One of the most remarkable features of living organisms is their ability to adapt to uncertain and noisy environments. Over billions of years, evolution has equipped cells with sophisticated regulatory mechanisms that enable this property, known as homeostasis. When these mechanisms fail, the consequences can be severe, leading to diseases such as cancer and autoimmunity. Current therapies, ranging from drugs to cell-based interventions, struggle to produce consistent outcomes across diverse patient populations. In many cases, achieving reliable therapeutic responses remains a major challenge.
My work lies at the intersection of synthetic biology and control theory, an emerging field known as cybergenetics, which aims to engineer living cells with built-in control systems. These systems can sense, decide, and act to restore disrupted biological regulation.
During my PhD with the Khammash group at ETH Zurich, I focus on designing cell-based therapies that function as living feedback controllers. I have developed high-throughput genomic integration methods and an optogenetic digital twin platform to enable the rational engineering of these systems in mammalian cells (preprint, 2026). I am applying these approaches to engineer advanced controller topologies and deploy them for robust immune regulation.
Previously, during my MSc, I contributed to the modeling and experimental realization of proportional-integral feedback circuits for robust and precise regulation in mammalian cells (PNAS, 2022).
