Claudia Fischbach

Claudia Fischbach-Teschl is the Stanley Bryer 1946 Professor of Biomedical Engineering at Cornell University, Director of Cornell’s Physical Sciences Oncology Center (PSOC) on the Physics of Cancer Metabolism, and Associate Director of Cornell Nanoscale Science and Engineering Facility (CNF). She received her Ph.D. in Pharmaceutical Technology from the University of Regensburg, Germany and conducted her postdoctoral work at Harvard University in the Division of Engineering and Applied Sciences. Her lab utilizes engineering tools and strategies to gain a better understanding of how tumor-microenvironment interactions regulate cancer development, progression, and therapy resistance with a focus on cell-ECM interactions. She is a fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE), the Biomedical Engineering Society, and the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation in Germany.

Cellular interactions with their surrounding including other cells and extracellular matrix are critically important in the pathogenesis of cancer. However, current cancer research mostly studies cells in isolation and under conditions that do not recapitulate the mechanisms that affect tumor evolution in the human body. By exploring tissue engineering, microfabrication, and biomaterials strategies the Fischbach-Teschl lab engineers model systems that allow studying tumor cells under conditions that mimic those within patients. In particular, the Fischbach-Teschl lab uses these model systems to gain a better understanding of the biological and physical principles that influence tumor development, progression, and therapy response.