant microbiology, microbe preservation, biomaterials
- B.S. Mechanical Engineering, 2021, Texas A&M University at Qatar
Max Kalinowski
Research Interests: Biomaterials, protein engineering, self-assembly, tissue engineering, regenerative medicine, alternative proteins
- B.Eng. Biomedical Engineering, 2021, University of Massachusetts, Lowell
Postdocs
Dr. Yunteng Cao
Research Interests: Sustainable materials, Precision agriculture & medicine, and Mechanics, design & manufacturing
- B.Eng. Engineering Mechanics, 2013, Shanghai Jiao Tong University
- M.Eng. Solid Mechanics, 2016, Xi’an Jiaotong University,
- Ph.D. Structures and Materials, 2022, MIT
Dr. Yue Hu
Research Interests: Biomaterials, Nanotechnology, Nanomedicine, Nanobiotechnology, Assembly of biopolymers
- B.S. Chemistry, 2015, University of Science and Technology of China
- Ph.D. Chemistry, 2021, Brown University
Dr. Meng Li
Research Interests: sustainable robotic materials, active matter, micromachines, device fabrication
- B.Eng. Biomedical Engineering, 2013, Southeast University, China
- M.Sc. Advanced Materials, 2015, University of Ulm, Germany
- Ph.D. Biomedical Engineering, 2020, Tufts University, USA
- Humboldt Postdoc Fellow, 2020-2022, Physical Intelligence, Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems, Stuttgart, Germany
Dr. Muchun Liu
Research Interests: biomaterials, responsive transformation, non-invasive assembly, hierarchical architectures, 2D nanochannels, actuation, agriculture, biomedicine, and environment
- B.Eng. Materials Science and Engineering, 2012, Beihang University
- M.Eng. Materials Engineering, 2015, Beihang University
- Ph.D. Chemistry, 2020, Brown University
Dr. Giorgio Rizzo
Research Interests: Biomaterials, Assembly of biopolymers, Hierarchical Structures, Molecular Dynamics, Sustainable Agriculture, Environment.
- B. Chemistry, 2015, University of Palermo, Italy
- M.Sc. Chemistry, 2017, University of Palermo, Italy
- Ph.D. Chemistry and Molecular Sciences, 2021, University of Bari, Italy
- Post-doctoral Fellow, 2021-2022, University of Bari, Italy
Dr. Hui Sun
Research Interests: Biomaterials, Nanotechnology, Protein Engineering, Bottom-up Assembly of Biomacromolecules, Sustainable Agriculture, Food Security
- B.Eng. Civil Engineering 2013, Sichuan University, China
- M.Sc. Solid Mechanics, 2016, Peking University, China
- Ph.D. Civil and Environmental Engineering, 2022, MIT
Dr. Yagmur Yegin
Research Interests: Biopolymers, Nanotechnology, Sustainability, Food Waste, Food Safety, Food Security, Bacterial Antifouling Coatings, Multifunctional Drug Delivery Systems
- B.Eng. Food Engineering, Celal Bayar University, TURKIYE
- M.Sc. Food Engineering, Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering, Texas A&M University, USA
- Ph.D. Bio and Nano Interfaces Materials Lab, Food Science and Technology & Chemical Engineering, Texas A&M University, USA
- Postdoctoral Associate, 01/2021-06/2021, Bio and Nano Interfaces Materials Lab, Chemical Engineering, Texas A&M University, USA
Dr. Yilin Zhang
Research Interests: plant nano-biotechnology, biomaterials, synthetic polymer chemistry, sustainable agriculture.
- B.Eng. Environmental Engineering 2016, Beihang University
- M.Sc. Civil and Environmental Engineering, 2017, Carnegie Mellon University
- Ph.D. Civil and Environmental Engineering, 2021, Carnegie Mellon University
- Postdoctoral Associate, 09/2021-07/2022, Lowry group, Carnegie Mellon University
Visiting Students
Alumni
Capstone
Timothy Roberts
CEE - Capstone
William Popov
CEE - Capstone
Augustine Zvinavashe
CEE - Capstone
UROP
Shannon Wing
CEE
Emily Soice
CEE
Mohammed AlDajani
MechE
Visiting Students Alumni
Haruka Sakurai
MSci Chemistry '22, Imperial College London
Biomaterial fabrication, Bioactive hydrogels
Hiking, Baking Bread, Singing Disney songs, reading about cellular agriculture
Elisabetta Ruggeri
Visiting Master Student - Politecnico di Milano
Julie Laurent
Visiting Master Student - EPFL
Giulia Piervenanzi
Visiting Master Student - Politecnico di Milano
Anita Mollo
Visiting Master Student - Politecnico di Milano
Benedetta Petracca
Visiting Master Student - Politecnico di Milano
Nicola Contessi
Visiting PhD student - Rocca Fellow - Politecnico di Milano