Sapna Sinha holds a DPhil degree in Materials Science from the University of Oxford (2020), and Chemical Engineering degree from Nagoya University, Japan (2016). She trained as an engineer and materials scientist, working at the interface of physics and chemistry to study the structural, physical, and electronic properties of different types of zero, one and two-dimensional materials. She developed novel synthetic approaches to use ultrathin graphene as a substrate for advanced transmission electron microscopy. Using these methodologies, Sapna studied the behavior and structures of single atoms, molecules, Endohedral Fullerenes, and other 2D materials down to the atomic level. She is currently a Schmidt Science Fellow at MIT, working at the McGovern Institute on integrating Optogenetics with the human body, to open up a new generation of optical input-output interfaces to the brain and body. Prior to expanding into Neuro-Immunology at MIT, she also held a faculty position at the Nanoscience and Nanotechnology Centre at Osaka University, Osaka, working jointly with AIST national lab at Tsukuba, Japan. Sapna's current research interests lie at the intersection of nanomaterials and biology, using tools from materials science and engineering to develop novel therapeutics for the nervous system, especially in the context of the spinal cord.
Kyriakos Porfyrakis graduated with a Chemical Engineering degree from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece, in 1995. He was awarded an MSc in Environmental Technology from UMIST, Manchester, UK (1996). He graduated with a DPhil in Materials Science from the University of Oxford in 2000. He then worked as a Postdoctoral Research Associate in the Department of Materials, University of Oxford (2001–2008). He became the Head of the Carbon Nanomaterials Laboratory in the Department of Materials, University of Oxford (2008–2019). From 2013 to 2018, he was an EPSRC Fellow in the Department of Materials, University of Oxford, and then between 2016 and 2019, was an Associate Professor of Materials in the same Department. Since 2019, he has held the Chair of Materials and Chemical Engineering at the Faculty of Engineering and Science, University of Greenwich, London. His research interests include the synthesis, characterization, and chemical functionalization of carbon nanomaterials such as endohedral fullerenes, carbon nanotubes, and graphene.
