Constantine Tzouanas is a Hertz Fellow and NSF Graduate Research Fellow in the Harvard-MIT Health Sciences and Technology program, pursuing a PhD in Medical Engineering and Medical Physics with a concentration in Biological Engineering.

In the Shalek lab, he researches how the properties and interactions of individual cells produce the emergent phenomena needed for tissue/organism-level function, but go awry in disease states. His work combines technology development, bioinformatics, and wet lab experimentation to bring hard engineering rigor to the squishy world of biology.

As an undergraduate at Rice University, he majored in Bioengineering and minored in Neuroscience. He received the Goldwater Scholarship and worked on circuit neuroscience in the lab of Prof. Jacob Robinson, developing microfluidic devices to uncover principles of neural plasticity in the immortal jellyfish Hydra vulgaris.

Outside of research and coursework at MIT and Harvard, Constantine serves as an officer of the MIT Biotech Group and in the Harvard-MIT Health Sciences and Technology Joint Council. In his free time, Constantine enjoys running, ultimate frisbee, and baking. As mildly interesting trivia facts, his current favorite upbeat indie band is Saint Motel, and his childhood dream job was to become a skyscraper architect.