Georgios 'Yorgos' Katsikis
VP of Engineering @ Anthology Biotechnologies

VP of Engineering, Anthology Biotechnologies

Sep 2023 - ongoing

 

-     Integrating sensors & actuators, and programming in LabVIEW including FPGA, to develop custom electromechanical platforms for high-throughput microfluidic particle formation, biologics screening, gene delivery and scale-up biomanufacturing.
 

-     Designing custom metal and biocompatible plastic parts in SolidWorks CAD and Fusion 360.
 

-     Fabricating parts using CNC manufacturing, and rapid prototyping (3d-printing, laser engraving)
 

-     Managing three engineers (1 senior, 2 junior) in a pre-seed-stage start-up of 7 full-time people.

​

Research Scientist, MIT, Manalis Lab

Sep 2017 - Aug 2023

 

-     Used programmable liquid handling, robotics, machine vision in LabVIEW to develop an automated platform for vitrifying oocytes and embryos, publishing in Lab on Chip and filing patent.

- Completed entrepreneurship programs at the Engine and NSF Spark Regional I-Corps program for the commercialization of above platform. Conducted 60+ interviews, developed business model and milestones.

- Led a collaboration between MIT and Biomarin Pharmaceutical to develop nanofluidic MEMS platforms and instrumentation for high-throughput measurements of viruses for gene therapy, publishing in ACS Nano Letters. Work highlighted in cell & gene and Azonano.
 

- Researched on FDA-funded project for continuous bio-manufacturing of Adeno-associated viruses (AAV), publishing  two review papers in Biotechnology Advances, and Molecular Therapy: Methods & Clinical Development.
 

- Studied nanoparticles and cells via microfluidic experiments and COMSOL simulations, leading a team of 5 junior scientists, publishing  in Nature Communications, ACS sensors and Nature Methods.
 

- Developed mathematical models of biological processes, publishing work in Nature Communications.
 

- Presented my research via invitations in conferences (Bioprocess International, Bioprocess Summit) and biotechnology companies (Waters Corporation, ThermoFisher Scientific).

​

R&D Engineer, Carbon

​Jan 2016 - Sep 2017

 

- Developed instrumentation prototypes for new 3d-printer architecture systems, beyond mainstream printing platforms, like novel thermofluid methods to control the parameters of the 3-d printing process.
- Developed reduced-order models and finite-element algorithms to numerically predict, reverse-engineer and optimize the 3-d printing process.

- Developed new formulations of photopolymerizable resins with new properties.

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

PhD Researcher, Stanford University, Prakash Lab
Jul 2011-Mar 2016

 

- Developed a microfluidic platform for manipulating microdroplets using universal logic operations. Published 1st-author journal papers in Nature Physics, Soft Matter and Physical Review E highlighted in Stanford News, BBC News, The New York Times, and other media.
- Filed two patents.
- Mastered concepts of fluid mechanics, surface science and presented work in conferences.
- Gained hands-on experience in instrumentation and rapid prototyping (Solidworks/3-D printing, laser cutting). Programmed Arduino microcontrollers in C and controlled sensors.
- Developed soft lithography clean-room skills, created custom algorithms for image analysis/data processing in Matlab, created numerical models.
- Conducted biophysics research on human parasites: conducted high-speed video biological experiments, employed PIV techniques and developed image processing algorithms to analyze the swimming dynamics of the parasite causing the Schistosomiasis disease. Published this work in Nature Physics, also featured in Stanford News.
- Co-developed a low cost (<20 cents), hand-powered centrifuge for disease diagnostics in third world countries, capable of speeds up to 125,000 revolutions per minute, published in Nature Biomedical Engineering, featured in Stanford News and awarded a Med-Tech AIF-Stanford Innovation award.

 

 

Co-founder & mentor, Global Prep

Jun 2013-present

 

- Has taught over 30 on-line workshops about writing compelling statement of purpose letters for graduate school applications.
- Organized streaming sessions where 35 students/professionals from all over the world have given weekly on-line talks about their experiences from academia/industry.
- Organized 2 info seminars for graduate studies abroad with an attendance of 1500 students for each.

Graduate Researcher, National Technical University of Athens, Laboratory of Thermal Turbomachines

Nov 2008-May 2010
 

- Worked in the context of European Project NEWAC (New Aeroengine Core Concepts).
- Led a manufacturing team of five engineers to develop an experimental counter-rotating axial
compressor test-rig (See CAD model and 3-D animation). Applied machine-shop skills and lab electronics.
- Performed numerical simulations using a commercial package (Fluent) for Computational Fluid
Mechanics (CFD) to study the flow in a counter-rotating axial compressor.