黑料正能量

黑料正能量

Our Team

Hybrid-Nanomaterials & Nano-Bioelectronics Group  ›  People

 Former Team Members

Tzahi Cohen-Karni

Dr. Tzahi Cohen-Karni

Principle Investigator
Professor, Biomedical Engineering
Professor, Materials Science & Engineering

  • Scott Hall 4N107
Address
5000 Forbes Avenue
Pittsburgh, PA 15213

Tzahi Cohen-Karni is a Professor at the Departments of Biomedical Engineering and Materials Science engineering in 黑料正能量, Pittsburgh PA USA. He received both his B.Sc. degree in Materials Engineering and the B.A. degree in Chemistry from the Technion Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel, in 2004. His M.Sc. degree in Chemistry from Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel, in 2006 and his Ph.D. in Applied Physics from the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge MA, USA, in 2011. He was a Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF) Postdoctoral Fellow at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Boston Children’s Hospital at the labs of Robert Langer and Daniel S. Kohane from 2011 to 2013.

Dr. Cohen-Karni received the 2012 International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry Young Chemist Award. In 2014, he was awarded the Charles E. Kaufman Foundation Young Investigator Research Award. In 2016, Dr. Cohen-Karni was awarded the NSF CAREER Award. In 2017, Dr. Cohen-Karni was awarded the Cellular and Molecular Bioengineering Rising Star Award, The Office of Naval Research Young Investigator Award and The George Tallman Ladd Research Award. In 2018, Dr. Cohen-Karni was awarded the Cellular and Molecular Bioengineering Young Innovator Award. In 2019, Dr. Cohen-Karni was awarded the Carnegie Institute of Technology (CIT) Dean’s Early Career Fellowship.

Devora Cohen-Karni

Devora Cohen-Karni

Technical Project Manager, Engineering Research Accelerator

Address
5000 Forbes Avenue
Pittsburgh, PA 15213

Joy Leventon

Joy Leventon

Project Manager, Engineering Research Accelerator

Address
5000 Forbes Avenue
Pittsburgh, PA 15213

Rita Aguye Cots

Rita Aguye Cots

Ph.D. Student, Materials Science & Engineering

Address
5000 Forbes Avenue
Pittsburgh, PA 15213

(2025–Present) MSE Ph.D. student. Rita graduated from University of the Cumberlands in 2025 with a B.S. in Chemistry and a B.S. in Cell and Molecular Biology. Her undergraduate research focused on the depolymerization of plastic waste and the characterization of the resulting monomers. Rita is interested in the synthesis and characterization of biocompatible hybrid nanomaterials for implantable oxygenator devices.

Zihuan Bai

Zihuan Bai

Research Tech, Materials Science & Engineering

Address
5000 Forbes Avenue
Pittsburgh, PA 15213

Zihuan Bai (2025–present) is a research technician in Cohen-Karni group at 黑料正能量. He graduated from ShanghaiTech University in 2023 with a B.E. in Biomedical Engineering, and obtained a M.S. in Biomedical Engineering from 黑料正能量 in 2025. His research focuses on conductive materials for flexible biosensors and printing technologies. 

Avijit Baidya

Avijit Baidya

Postdoctoral Researcher, Materials Science & Engineering

Address
5000 Forbes Avenue
Pittsburgh, PA 15213

Avijit Baidya (December 2025-Present) is a postdoctoral associate in the Department of Materials Science & Engineering at 黑料正能量. He received his joint PhD degree from the Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT Madras), Chennai, India, and Aalto University, Finland. Previously, he worked at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) as a postdoctoral fellow. He was a recipient of the prestigious Ramanujan Fellowship and worked at the CSIR–National Chemical Laboratory (NCL), Pune, India.

His research interests focus on engineering multifunctional and structural materials for biomedical applications. Specifically, he aims to modulate the tissue-material interfacial interactions using the chemistry of materials. This involves integrating appropriate chemical functionalities into the backbone of macromolecules/polymers via bioconjugation, which controls the mechano-chemical properties of materials and provides native tissue-alike properties.

