Meet the team!

Prof. Nako Nakatsuka

Nako  is a tenure track assistant professor at the Neuro-X Institute at EPFL. She was raised in Tokyo, Japan and moved to the U.S.A. for her Bachelor’s in Chemistry at Fordham University (Bronx, NY) and pursued her Ph.D. at UCLA (Los Angeles, CA). Upon receiving the prestigious ETH Zürich postdoctoral fellowship, she moved to Zürich, Switzerland and after her postdoc, remained as a senior scientist at the Laboratory of Biosensors and Bioelectronics. She led a team focused on interfacing DNA-based receptors called aptamers with nanoscale electronic biosensors to detect small molecules such as neurotransmitters. For this work, she was named an MIT Under 35 Pioneer in 2021, received the iCanX Young Scientist award in 2022, and the ACS Nano Lectureship award and Prix Zonta in 2023. She has mentored over 40 B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. students at the ETH Zürich.

Prof. Nakatsuka is also passionate about social justice, outreach, and education. She was awarded the Norma Stoddart Prize for Academic Excellence and Outstanding Citizenship in for her contributions in community outreach in Los Angeles combined with her scientific achievements. She also received the Hanson-Dow Excellence in Teaching Award for her exceptional teaching and dedication to students during her Ph.D at UCLA. She was an active member of the Diversity Team at ETH and contributed to initiatives that raised awareness and sparked discussions about anti-discrimination within Switzerland. She has also illustrated a children’s chemistry book: “A is for Atom: ABCs for Aspiring Chemists”.

Jessica Empain

Jessica studied German languages and literature at the University of Liège, and photography at SisA in Antwerp, Belgium. She traveled and worked throughout Europe both as an admin assistant and a French teacher for about 20 years, enjoying discovering new places, people, languages, and mentalities.

Jessica landed in Geneva in 2019, where she now works partially as a French teacher and as an admin assistant in EPFL, for two laboratories: INL and CHEMINA. At EPFL, she feels incredibly lucky to work in a multicultural environment, surrounded with good hearted/minded people. She likes that the word “assistant” takes its full meaning and is not only related to administration.

Emily Schafer

Emily is a postdoctoral fellow in the CHEMINA lab originally from the United States (Grand Rapids, MI). She received her Bachelor’s degree in Biomedical Engineering & Neuroscience in 2018 from Vanderbilt University (Nashville, TN) where her interest in research began, helping to build organ-on-chip devices for studying breast cancer metastasis to the brain. She then earned her Master’s and Ph.D. degrees from Northwestern University (Evanston, IL) in 2022 and 2024, respectively, in the Laboratory for Organic & Hybrid Bioelectronics under the supervision of Prof. Jonathan Rivnay. During her Ph.D., her research combined advances from the fields of bioelectronics and synthetic biology to develop sensors to measure ions and neurotransmitters. Emily received the prestigious Neuro-X Postdoctoral Fellowship from EPFL for a collaborative project with the Laboratory for Soft Bioelectronic Interfaces (LSBI) that aims to create aptamer-integrated flexible electronics for dual chemical and electrical sensing.

Outside of the lab, Emily has long held passions for education, science communication, and science policy. She is a strong advocate for building scientific literacy amongst non-scientists and her favorite experiences doing this have included hosting a science podcast, giving science talks at local senior homes, and even teaching the “magic” of science at Comic-Con. She credits the influence of organizations like the Science Polic Outreach Taskforce (SPOT) at Northwestern University and the National Science Policy Network (NSPN) in helping her build these passions and hopes to have a career as a scientist that makes science more impactful and accessible.

Jokubas Surgailis

Jokubas Surgailis completed his undergraduate studies in the University of Glasgow in Electronics and Electrical Engineering and recently finished his PhD in n-type mixed conductor operation in aqueous media for bioelectronic applications in King Abdullah University of Science and Technology. Now, Jokubas has joined the CHEMINA Lab at EPFL as a new postdoc, with the goal of combining his experience in engineering and bioelectronic materials to advance the frontiers of biomedical sensing platforms for detecting the biomarkers of neurodegenerative conditions, such as Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s diseases.

Annina Stuber

Annina is pursuing her PhD between the Laboratory of Biosensors and Bioelectronics (LBB) at ETH Zürich and the CHEMINA Lab at EPFL. She was born in Zürich but was raised in the U.S.A. She moved back to Switzerland at the age of 14 and completed her schooling in Lausanne. Annina did her bachelor’s in Life Science Technologies and then her master’s in Life Science Engineering, both at EPFL. She did one year of internships in different start-ups in the Netherlands, and did her master’s thesis at LBB, where she then continued with her PhD, working on aptamer-based neurotransmitter sensing. Her current projects focus on creating chemical sensors capable of measuring neurotransmitters, which could be deployed for diagnosis or monitoring of various neurodegenerative diseases.

