Affiliation: Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Biological Engineering

Dr. Tea Crnković received her MS in Medical Biochemistry and Laboratory Medicine from the University of Zagreb, Croatia, in 2016. During this time, she served as a student assistant at the Croatian Institute for Medical Research and Occupational Health, where she worked on silver nanoparticle synthesis, functionalization, media stability, and toxicity in Dr. Ivana Vinković Vrček’s laboratory. She earned her PhD from the Chemistry Department at Columbia University in New York City, USA, in 2022. At Columbia, she conducted research in Prof. Virginia Cornish's laboratory, focusing on genetic engineering and the optimization of Saccharomyces cerevisiae yeast as a living biosensor. Dr. Crnković is currently a postdoctoral associate in the Department of Biological Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, working in Prof. Ron Weiss's laboratory. Her research focuses on developing gene and cell therapies against viral diseases and creating novel functionalities in self-replicating RNA therapy using synthetic biology approaches.