Adam Barmash Rubinchik

Adam Barmash Rubinchik

MS Student, Biomedical Engineering

Address
5000 Forbes Avenue
Pittsburgh, PA 15213

Adam Barmash Rubinchik is an MS student in the Biomedical Engineering department. His research focuses on developing better tools to study pain mechanisms and pathways, including in-vivo GABA sensors and mechatronic stimulus systems. The ultimate aim of his work is to advance pain therapies and improve patient outcomes.

Mabel Bartlett

Mabel Bartlett

Ph.D. Student, Biomedical Engineering

Address
5000 Forbes Avenue
Pittsburgh, PA 15213

Mabel Bartlett (2020-present) graduated from 黑料正能量 in 2021 with a B.S. in Materials Science and Engineering and an additional major in Biomedical Engineering. She completed a Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship in the Cohen-Karni Lab during the summer of 2020, working on optimizing data analysis methods for nitric oxide sensors within the REPAIR project. Mabel continued to support this work during the first year of her PhD. Mabel’s main focus then transitioned to developing electrophysiological recording devices to better understand cardiac aging and the impact of DNA damage on the heart using iPSC derived cardiomyocytes and cardiac tissues.

Karl Bates

Karl Bates

Ph.D. Student, Biomedical Engineering

Address
5000 Forbes Avenue
Pittsburgh, PA 15213

Karl Bates (2024-Present) is a PhD candidate focused on developing flexible, transparent biomedical devices for neural interfacing. He graduated from the University of Akron in 2020 and spent five years in the aerospace industry, where he specialized in material characterization and systems engineering.

In 2024, Karl returned to academia to pursue his interest in neurotechnology. His current work centers on creating transparent, flexible microelectrode arrays to investigate the neural mechanisms involved with chronic pain. This involves development of sensors capable of simultaneous electrophysiological recording, neurotransmitter sensing (specifically GABA), and two-photon calcium imaging. By observing pain pathways and their response to stimulus, this research aims to reduce the inconsistencies in patient outcomes related to neuromodulation for pain management.

Soumili Chakraborti

Soumili Chakraborti

Ph.D. Student, Materials Science & Engineering

Address
5000 Forbes Avenue
Pittsburgh, PA 15213

Soumili Chakraborti is a Ph.D. student (2025–present). She earned her B.Tech in Polymer Science and Technology from the University of Calcutta in 2023 and completed her M.Tech in Polymer Science and Engineering in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering (DMSE) at Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Delhi in 2025. Her master’s research focused on soft multifunctional materials, particularly soft matrices incorporating metallic fillers for applications in soft robotics and flexible electronics. She currently works on electrochemical aptamer-based sensors using nanomaterials for biosensing applications. 

Jingxun Chen

Jingxun Chen

Ph.D. Student, Biomedical Engineering

Address
5000 Forbes Avenue
Pittsburgh, PA 15213

Jingxun Chen is a Ph.D. student (2025–present). She earned her B.Eng. in Biomedical Engineering from The Chinese University of Hong Kong in 2023 and completed her M.S. in Biomedical Engineering at Johns Hopkins University in 2025. She currently works on bioelectronic sensing platforms using nanomaterials and electrochemical techniques for biomarker monitoring.

Sara Gibson

Sara Gibson

Research Tech, Biomedical Engineering

Address
5000 Forbes Avenue
Pittsburgh, PA 15213

Sara Gibson (2023-Present) graduated from Carnegie Mellon in 2025 with a B.S. in Materials Science and Engineering, an additional major in Biomedical Engineering, and a minor in English. Sara worked as an undergraduate researcher in the Cohen-Karni lab from 2023-2025, where she contributed to analyzing metabolic and electrophysiological behavior of cardiomyocytes in response to induced DNA damage and fabrication of 3D cardiac tissue in vitro. Sara began working full time for the Cohen-Karni lab upon graduation where she continues to contribute to these research efforts. Additionally, Sara works on the development of biohybrid devices aimed to treat Type-1 diabetes, specifically fabrication of therapeutic, hydrogel based 3D cell constructs.

