Roberta first joined the Laboratory for Stem Cells and Tissue Engineering in 2017 as a lab tech after graduating from Columbia University with a B.S. in Biomedical Engineering. During her time as a technician, her research focused on applying gene editing approaches to stem cells in order to better model and treat cardiovascular diseases. Interested in the potential in vitro engineered tissues hold for enabling personalized therapies and disease models, she remained in the lab to pursue a PhD beginning in 2019. Her current work focuses on using human engineered cardiac tissues as a platform to explore sexual dimorphisms in human cardiac (patho)physiological function. In her free time, Roberta enjoys ballroom dancing, reading good books, completing challenging puzzles, and hanging out with her cat.
PhD Student