Juan Beltran-Huarac

Dr. Juan Beltran-Huarac is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Physics at East Carolina University (ECU). His research focuses on magnetic nanoformulations and bionanotechnology, particularly in cancer treatment and MRI contrast agents. He holds a PhD in Chemical Physics from the University of Puerto Rico (2014), followed by postdoctoral research at Harvard University (2016-2018) and UNC Chapel Hill (2018-2019).

His work emphasizes developing safe-by-design nanomaterials for therapeutic and diagnostic applications, including magnetic actuation of tumor cells and non-invasive cancer imaging. Key research areas include nano-bio interactions under physical stimuli, magnetic therapy mechanisms, and relaxivity-tunable contrast agents.

• Primary research lab: Huarac Lab
• Specializes in: Magnetic nanoparticles, nanomedicine, nanotoxicology

Recent achievements include the Ralph E. Powe Junior Faculty Enhancement Award (2020) and NSF I-Corps Site Award. His lab evaluates nanomaterial cytotoxicity and explores magneto-mechanical actuation for cancer therapy.

Teaching includes PHYS 3416/3417 (Modern Physics), PHYS 3718 (Undergraduate Research), and BIO 3504 (Research in Biology). He mentors undergraduate, graduate, and high school students in nanotechnology research.