Sara Nizzero Email & Phone Number

United States

Houston, Texas Area

Alumn of Rice University and University of Padova, scientific descendant of Dr. Mauro Ferrari. Hybrid experimentalist/physicist/modeler in the the Mathematics in Medicine program, lead by Dr. Vittorio Cristini. Leading multidisciplinary research on physics of cancer, with focus on immunology and clinical therapy improvement. Embedded in collaborative projects with Baylor College of Medicine, Rice University, MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston Methodist Research Institute, and the University of Basel, Switzerland.

Houston, Texas

Elected co-chair for the 2020 Gordon Research Seminar, physical sciences of cancer

Houston, Texas

Development of Multistage drug delivery model to optimize design for clinical applications in Cancer treatment.

Houston, Texas

Coordinated professional development and outreach activities for 800+ trainees within the Houston Methodist research institute. Lead a diverse team of 5+ people to develop new programs, activities and networking events. Initiated and lead the Harvey Trainee Response initiative to promptly address and respond to needs of the institute’s trainees after hurricane Harvey. Produced reports with detailed metrics on damage and need assessment in support of the response of the immigration offices to government surveys. Identified and initiated a motion to address specific administrative needs of trainees, which resulted in the systemic renovation of administrative protocols for trainees institution-wise.

Houston, Texas

Junior investigator representative for the center for immunotherapeutic transport Oncophysics at the Houston Methodist Research Institute (U54 NCI center grant for physical sciences of cancer)

Cambridge, Massachusetts

Continued work on computational platforms for optimizing design of nanoparticles-mediated drug delivery in blood flow.

Houston, Texas

Prepared class material, coordinated speaker schedules and presentations, assisted in lectures, provided support through the class for homework and assignments, encouraged student professional development and networking, developed new material and graded.

Zürich Area, Switzerland

Worked in a team to develop a new computational platform to model nanoparticles transport in blood, with the end goal of optimizing particle design strategy to improve tumor accumulation.

Houston, Texas

Developed single particle absorption spectroscopy technique. Expertise acquired in optics, optical systems, detectors, plasmonic particles, matlab, labview, imaging, photothermal absorption, data analysis, scientific writing, public speaking.

New Brunswick, New Jersey

Synthesized, characterized and modeled plasmonic particles (nano spheres, nanorods and nano stars). Developed skills in: optical and morphological characterization, optical modeling, matlab, comsol, data analysis, spectroscopy.

Marghera, Veneto, Italy

Developed quencher reported systems based on ultrasmall dye-doped silica nanoparticles for biosensing applications.

Batavia, Illinois

Optimized the collider detection trigger system for track recognition and reconstruction. Skills acquired: technical presentations, teamwork, data analysis, programming (C/Root)

Doctor Of Philosophy - Phd, Engineering Physics/Applied Physics

Activities and Societies: Rice Salseros, Rice Graduate Student Association, Rice Latin American Graduate Student Association, Rice.

Education record

Activities and Societies: Rice Salseros, Rice Graduate Student Association, Latin American Graduate Student Association, Rice Ballroom Team

Master’S Degree, Biophysics/Condensed Matter Physics

Bachelor’S Degree, Physics