Objectives
The objective of this IMPSS interest group is to engage with early career scientists within the microphysiological systems field to provide opportunities to learn, network, and present, in order to build a positive and supportive IMPSS early career community.
Short Term Goals:
- To establish needs of early career IMPSS members.
- To set up a social media community for the interest group.
- To host a series of career development workshops.
Long Term Goals:
- To create a platform to host MPS job openings.
- To create an online community forum to allow members to engage with each other.
- To establish an MPS mentoring program to support early career members.
Chairs
Ana Mora-Boza
Ana Mora-Boza is a Tenure Track Assistant Professor at the School of Life Sciences at the Technical University of Munich (TUM, Germany). She earned her PhD in Materials Science and Engineering from Universidad Carlos III de Madrid (Spain) in 2020 and completed postdoctoral training at the Georgia Institute of Technology (USA) and at the University of Galway (Ireland), supported by a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Global Postdoctoral Fellowship. She leads the Chair of Organoid Systems and Biointerfaces at TUM, and her research focuses on developing organoid-based and microphysiological systems using cell-instructive synthetic biomaterials to study tissue function, chronic inflammatory diseases, and women’s health, with a strong emphasis on engineering predictive human models that reduce animal experimentation and enable personalized therapies. Outside of research, she enjoys gardening and watercolor painting.
Jack R. Thornton
Dr. Jack R. Thornton is a Postdoctoral Fellow at Johns Hopkins University (US). He earned his PhD in Stem Cell Biology and Neuroscience from Newcastle University (UK) in 2023, where his work centred on neural differentiation and the development of human in vitro models of nociception. His current research focuses on developing human brain organoids integrated with microglia to model neurofibromatosis type 1, neuroimmune interactions, and the foundations of organoid intelligence. At Johns Hopkins, Jack also contributes to community leadership as Co-Chair of the Bloomberg School of Public Health Committee for the Johns Hopkins Postdoctoral Association, Postdoctoral Representative for the department of Environmental Health and Engineering, and member of the management committee for the Annual Postdoctoral Conference. Outside of research, he enjoys calligraphy and exploring the outdoors through hiking and bushcraft.