Maryam Tavafoghi joined Prof. Khademhosseini’s laboratory in Jun, 2018 as a postdoctoral fellow, and she is currently working on developing naturally-derived and mechanically strong hydrogels for tissue engineering applications.

Maryam obtained her BS in Materials Engineering from Shiraz University, Iran. She then left for Singapore to pursue a Master in Mechanical Engineering (manufacturing) at Nanyang Technological University (NTU), where she investigated hydro-chemical techniques that synthesized nanoparticles with a controllable size and morphology. Maryam completed her PhD degree in Materials Engineering at McGill University, Canada. Her PhD project investigated the effect of biomolecules, such as amino acids and non-collagenous proteins on bone mineralization in body. She also worked on developing bone scaffolds with improved osteogenic properties using a variety of surface modification approaches. After her PhD, Maryam received a competitive fellowship (Mitacs Elevate) for a postdoctoral training at University of Toronto. Here, she worked on an industrial project and developed a natural and environment-friendly strategy based on polysaccharide nanomaterials to control unwanted bacterial contamination. Overall, Maryam has gained a solid foundation in a variety of biointerfaces and biomaterial systems owing to work in diverse research environments, and she aims to employ her skills and abilities to make advancement in the field of bioengineering and regenerative medicine. Maryam’s office is located in the 6^th floor laboratory, CNSI 6549. Feel free to refer to her for any questions, or you can reach out to her at tavafoghi@g.ucla.edu.