Mijo Simunovic

The first days of animal embryo development are perhaps the most remarkable example of tissue self-organization in all of biology. This process comprises several key developmental milestones, including implantation, the separation of the embryo from the placenta, and gastrulation, which establishes the coordinate system on which all the future organs will form. Perhaps one of the oldest questions in biology is how, despite tremendous conservation in embryonic pathways, we develop into completely different-looking organisms — a human always looks like a human, and a mouse always looks like a mouse. If we understand these phenomena in great detail, we can harness them and faithfully mimic organ formation in a lab. At the interface of chemical engineering, developmental biology, and biophysics, Prof. Simunovic uses pluripotent stem cells to elucidate the molecular details and the biomechanics underlying early human embryogenesis and organogenesis, with goals to advancing reproductive and regenerative medicine and to faithfully modeling complex human diseases.

Prof. Simunovic received a PhD in Theoretical Chemistry from the University of Chicago and a second PhD in Condensed Matter Physics from the Curie Institute and the University of Paris 7.  As a Junior Fellow of the Simons Society of Fellows, Prof. Simunovic did postdoctoral work at The Rockefeller University, establishing one of the first 3D organoid models of the human embryo. In 2021 Prof. Simunovic received the NIH Director's New Innovator Award, the Science/AAAS & SciLifeLab Prize for Young Scientists in Cell and Molecular Biology in 2017, the Chancellor’s prize from the Sorbonne Universities in 2016, among others. Prof. Simunovic is a NYSCF Robertson Stem Cell Investigator, a Pew Biomedical Scholar, an Allen Distinguished Investigator, and a Schaefer Research Scholar.

Research Areas

• Biological and Life Science Engineering
• Synthetic Biology
• Stem Cell Engineering
• Biophysics