Boston, Massachusetts, United States
I'm a biomedical engineer who builds perfusion systems for vascular biology. Most of what we know about blood vessels comes from cells in static dishes, far from the flowing environment they live in. For the past eight years I've worked on closing that gap, designing microphysiological platforms that let endothelial cells experience physiological flow and produce data static culture can't. Most recently I built PropelFLOW, a scalable closed-loop perfusion platform. With it, I ran a mechanobiology screen across six human endothelial cell subtypes under physiological shear, using RNA-seq to map how different vascular beds respond to flow, relevant to atherosclerosis, endothelial dysfunction, and vascular aging. My background is in mechanical engineering, so when the equipment I need doesn't exist, I build it, from 3D-printed perfusion pumps to soft robots. I'm relocating to the Bay Area in 2026 and exploring industry roles in vascular biology, microphysiological systems, and perfusion platforms. If you're working on complex in vitro models, I'd be glad to connect.
Chris Chen lab Established and lead the development of high-throughput perfusion platforms for complex in vitro models of vascular biology. Built PropelFLOW, a scalable closed-loop system sustaining long-term flow culture (>30 days) of primary human endothelial cells, 3D capillary beds, and co-culture constructs. Ran a large-scale endothelial mechanobiology screen across 6 primary human EC subtypes under physiological shear, integrating bulk RNA-seq to define vessel-type-specific disease-relevant signatures. Additional expertise in ex-vivo murine tissue work and perfusion-integrated organ models.
Chris Chen lab Established and lead the development of high-throughput perfusion platforms for complex in vitro models of vascular biology. Built PropelFLOW, a scalable closed-loop system sustaining long-term flow culture (>30 days) of primary human endothelial cells, 3D capillary beds, and co-culture constructs. Ran a large-scale endothelial mechanobiology screen across 6 primary human EC subtypes under physiological shear, integrating bulk RNA-seq to define vessel-type-specific disease-relevant signatures. Additional expertise in ex-vivo murine tissue work and perfusion-integrated organ models.
Brigham & Women's Hospital, Shrike Zhang's lab
1st Commando Battalion