Affiliation: Johns Hopkins University

Dr. Sara Abdollahi is currently a postdoctoral fellow at Johns Hopkins University, where she worked on several projects. This includes a project developing heart patches to understand the implications of extracellular vesicles in cardiac repair. She is currently focusing on an in vitro model of Schizophrenia toward characterizing the disease using neurons from pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) and genome editing (CRISPR) technologies. Before this endeavor, Dr. Abdollahi completed her PhD at Carnegie Mellon University. Her thesis research resulted in a novel optimization strategy for soft material 3D printing and a wearable pulse oximeter with pressure sensing to assess blood oxygen saturation and activity state. Dr. Abdollahi is also interested in orthopedic technologies based on her master’s research analyzing bioactive glass surface transformations during scaffold fabrication for bone tissue engineering. This project was completed at McGill University, where she also received her bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering. Overall, Dr. Abdollahi strives to advance research at the intersection of materials, machines, and biologics while also involved in outreach, mentorship, and science communication activities.