I was born in Barcelona, Spain. I studied Physics at the University of Barcelona (B.S. in 1990) and I also did my Ph.D. there (1994, advisor: Prof. Javier Tejada) on the nanometer-scale modification of surfaces with atomic force microscopes (AFMs), scanning tunneling microscopes (STM), and scanning electron microscopes (SEMs). During my Ph.D. I was a visiting scientist at the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratories (1990-1992) under Dr. Miquel Salmeron's supervision. In 1994 I started a postdoctoral stay at MIT at the Dept. of Chemistry working on a collaborative project co-supervised by Prof. Mark Wrighton and Prof. Martin Schmidt (EECS Dept.), which consisted of microfabricating AFM tips for sensing applications. In 1997 I started another postdoctoral adventure, this time at Harvard-MGH (Center for Engineering in Medicine, Dr. Mehmet Toner's lab) where I applied microfabrication techniques to hepatic tissue engineering. In 2000 I moved to Seattle to start my own lab ... and I also got married with a neuroscientist I had met at Berkeley!​ ​

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My lab develops microfluidic devices to test multiple cancer drugs (and their combinations) on a small, live, and intact tumor biopsy in order to help doctors decide which treatment is most efficacious. Microfluidics is an excellent technological match for the challenge of probing live human tumors because the amount of tissue that is available from human donors is always scarce, and understanding the dynamics of tumor progression requires microscale tools.  We are microfluidic!​​ ​The lab uses digitally manufacturing techniques (3D-printing, laser cutting) to design microdevices that facilitate the advancement of translational cancer applications. The lab's long-term mission is to make microfluidic devices as easy to use as smartphones and make them easily avalable to clinicians in order to enable novel cancer diagnostics and therapies​​​. In 2001 I received an NSF Career Award.

 

As an outreach activity, my lab is also interested in producing photographic art forms of our work, a project we call BAIT (for ​Bringing ​Art Into ​Technology) which we exhibit in various venues. I enjoy writing and playing soccer.    

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