Faculty Profiles

Poulikakos’ research furthers the science and engineering of nanophotonic materials to controllably enhance, probe and influence naturally-occurring light-matter interactions on the nanoscale. Among the rich palette of societally-relevant applications enabled by nanoscale-light-design, her research interests include leveraging nanophotonic materials to exploit the interaction of biological matter with light. Fascinated by transdisciplinary challenges, the Poulikakos Lab explores how mechanical, chemical and thermal effects can transform the optical properties of biological systems. The resulting in-vivo and ex-vivo nanophotonic probes aim to elucidate the origin and propagation of a range of serious diseases, promising impact in low-cost medical diagnostics; rapid, on-chip biochemical drug testing or widely accessible, in-situ biomedical imaging.

Capsule Bio:

Lisa Poulikakos is an Assistant Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at UC San Diego. She received her PhD at ETH Zürich, where she introduced an original theoretical and experimental technique to enable the rational design of chiral nanophotonic systems. Her postdoctoral research at Stanford University focused on developing functional nanophotonic surfaces for all-optical and label-free cancer tissue diagnostics. Her lab at UC San Diego develops chiral and anisotropic nanophotonic materials e.g. for next-generation imaging. She is a recipient of the ETH Medal, awarded to outstanding doctoral theses, the L’Oréal USA For Women in Science Postdoctoral Fellowship, the Swiss National Science Foundation Early Postdoc Mobility Fellowship, the RCSA Scialog Fellowship for Advancing Bioimaging, the UC San Diego MRSEC New Investigator Award, the Beckman Young Investigator Award, the AFOSR Young Investigator Program Award, the Packard Fellowship for Science and Engineering and the IEM GEMINI Faculty Mentor Award.