Photo: Dr. Jaimie Stewart on the left and Dr. Mireille Kamariza on the right.
UCLA Bioengineering is happy to be welcoming 2 new extraordinary faculty: Dr. Mireille Kamariza, Ph.D. and Dr. Jaimie Stewart, Ph.D. into our department! Dr. Kamariza will be joining the department in January 2023 and Dr. Stewart will be joining shortly after in July 2023.
Mireille is a Junior Fellow at the Society of Fellows at Harvard University. With a background in chemical biology, infectious disease research, she researches new tools to selectively probe molecular activity of live cells, in real-time, with versatile applications in research and medicine. Prior to her appointment at Harvard, she completed her doctoral studies in Biology at Stanford University where she developed a new diagnostic technology for the rapid and simple detection of tuberculosis (TB) at the point-of-care. Her work was translated into a public benefit corporation and, as a co-Founder of OliLux Biosciences, Inc. — a company dedicated to providing low-cost, portable and reliable diagnostic devices in low-resource settings — she continues to serve the underserved and underrepresented populations. She also hold a masters degree from the University of California, Berkeley in Molecular and Cell Biology and a bachelors degree from the University of California, San Diego in Biochemistry and Chemistry.
Jaimie is currently a Postdoctoral Fellow at the California Institute of Technology. Her research focuses on the design, synthesis, and characterization of DNA and RNA structures for the detection and separation of biomolecules. To add on, her research will present insight into RNA self-assembly and advance research strategies for the creation of novel biomaterials for disease detection and regenerative medicine. She received a Ph.D. in Bioengineering from the University of California, Riverside, where she studied the self-assembly principles of RNA molecules and a B.S. in Bioengineering with a concentration in cell and tissue engineering and a minor in Italian from the University of Illinois at Chicago.
The appointment still requires Academic Senate approval.