Mikhail Shapiro

Mikhail Shapiro is an Assistant Professor of Chemical Engineering at the California Institute of Technology. His research is focused on the development of technologies to image and control biological function non-invasively at the molecular level. Dr. Shapiro received his PhD in Biological Engineering from MIT and BSc in Neuroscience from Brown. He conducted post-doctoral research in biophysics at the University of Chicago and was a Miller Fellow at UC Berkeley. Dr. Shapiro developed the first genetically engineered functional sensors for magnetic resonance imaging of the brain, discovered fundamental mechanisms by which infrared light stimulates neurons, and introduced the first protein-based molecular imaging agents for ultrasound. He has been awarded the Hertz, Soros, Miller and Life Science Research Foundation fellowships, the Hertz PhD Thesis Prize, the Burroughs Wellcome Career Award at the Scientific Interface, the DARPA Young Faculty Award and the Technology Review TR35 award for top innovators under age 35.