Mehdi Nikkhah

Mehdi Nikkhah is Professor of Biomedical Engineering at Arizona State University's School of Biological and Health Systems Engineering, leading research at the intersection of micro/nanotechnology, biomaterials, and biology to develop disease models and regenerative therapies. His work has yielded over 70 journal articles (12,500+ citations, H-index 51) and 9 US patents focused on cardiac and cancer applications.

His educational background includes:

• Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering, Virginia Tech
• M.Sc. in Mechanical Engineering, Villanova University
• M.Sc. in Biomedical Engineering, Amirkabir University of Technology (Tehran Polytechnic)
• B.Sc. in Mechanical Engineering, Amirkabir University of Technology (Tehran Polytechnic)
• Postdoctoral Fellowship, Harvard Medical School/Brigham and Women's Hospital

Dr. Nikkhah's research centers on disease modeling on-a-chip systems, with particular emphasis on tumor microenvironment dynamics in breast cancer metastasis and electroconductive cardiac tissue engineering. His lab pioneers microfluidic platforms integrating stem cells and biomaterials to study stromal-immune crosstalk, cancer progression mechanisms, and cardiac tissue responses to nanomaterials. Current work leverages single-cell analysis to decode cellular interactions within engineered disease models.

Analysis of his 2023-2025 publications reveals dominant themes in on-chip cancer modeling (particularly breast cancer stromal-immune interactions) and conductive biomaterials for cardiac tissue. His team increasingly employs single-cell transcriptomics with microengineered platforms to dissect metastatic mechanisms, while advancing nanoparticle-enhanced cardiac scaffolds that improve tissue maturation and electrophysiological function.

Major awards include:

• NSF CAREER Award (2017)
• Arizona Flinn Foundation Award (2019-2020)
• ACS Young Investigator Award (2017)
• BMES Fellow Award (2014)
• NIH F32 Postdoctoral Fellowship (2013)

Dr. Nikkhah mentors over 55 trainees from diverse backgrounds while securing significant funding including NIH R01 grants on glioblastoma invasion and NSF awards for cardiac nanomaterial studies. His lab develops microengineered tumor models to investigate drug resistance and conductive cardiac patches for myocardial repair, with current projects examining perivascular niches in cancer and electromechanical responses to gold nanomaterials.

The Nikkhah Lab provides a collaborative environment for students to develop microscale platforms, tissue engineering constructs, and cancer models, aiming to translate bioengineering innovations into solutions for global health challenges through interdisciplinary approaches.