Elena Mancinelli Email & Phone Number

Milan, Lombardy, Italy

Leeds, England, United Kingdom

My project, conducted in the Bioelectronics group at the School of Electronic and Electrical Engineering, aimed to develop a reliable Organ-on-a-Chip system to recreate the blood-brain barrier (BBB). The BBB is a crucial biological barrier located at the interface between the microvasculature and the central nervous system (CNS).In my study, I introduced ultrathin, flexible, and transparent porous poly(d,l-lactic acid) (PDLLA) nanofilms to replicate basement membranes, which are nanometric layers of extracellular matrix lining blood vessels. I demonstrated the integration of PDLLA nanofilms into BBB-on-chip systems, validating them as viable substitutes for synthetic basement membranes in endothelial barrier in vitro models.Simultaneously, I studied the use of Aerosol Jet Printing to deposit PEDOT, a conductive polymer blend, as an alternative, precise, and stable micro-patterning approach for endothelial cell patterning and alignment within a microfluidic chamber.

York, United Kingdom

During my year spent as a Master By research student in Electronic Engineering at University of York, I focused on the study of interaction between bacteria, topic of paramount importance not only to harvest the full metabolic potential of the microbial world but also to deepen our understanding and treatment of infectious disease. I investigated the potential of microfluidic devices to study chemical interactions between different bacterial species individually cultured in independent growth chambers separated by hydrogel membranes. Two PDMS microfluidic platforms for culturing of individual bacterial species have been fabricated using Direct Laser Writing as lithography technique, and tested by inoculating with Escherichia coli. Bacterial growth within the microfluidic device was monitored using optical microscopy and an image processing algorithm developed to quantify bacterial growth at the single cell level. I performed computational models using COMSOL, to better understand fluid flow within the devices and subsequently used to optimise the design of a double-layer PDMS microfluidic bacterial culture system.

Baltimore, Maryland Area

Eight months experience at Johns Hopkins University under Ralph Etienne-Cummings supervision at Computational Sensory-Motor Systems Lab. During my stay I performed research focused on human visual saliency with the purpose of predicting and simulating how and where visual attention is directed if stimulated by a natural scene. I integrated previous studies focused on features extraction and proto objects creation, with tridimensional perception led by stereo vision and based on the creation of a depth disparity map. A scientific paper was written with my results and the paper was submitted to a IEEE conference in the United States. This experience has improved my propensity for teamwork as well as it has developed my adaptability in an international environment.

Torino, Italy

Six months' internship at LISiN, Torino, Italy during the last year of undergrad.I worked under the supervision of professor Marco Gazzoni performing hardwere solution analysis to reduce motion artifact during surface EMG acquisition in dynamic conditions with the realization and comparison of two type of cables. I autonomously menaged hardwere, acquisition and MATLAB post processing. This experience improved my technical skills and permited me to apply theory to pratical problems for the first time.

Master'S Degree, Bioengineering And Biomedical Engineering, 110/110 Cum Laude

During the two years of master in Biomedical Engineering I specialized my knowledge in the study of electronic biomedical instrumentation..

Bachelor'S Degree, Bioengineering And Biomedical Engineering, 101/110

Biomedical engineers work at the intersection between engineering, life sciences and health care, exploiting principles from applied.

Dimploma Scuola Secondaria Di Secondo Grado, 100/100

My scientific high school course included the study of French for all five years.

Education record

Education record