Dr. Laura Niklason

Biography

Laura Niklason is a Professor at the Yale School of Medicine, where she holds positions in the Department of Anesthesiology and the Department of Biomedical Engineering. Her research primarily focuses on regenerative strategies for cardiovascular and lung tissues, aiming to develop engineered blood vessels for clinical use. Niklason's lab has made significant advances, including work on engineering whole lung tissue for gas exchange, which was recognized as one of the top 50 important inventions of the year by Time Magazine in 2010. She was inducted into the National Academy of Inventors in 2014 and elected to the National Academy of Medicine in 2015. Niklason completed her PhD in Biophysics at the University of Chicago and her MD at the University of Michigan. She has also completed residency training in anesthesia and intensive care medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital and post-doctoral training at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Her ongoing research involves preclinical studies in large animals to validate methods for generating engineered tissues 'off the shelf' and exploring the immune response to implanted vascular grafts.

Research Interests