Samira Azarin

Chemical Engineering and Materials Science
College of Science & Engineering
Twin Cities

Award Year
2021
University Award
McKnight Presidential Fellow Award

Engineering healthy and diseased tissue environments to develop novel therapies

Samira Azarin studies the role of the cell microenvironment in the development and function of healthy and diseased tissues to enable fundamental insights into biological mechanisms, develop model systems for drug discovery, and design biomaterials that direct the behavior of cells and tissues in the body. A major focus of her research program is to combine cell and tissue engineering with novel biomaterial platforms to address current therapeutic roadblocks in the treatment of cancer, including metastatic spread and drug resistance, with the aim of improving clinical outcomes for patients with any types of cancer.