Throughout her university studies, she was very active in different student associations and extracurricular activities. She played the cello in different orchestras, as well as being involved in a student association called “Ingénieurs du monde” (Engineers of the world). In this association, she was responsible for creating internships in low-income and economically developing countries (both in university settings or companies) for engineering students from various fields, studying at EPFL.

Nick Mahtani

Nick joined CHEMINA as a PhD student in January 2024, focusing on developing tools to interface with in-vitro models for the purpose of studying neuronal communication. He is driven to research in this field because of his fascination by the beautifully engineered design of the human body and a desire to reduce pain caused by diseases and disorders. Previously, he earned his master’s in Life Sciences Engineering at EPFL and he completed his thesis on engineering porous hydrogels for tendon tissue regeneration at the Mooney Lab of Cell and Tissue Engineering. Nick loves listening to audiobooks and might potentially hold the world record for the most number of listens to the Harry Potter audiobooks. He also loves to ski, dance, and play the guitar.

Lianxin Xu

With a passion for translating scientific breakthroughs into real-world benefits for the patients, Lianxin joined the CHEMINA Lab as a PhD student in April 2024. He will work on the development of novel nanoscale biosensors for the real-time monitoring of neurotransmitters. Hailing from China, he pursued his bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering from the cooperation program between East China University of Science and Technology and TU Clausthal in Germany and continued his master’s program in Chemical Engineering at Technical University of Munich (TUM). At TUM, he completed his master’s thesis in the Chair of Bioseparation Engineering, focusing on the application of nanoparticles in magnetic bioseparation. Besides that, he completed an industrial internship at Roche Basel and a research internship at NSEL, ETH Zürich. In his free time, Lianxin delights in exploring various sports, experimenting with diverse recipes, and immersing himself in the wonders of nature.

Hanna Grothe

Hanna is writing her master’s thesis between the Laboratory of Biosensors and Bioelectronics (LBB) at ETH Zürich and the CHEMINA Lab at EPFL. She was born close to Berlin, where she completed her bachelor in Biosystems Technology and Bioinformatics. There, she discovered her passion for biosensing, which she wanted to apply in the medical field. That’s why she started her master’s programme in molecular medicine, where she fell in love with neurons. So combining her both passions, Hanna is currently working on nanoscale biosensors to detect multiple neurotransmitters. Besides of that, she is active in scientific communication and writes scripts for a podcast to bring science closer to general public. She also loves hiking and baking and could probably live exclusively on chocolate. 

Sandra Hernández Escobar

Sandra is currently pursuing her master’s thesis at the CHEMINA lab at EPFL. Originally from Madrid, she studied Materials Science Engineering, which sparked her curiosity for biomaterials and motivated her to pursue the Life Sciences Engineering Master at EPFL. Throughout her time at EPFL, she has taken on teaching roles and developed an interest in neuro applications.

Sandra is passionate about advancing medical devices towards the clinics. Beyond academics, she is an sports enthusiast, often spending her weekends climbing or trail running in the mountains.

Yide Jiao

Yide is currently pursuing his master’s thesis at CHEMINA, EPFL. Originally from China, he completed his undergraduate studies in Material Science and Technology. After graduation, he gained valuable experience working in a lab specializing in microfabrication using ultrafast lasers. In 2022, he moved to Switzerland to further his education in Microengineering, with a minor in Biomedical Engineering at EPFL.

During his time in Lausanne, Yide developed a keen interest in biosensing through various coursework and lab projects. Intrigued by the research focus at CHEMINA, he joined the team in September 2024, where he is working on developing technology for aptamer-functionalized nanopipettes. Outside of his academic pursuits, Yide enjoys traveling to different cities to explore diverse culinary cultures.

Marta Nikić

As a visiting PhD student from Technical University Munich, Marta joined CHEMINA in September 2024. Previously, she earned her master degree in physics at the University of Zagreb, Croatia before moving to Munich, Germany to pursue a more biosensing- and microfabrication-based continuation of her education. Her research focuses on the possible implementation of nanoparticles in biosensing approaches, but also includes micro and macro electrode fabrication. During her stay at EPFL, she will combine aptamers and metal nanoparticles and try to exploit their specific electrochemical and physical properties to facilitate an easy readout of the sensing strategy. In her free time, Marta loves to go hiking or visiting different cities, with emphasis on trying out different cuisines.