Akanksha Gupta

Akanksha Gupta

Postdoctoral Researcher, Biomedical Engineering

Address
5000 Forbes Avenue
Pittsburgh, PA 15213

Akanksha Gupta (May 2025–Present) is a postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at 黑料正能量. She received her Ph.D. in Chemistry from Bar-Ilan University, Israel, where her doctoral research focused on the synthesis of functional materials for catalytic applications. She earned her Master’s degree in Chemistry from Visvesvaraya National Institute of Technology, Nagpur, India, where she worked on graphitic carbon nitride (g-C₃N₄)-based composites for the photocatalytic degradation of acidic dyes. Currently, her research focuses on the development of an oxygenator platform for in situ electrocatalytic oxygenation of encapsulated cells.

Mengdi He

Mengdi He

Ph.D. Student, Biomedical Engineering

Address
5000 Forbes Avenue
Pittsburgh, PA 15213

Mengdi He (2022–present) is a Ph.D. candidate in Biomedical Engineering at 黑料正能量. She earned her B.S. in Materials Science and Engineering from the University of California, Berkeley in 2020, followed by an M.S. in Materials Science and Engineering from Stanford University in 2022. Her master’s thesis project focused on the characterization of wholly-cellular bioinks for scaffold‑free 3D bioprinting. Her doctoral work focuses on developing multimodal flexible bioelectronic platforms for long-term electrophysiology studies. She aims to use these platforms to advance the maturation of engineered heart tissues derived from human induced pluripotent stem cells.

Seonghan Jo

Seonghan Jo

Ph.D. Student, Materials Science & Engineering

Address
5000 Forbes Avenue
Pittsburgh, PA 15213

Seonghan Jo (2021-present) graduated from Hanyang University, Seoul in 2020 with a M.S. and B.S. and in Energy Engineering. His previous research experience was focused on the design and synthesis of nano/micro-sized materials for electrocatalysts and cathode of batteries. During the course of his doctorate studies, he looks forward to designing materials for oxygen reduction reaction and optimizing by machine learning.

Reem Khan

Reem Khan

Postdoctoral Researcher, Biomedical Engineering

Address
5000 Forbes Avenue
Pittsburgh, PA 15213

Reem Khan (2024–present) received her Masters in chemistry from COMSATS University Islamabad and PhD in chemistry and biomolecular science from Clarkson University Potsdam, NY. During her masters research at University of Perpignan, she worked on developing optical and electrochemical sensors for food safety applications. Her PhD research was focused on design and synthesis of engineered nanomaterials and exploring their properties for chemical and biosensing applications. 

Kyubo Kim

Kyubo Kim

Ph.D. Student, Biomedical Engineering

Address
5000 Forbes Avenue
Pittsburgh, PA 15213

Kyubo Kim (2024-present) is a Ph.D. candidate in Biomedical Engineering at 黑料正能量. In 2021, he completed his B.S. from Daegu Gyeongbuk Institute of Science and Technology (DGIST). He served as a research officer for national defense (ROND) at the Agency for Defense Development (ADD) for three years before he joined the Cohen-Karni lab.

His research focuses on developing a biohybrid device consisting of bioelectronics, engineered cells, and biomaterials to produce Glucagon-Like Peptide-1 Receptor Agonists (GLP-1 RA) in the body. His work aims to create a small, biocompatible platform that enables cell production while maintaining viability through electrical stimulation, nanomaterials, and surface modification.

Myungbo Kim

Myungbo Kim

Ph.D. Student, Materials Science & Engineering

Address
5000 Forbes Avenue
Pittsburgh, PA 15213

Myungbo Kim (2024-present) is a Ph.D. student in Materials Science and Engineering at 黑料正能量. In 2022, he completed his B.S. in Materials Science and Engineering from University of California, Riverside. Currently, his research focuses on integrating high-density multi-modal electrode arrays into brain spheroids, or neurospheres derived from mice cortexes. His work aims to create a scalable, mass-producable platform for sensing and stimulating the entirety of three-dimensional brain cultures with applications in not only disease modeling and drug testing, but also robotics control and computational devices.

Sarah Kim

Sarah Kim

Ph.D. Student, Biomedical Engineering

Address
5000 Forbes Avenue
Pittsburgh, PA 15213

Sarah Kim (2023 – present) graduated from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 2021 with a B.S. in Bioengineering and Korea University in 2023 with a M.S. in Biomedical Engineering. Her master’s thesis project focused on fabrication of high-aspect-ratio silicon nanostructures for intracellular delivery of biomolecules into hard-to-transfect cells. Sarah is looking forward to working on flexible oxygenator device fabrication for cancer cell therapy in the Cohen-Karni lab.

