Polina Anikeeva

Polina Anikeeva is a Professor in the Departments of Materials Science and Engineering and Brain and Cognitive Sciences at MIT, serving as Department Head of Materials Science and Engineering. She is an Associate Investigator at the McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Director of the K. Lisa Yang Brain-Body Center, and Associate Director of the Research Laboratory of Electronics. Anikeeva holds a PhD from MIT (2009) and received tenure in 2017. Her research focuses on developing advanced materials and bioelectronic interfaces for studying neural circuits, neuromodulation, and brain-body interactions. Key projects include magnetothermal stimulation, multifunctional neural probes, and implantable bioelectronics.

She has earned prestigious awards including the NSF CAREER Grant and DARPA Young Faculty Award. Her work bridges materials science, neuroscience, and engineering, with applications in neurotechnology, neuroimmunology, and regenerative medicine. Anikeeva’s labs pioneer technologies to interface with biological systems, emphasizing scalable fabrication and clinical translation.

Research interests span neural interface design, neuromodulation devices, and understanding neuro-endocrine interactions. Recent innovations include magnetomechanical neural stimulation, wireless gut-brain circuit mapping, and modular optoelectronic systems for in vivo studies. Her interdisciplinary approach addresses challenges in neurodegenerative diseases, neural regeneration, and translational neurotechnology.