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Helmholtz Munich / Almut Barden

Dr. Janna Nawroth

Principal Investigator Helmholtz Pioneer Campus

Research Area

Janna Nawroth received her PhD in Biology at the California Institute of Technology, where she studied the structure-function relationships of jellyfish propulsion and used these insights to engineer muscle powered pumps for biomedical research. For her postdoctoral training, she was awarded the Technology Development Fellowship at the Harvard University Wyss Institute. She developed Organ-Chips and advanced imaging technologies with Don Ingber and Kit Parker to study the mechanics of human heart, lung and liver tissues, before continuing this work at the Organ-Chip company Emulate and later at the University of Southern California. In 2020, Dr. Nawroth received an ERC Starting grant for studying the role of mechanical forces and defective mucociliary clearance in chronic airway disease.  In 2021, Dr. Nawroth joined the Helmholtz Pioneer Campus.

Professional Background

since 2021

Principal Investigator at Helmholtz Pioneer Campus, Helmholtz Munich

2019

Senior Research Associate at USC Keck School of Medicine and USC Viterbi School of Engineering, Los Angeles, CA, USA

2018

Associate Director, Research & Development Lead at Emulate Inc., Boston, MA

2016

Principal Investigator at Emulate Inc., Boston, MA, USA

2013

Postdoctoral Fellow & Technology Development Fellow, Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University, Boston, MA, USA

2013

Postdoctoral Fellow, Graduate Aerospace Laboratories, Division of Engineering & Applied Science, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USA

2007

Ph.D. Graduate Student, Division of Biology, California Institute of Technology,Pasadena, CA, USA

2005

Research Associate in Neurobiology, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, USA

2005

Industry Internship at Merck KGaA, Institute for Toxicology, Darmstadt, Germany

2004

Research Assistant (“Hiwi”) in Computational Neuroscience, Max-Planck-Institute for Medical Research, Heidelberg, Germany

2003

Research Assistant (“Hiwi”) in Computational Biology, German Cancer Research Center

Honors and Awards

  • Award Number One
    Here comes ehat this awar is about
    2013

  • Award Number Two
    Here comes ehat this awar is about
    2019

Networks and Affiliations

Technical University of Munich