Dr. Dana al Sulaiman

Dr. Dana Al Sulaiman completed her MEng degree in Biomedical Engineering from Imperial College London in 2015. She finished top of her class and was awarded the ‘Centenary Prize’ and ‘Governor’s MEng Prize’ for demonstrating all-round excellence. She was then granted the prestigious President’s PhD Scholarship to support her further studies. During her PhD in the Ladame lab (Department of Bioengineering), Dr. Al-Sulaiman was involved in several multidisciplinary projects while acting as an avid teaching assistant and lab demonstrator. She also participated in outreach programs and won a medal at the STEM for Britain UK national competition held at the House of Commons in March 2016. Her PhD research focused on developing hydrogel-based optical and electrical platforms for the detection of circulating cell-free nucleic acid biomarkers. The aim of her research was to engineer minimally-invasive technologies for early detection and longitudinal monitoring of cancer. This has led to one patent and four first-author publications in high impact journals. After earning her PhD in August 2019, she joined the Doyle lab at MIT, where she was a postdoctorate fellow supported by the MIT-KACST Ibn Khaldun Fellowship.

Watch this video to learn more about Dana's previous research: https://www.youtube.com/embed/GIN6TgRRGsg 

As of summer 2021, Dana has accepted a faculty position to be an assistant professor of material science and engineering at King Abdullah University for Science and Technology (KAUST). Her research group will be dedicated to studying the field of biosensing materials and their applications in healthcare. 

In a 2021 interview with LABTAG's blog, Dana stated, "My goal is to continue research in the field of disease diagnosis and monitoring for cancer and neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer's disease. I am also interested in studying the skin to probe biomarkers in the skin interstitial fluid, and to understand the skin microbiome and its biological role." 

Read the full interview here.

Dr. Al-Sulaiman worked on two projects during her fellowship appointment. The first project entailed developing platforms which combine hydrogels and microfabrication techniques for sensitive and specific detection of microRNA, an emerging class of biomarkers for many diseases including cancer. The second project involved using microfluidic systems to study the properties of soft materials at the single molecule level. In particular, Dr. Al-Sulaiman studied the properties of kinetoplasts, which are two dimensional DNA structures found in the mitochondria of trypanosome parasites, as models for 2D and catenated polymer systems.  

Member of the Institution of Engineering and Technology (MIET)

Associate Member of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers (AMIMechE)

Associate of the City and Guilds of London Institute (ACGI)

King Abdullah University for Science and Technology (KAUST)

KACST