Nina Tandon facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Nina Tandon
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Tandon ain 2014
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Nina Marie Tandon
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| Title | CEO of EpiBone |
Nina Marie Tandon is an American biomedical engineer. She is the CEO and co-founder of EpiBone. This company works on growing new bones in a lab. Nina is also a professor of Electrical Engineering at Cooper Union. She is a senior fellow at Columbia University. She was a TED Fellow in 2011 and a senior TED Fellow in 2012.
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Nina's Early Life and Interests
Nina Tandon grew up in New York City on Roosevelt Island. She has one brother and two sisters. When she was a child, Nina became interested in science. This happened because her siblings had eye conditions. Her family encouraged her and her siblings to try science experiments. Nina loved taking apart TVs and building things. She also enjoyed playing with static electricity.
Besides science, Nina liked puzzles and solving problems. She also enjoyed community theater, writing poetry, and sewing. Nina can speak French, Hindi, and Italian. She has also run in marathons. In 2010, she helped teach science to children in Lynn, Massachusetts. She also enjoys metal-smithing and teaching yoga.
Nina's Education Journey
Nina Tandon went to Cooper Union for college. She earned a Bachelor of Electrical Engineering degree in 2001. During her studies, she built a musical instrument. It used the body's electromagnetic waves to make music.
From 2003 to 2004, Nina studied in Italy. She received a Fulbright scholarship to attend the University of Rome Tor Vergata. There, she worked on a project called LibraNose. This project aimed to find out if doctors could detect cancer by analyzing a patient's breath.
In 2006, she earned her Master's degree in Electrical Engineering from MIT. She then started her PhD at the Boston School. She soon moved to Columbia University. In 2009, she earned her PhD in Biomedical Engineering from Columbia. Her focus was on growing heart tissue. Nina said that her family inspired her career path. At Columbia, she began creating human tissues. She also earned an MBA from Columbia in 2012. She wanted to use her business degree to turn her research ideas into real-world solutions.
Nina's Career in Biomedical Engineering
As a biomedical engineer, Nina Tandon worked at Columbia University. She focused on making cells grow and develop. She used electrical currents to help them. She has successfully grown cells on rat hearts, making them beat. Her main goal is to find a way for scientists to grow entire human organs.
EpiBone: Growing New Bones
Nina Tandon is the CEO and co-founder of EpiBone. She started the company with Sarindr Bhumiratana. They met during their PhD studies. Their goal at EpiBone is to use amazing research to fix bones.
The Problem with Bone Repair Today
Right now, millions of bone graft surgeries happen in the United States. But these surgeries are still quite basic. The usual way means doctors take a piece of bone from the patient. Then they do another surgery to put that bone where it's needed. This can be very painful for the patient. There are also risks like infection or the body rejecting the new bone.
How EpiBone Offers a Better Solution
EpiBone is working on a new solution. They want to grow a custom human bone in a lab. They use the patient's own cells to do this. Nina explained that an EpiBone graft would fit the patient perfectly. Also, because it uses real cells, it can continue to grow with the patient. Nina believes we can see the body as a "renewable resource" of stem cells. These cells can help us grow new body parts when needed.
EpiBone uses special technology called a "bioreactor." This bioreactor copies the conditions inside the human body. It helps the bone grow in a way that makes the cells survive and mature. The team then creates a 'scaffold,' which is like a mold for the bone. Finally, they add human bone cells to this scaffold. In about three weeks, the new bone graft is ready to be put into the patient. Nina's invention is very important. It offers a safer way to fix bones. It also helps the field of regenerative medicine, which focuses on growing new tissues.
EpiBone's Progress Today
In 2023, EpiBone received approval from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). This means they can now start testing their lab-grown bones in humans. This is a big step forward! It will help EpiBone see how well their new bones work. This is EpiBone's second product to reach human trials. Their first trial, which used patient stem cells to grow bone grafts, is now finishing.
Honors and Awards for Nina Tandon
Nina Tandon has received many awards for her work.
- In 2011, she was named a TED Fellow.
- In 2012, she became a senior TED Fellow.
- Fast Company magazine named her one of the Most Creative People of 2012.
- In 2013, she received a Women on Top Award from Marie Claire magazine.
- She was also named a Wired innovation fellow.
- In 2015, Foreign Policy named her a Global Thinker.
- L'Oréal Paris chose her as one of its Women of Worth for science and innovation.
- Crains New York included her in its 40 Under 40 Class of 2015.
- Nina Tandon also holds three patents for her inventions.
