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Home  /  Faculty  /  Mikhail G. Shapiro

Mikhail G. Shapiro

Research Summary
Molecular and cellular engineering; Non-invasive imaging and control of biological function; Cell and gene therapy; Neuroscience; Cancer; Nanotechnology; Synthetic biology
Profile

Assistant: Irina Meininger

The Shapiro group develops molecular technologies for noninvasive imaging and control of cellular function, and uses these technologies to study basic biology and create cellular diagnostics and therapeutics.

Many important biological processes occur deep inside living organisms. Their study requires technologies to image and manipulate cellular and molecular function non-invasively. To develop such technologies, we pursue fundamental advances at the interface of molecular and cellular engineering with various forms of energy: acoustic, magnetic, mechanical, thermal and chemical. Our work takes advantage of naturally evolved biological structures with unique physical properties, which we use as starting points for engineering.

Our key biophysical methods include ultrasound and magnetic resonance , and our primary biological interests are in neuroscience, cancer, microbiology and immunology.

Publications

For a complete publications list, see feeds.library.caltech.edu
2025-26
ChE 103 abc. Transport Phenomena. 9 units (3-0-6); first, second, third terms, 2025-26. Prerequisites: ACM 95/100 ab or concurrent registration; ChE 101 required for ChE 103 c or instructor's permission. A rigorous development of the basic differential equations of conservation of momentum, energy, and mass in fluid systems. Solution of problems involving fluid flow, heat transfer, and mass transfer.
Instructors: Fong (a), Shapiro (b), Manthiram (c)
ChE/BE/MedE 188. Molecular Imaging. 9 units (3-0-6); second term, 2025-26. Prerequisites: Ch/Bi 110, ChE 101 and ACM 95 or equivalent. This course will cover the basic principles of biological and medical imaging technologies including magnetic resonance, ultrasound, nuclear imaging, fluorescence, bioluminescence and photoacoustics, and the design of chemical and biological probes to obtain molecular information about living systems using these modalities. Topics will include nuclear spin behavior, sound wave propagation, radioactive decay, photon absorption and scattering, spatial encoding, image reconstruction, statistical analysis, and molecular contrast mechanisms. The design of molecular imaging agents for biomarker detection, cell tracking, and dynamic imaging of cellular signals will be analyzed in terms of detection limits, kinetics, and biological effects. Participants in the course will develop proposals for new molecular imaging agents for applications such as functional brain imaging, cancer diagnosis, and cell therapy.
Instructor: Shapiro
2022-23
ChE 103 abc. Transport Phenomena. 9 units (3-0-6); first, second, third terms, 2022-23. Prerequisites: ACM 95/100 ab or concurrent registration; ChE 101 required for ChE 103 c or instructor's permission. A rigorous development of the basic differential equations of conservation of momentum, energy, and mass in fluid systems. Solution of problems involving fluid flow, heat transfer, and mass transfer.
Instructors: Kornfield (a), Shapiro (b), Manthiram (c)
ChE/BE/MedE 188. Molecular Imaging. 9 units (3-0-6); second term, 2022-23. Prerequisites: Ch/Bi 110, ChE 101 and ACM 95 or equivalent. This course will cover the basic principles of biological and medical imaging technologies including magnetic resonance, ultrasound, nuclear imaging, fluorescence, bioluminescence and photoacoustics, and the design of chemical and biological probes to obtain molecular information about living systems using these modalities. Topics will include nuclear spin behavior, sound wave propagation, radioactive decay, photon absorption and scattering, spatial encoding, image reconstruction, statistical analysis, and molecular contrast mechanisms. The design of molecular imaging agents for biomarker detection, cell tracking, and dynamic imaging of cellular signals will be analyzed in terms of detection limits, kinetics, and biological effects. Participants in the course will develop proposals for new molecular imaging agents for applications such as functional brain imaging, cancer diagnosis, and cell therapy.
Instructor: Shapiro
2019-20
ChE 103 abc. Transport Phenomena. 9 units (3-0-6); first, second, third terms, 2019-20. Prerequisites: ACM 95/100 ab or concurrent registration, or instructor's permission. A rigorous development of the basic differential equations of conservation of momentum, energy, and mass in fluid systems. Solution of problems involving fluid flow, heat transfer, and mass transfer.
Instructors: Kornfield, Shapiro, Flagan