Meet the team!

Prof. Nako Nakatsuka

Nako  is a tenure track assistant professor at the Neuro-X Institute at EPFL. She was raised in Tokyo, Japan and moved to the U.S.A. for her Bachelor’s in Chemistry at Fordham University (Bronx, NY) and pursued her Ph.D. at UCLA (Los Angeles, CA). Upon receiving the prestigious ETH Zürich postdoctoral fellowship, she moved to Zürich, Switzerland and after her postdoc, remained as a senior scientist at the Laboratory of Biosensors and Bioelectronics. She led a team focused on interfacing DNA-based receptors called aptamers with nanoscale electronic biosensors to detect small molecules such as neurotransmitters. For this work, she was named an MIT Under 35 Pioneer in 2021, received the iCanX Young Scientist award in 2022, and the ACS Nano Lectureship award and Prix Zonta in 2023. She has mentored over 40 B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. students at the ETH Zürich.

Prof. Nakatsuka is also passionate about social justice, outreach, and education. She was awarded the Norma Stoddart Prize for Academic Excellence and Outstanding Citizenship in for her contributions in community outreach in Los Angeles combined with her scientific achievements. She also received the Hanson-Dow Excellence in Teaching Award for her exceptional teaching and dedication to students during her Ph.D at UCLA. She was an active member of the Diversity Team at ETH and contributed to initiatives that raised awareness and sparked discussions about anti-discrimination within Switzerland. She has also illustrated a children’s chemistry book: “A is for Atom: ABCs for Aspiring Chemists”.

Jessica Empain

Jessica studied German languages and literature at the University of Liège, and photography at SisA in Antwerp, Belgium. She traveled and worked throughout Europe both as an admin assistant and a French teacher for about 20 years, enjoying discovering new places, people, languages, and mentalities.

Jessica landed in Geneva in 2019, where she now works partially as a French teacher and as an admin assistant in EPFL, for two laboratories: INL and CHEMINA. At EPFL, she feels incredibly lucky to work in a multicultural environment, surrounded with good hearted/minded people. She likes that the word “assistant” takes its full meaning and is not only related to administration.

Annina Stuber

Annina is pursuing her PhD between the Laboratory of Biosensors and Bioelectronics (LBB) at ETH Zürich and the CHEMINA Lab at EPFL. She was born in Zürich but was raised in the U.S.A. She moved back to Switzerland at the age of 14 and completed her schooling in Lausanne. Annina did her bachelor’s in Life Science Technologies and then her master’s in Life Science Engineering, both at EPFL. She did one year of internships in different start-ups in the Netherlands, and did her master’s thesis at LBB, where she then continued with her PhD, working on aptamer-based neurotransmitter sensing. Her current projects focus on creating chemical sensors capable of measuring neurotransmitters, which could be deployed for diagnosis or monitoring of various neurodegenerative diseases.

Throughout her university studies, she was very active in different student associations and extracurricular activities. She played the cello in different orchestras, as well as being involved in a student association called “Ingénieurs du monde” (Engineers of the world). In this association, she was responsible for creating internships in low-income and economically developing countries (both in university settings or companies) for engineering students from various fields, studying at EPFL.

Nick Mahtani

Nick joined CHEMINA as a PhD student in January 2024, focusing on developing tools to interface with in-vitro models for the purpose of studying neuronal communication. He is driven to research in this field because of his fascination by the beautifully engineered design of the human body and a desire to reduce pain caused by diseases and disorders. Previously, he earned his master’s in Life Sciences Engineering at EPFL and he completed his thesis on engineering porous hydrogels for tendon tissue regeneration at the Mooney Lab of Cell and Tissue Engineering. Nick loves listening to audiobooks and might potentially hold the world record for the most number of listens to the Harry Potter audiobooks. He also loves to ski, dance, and play the guitar.

Lianxin Xu

With a passion for translating scientific breakthroughs into real-world benefits for the patients, Lianxin joined the CHEMINA Lab as a PhD student in April 2024. He will work on the development of novel nanoscale biosensors for the real-time monitoring of neurotransmitters. Hailing from China, he pursued his bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering from the cooperation program between East China University of Science and Technology and TU Clausthal in Germany and continued his master’s program in Chemical Engineering at Technical University of Munich (TUM). At TUM, he completed his master’s thesis in the Chair of Bioseparation Engineering, focusing on the application of nanoparticles in magnetic bioseparation. Besides that, he completed an industrial internship at Roche Basel and a research internship at NSEL, ETH Zürich. In his free time, Lianxin delights in exploring various sports, experimenting with diverse recipes, and immersing himself in the wonders of nature.

Hanna Grothe

Hanna is writing her master’s thesis between the Laboratory of Biosensors and Bioelectronics (LBB) at ETH Zürich and the CHEMINA Lab at EPFL. She was born close to Berlin, where she completed her bachelor in Biosystems Technology and Bioinformatics. There, she discovered her passion for biosensing, which she wanted to apply in the medical field. That’s why she started her master’s programme in molecular medicine, where she fell in love with neurons. So combining her both passions, Hanna is currently working on nanoscale biosensors to detect multiple neurotransmitters. Besides of that, she is active in scientific communication and writes scripts for a podcast to bring science closer to general public. She also loves hiking and baking and could probably live exclusively on chocolate. 

Kevin Roost

Kevin is currently working on his Master’s thesis, splitting his time between the Laboratory of Biosensors and Bioelectronics (LBB) at ETH Zurich and the Biointerfaces Laboratory at EMPA St. Gallen. He started his academic journey studying Biochemistry at the University of Zurich for his Bachelor’s degree before moving on to ETH Zurich for his Master’s in Health Sciences and Technology. His current project focuses on precisely patterning hydrogels with aptamers to construct an interactive 3D microenvironment tailored for cellular interactions. Outside of his studies, Kevin seeks adrenaline-fueled thrills in activities like freeskiing, motorcycling, and hiking/mountaineering. But when he needs to unwind, he uses creative outlets like digital art, including photography, videography, and animation, which also serve as a platform for his science communications pursuits, as he’s keen on connecting complex fields of expertise with the public.