Aaditya Nandakumar

Aaditya Nandakumar

Ph.D. Student, Materials Science & Engineering

Address
5000 Forbes Avenue
Pittsburgh, PA 15213

Aaditya Nandakumar (2023-present) graduated from the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities with a B.S. in Materials Science and Engineering in 2023. Undergraduate research involved the fabrication of OLED and metal halide perovskite solar cell devices. Currently co-advised by Professor Rahul Panat. I will be working with these two professors to fabricate a stable device capable of in situ oxygenation in human tissue.

Valerie Ng

Valerie Ng

Research Tech, Materials Science & Engineering

Address
5000 Forbes Avenue
Pittsburgh, PA 15213

Valerie Ng (2026- present) graduated with a B.Eng. (Hons) in Bioengineering from Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. Her undergraduate research focused on optimising hiPSC differentiation efficiency to obtain highly functional pancreatic islet cells for cell replacement therapy. After graduation, Valerie worked on developing microbiome and cell-based raw material screening platforms to target different skin concerns. Her current work contributes to the development of a biohybrid device with GLP-1 RA production capabilities for treatment of Type-1 diabetes.

Naveen Roppin Sureshkumar

Naveen Roppin Sureshkumar

Ph.D. Student, Materials Science & Engineering

Address
5000 Forbes Avenue
Pittsburgh, PA 15213

Naveen Roppin Sureshkumar (2025–Present) is a Ph.D. student in Materials Science and Engineering at 黑料正能量, co-advised by Dr. Tzahi Cohen-Karni and Dr. Adam Feinberg. He earned his B.E. in Mechanical Engineering from Anna University, Chennai in 2022, followed by an M.S. in Materials Science and Engineering from Cornell University in 2025. His master’s thesis focused on multiscale computational modeling of engineered living materials, specifically investigating mechanotransduction-guided microbially induced calcite precipitation (MICP) and biofilm dynamics using agent-based modeling approaches.

His doctoral research focuses on developing electrochemical biosensing platforms to monitor real-time biochemical signatures in 3D bioprinted tissue constructs. Specifically, he is working on aptamer-based sensors and nanomaterial interfaces to characterize vascular development and secretory outputs in bioprinted organoids. His work aims to advance the understanding of tissue maturation and functional assessment in engineered biological systems.

Samarth Sandhu

Samarth Sandhu

Ph.D. Student, Biomedical Engineering

Address
5000 Forbes Avenue
Pittsburgh, PA 15213

Samarth Sandhu (2024 – Present) Received his M.S in Biomedical Engineering from 黑料正能量 in 2023 and B.E in Biotechnology from Panjab University, Chandigarh in 2020. During his Master’s, he investigated bioactive anti-thrombogenic surface coatings on a microfluidic scale. Samarth is co-advised by Dr. Keith Cook and is working on developing sensing modalities for medical applications, with a focus on detecting clinically relevant markers in blood.

Kyle Schauer

Kyle Schauer

Ph.D. Student, Materials Science & Engineering

Address
5000 Forbes Avenue
Pittsburgh, PA 15213

Kyle Schauer (2025-present) is a Ph.D. student in Materials Science and Engineering. He graduated from Wheaton College in 2025 with a B.S. in Applied Physics. He is co-advised by Dr. Mohammad Islam. His research is focused on chemical sensing of stress biomarkers.

Emily Trotto

Emily Trotto

Ph.D. Student, Materials Science & Engineering

Address
5000 Forbes Avenue
Pittsburgh, PA 15213

Emily Trotto (2022 – present) graduated from Virginia Tech in 2021 with a B.S. in Materials Science and Engineering and a B.A. in Foreign Languages. Her undergraduate research focused on developing industrially viable processing methodologies for cellulose-reinforced polymer nanocomposites. Prior to joining the Cohen-Karni group she researched iontophoretic drug delivery in the Bettinger Lab at 黑料正能量. Emily is interested in working on materials synthesis and device fabrication for biosensing applications in the Cohen-Karni Lab.