Sina Kheiri, PhD

Dr. Sina Kheiri is an Assistant Professor of Surgery at McGill University, where he holds the Jarislowsky Endowed Research Chair in Translational Oncology and a Junior Scientist appointment at the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre (RI-MUHC).

His main interest has always been using engineering phenomena and tools to better understand biology and control biological processes. This drove him to pursue a master’s degree in applied science at the University of British Columbia, followed by a PhD in Mechanical Engineering at the University of Toronto, co-supervised by Prof. Edmond Young and Prof. Eugenia Kumacheva, where he focused on microfluidics, organ-on-a-chip systems, and biofluid mechanics in cancer. Recognizing vascularization as a central, unmet challenge in building physiologically relevant tissue models, he then pursued postdoctoral training at MIT as an NSERC Postdoctoral Fellow, working with Prof. Roger Kamm and Prof. Ritu Raman, where he focused on mechanobiology and vascularized microphysiological systems (MPS).

Dr. Kheiri's research develops human-relevant tumor MPS, combining microfluidics, biomanufacturing, and computational approaches to recreate the structure and function of human tissues, with a strong interest in solid tumor and cancer models. His work has been recognized with the Douglas R. Colton Medal for Research Excellence, the CBMS Young Researcher Grant, and the Barbara and Frank Milligan Fellowship.