UCLA Bioengineering Professor Named to MIT Technology Review List of Top Innovators

Mireille Kamariza, an assistant professor of bioengineering at the UCLA Samueli School of Engineering, has been named to MIT Technology Review’s 2024 Innovators Under 35 list.

This is the 25th year that the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s bimonthly magazine has recognized a class of early career researchers who are at the top of their field and committed to tackling complex global problems. This year’s list, which is available only to subscribers, features 35 researchers in materials science, biotechnology, robotics, artificial intelligence, and climate and energy.

Kamariza builds powerful yet simple-to-use diagnostic tools to detect and analyze infectious pathogens — with a focus on bacteria and parasites — as well as tools to treat the infections they cause. She has developed ways to investigate how pathogens respond to drugs, and diagnostic tests for the detection of nearly two dozen bloodborne pathogens, including those responsible for causing tuberculosis and Ebola. Her UCLA research group, The Kamariza Lab, uses techniques from chemistry, biology and molecular engineering to create new diagnostic tools designed to help underserved populations. 

The MIT recognition is the latest of several early-career honors received by Kamariza. In 2022, she was named to Nature Medicine’s Eleven Early-Career Researchers to Watch, and in 2020, Chemical & Engineering News’ Talented 12. Prior to joining the UCLA Samueli faculty in 2023, Kamariza was a Harvard Junior Fellow, working at Harvard University and MIT. She received her doctorate from Stanford University.