Nathan Asquith

I am a researcher in the Vatish Laboratory, working closely with Dr. Neva Kandzija on projects focused on placental biology.

I am a Molecular and Cellular Biologist by training, and I completed my Ph.D. in the laboratory of Prof. Robert Ariëns at the University of Leeds, where I studied fibrin polymerization and fibrin clot stability.

Following my Ph.D., I completed two postdoctoral positions in the United States. My first was at Boston Children’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School in the laboratory of Prof. Joseph Italiano Jr. There, I worked on multiple projects involving megakaryocyte and platelet biology including defining the roles of different tissues in thrombopoiesis (PMID: 37879046) and developing novel methods to package non-native proteins into megakaryocytes and platelets, with the goal of harnessing platelets as a potential cellular therapy platform (PMID: 39122192).

My second postdoctoral position was in the laboratory of Dr. Sarah Shelton within the Lampe Joint Department of Biomedical Engineering at UNC-Chapel Hill and North Carolina State University. My research focused on designing complex 3D cell culture models and microphysiological systems to study a range of tissues and disease processes, particularly cancer cell extravasation, at subcellular resolution using advanced light microscopy techniques.