Nina Tandon

Artist, Brainstormer, Consultant, Educator/Teacher, Engineer, Entrepreneur, Explorer, Foodie, Inventor, Scientist

Nina Tandon is CEO and co-founder of EpiBone, the world’s first company growing living human bones for skeletal reconstruction. She is the co-author of Super Cells: Building with Biology, a book that explores the new frontier of biotech. Nina has also been awarded Crain's New York, Forty Under 40; Ernst & Young, Winning Woman; and Goldman Sachs, 100 Most Intriguing Entrepreneurs. She has a Bachelor’s in Electrical Engineering from the Cooper Union, a Master’s in Bioelectrical Engineering from MIT, a PhD in Biomedical Engineering, as well as an MBA from Columbia University. Her PhD research focused on studying electrical signaling in the context of tissue engineering, and has worked with cardiac, skin, bone, and neural tissue.

I am passionate about science education (especially for young girls and in developing countries), entrepreneurship (both science-based and social) and stewardship (of our bodies and the environment).

“Our cells are geniuses.” In my research in cardiac tissue engineering, I've seen this first-hand: I grow cardiac tissue from cells in carefully-designed systems delivering electrical signals mimicking those experienced during development, daily life, or wound healing. But the cells really do all the work--it makes me wonder what other "intelligence" lives within us, in unexpected places, as unsung heroes--I suspect quite a lot! Although it is outside my expertise, another idea I'm cranking on is that “rest is work." What suffering could we prevent if we waged war against the sympathetic branches of our autonomic nervous system, which "tricks" our bodies into thinking there is literally a tiger lurking at each beep of the smartphone!? This "war" would be fought with "weapons" of meditation and slow food, turning the idea of "work" on its head, maybe even literally (headstands, triggering pressure sensors in the carotid artery, are powerful initiators of the relaxation response). Ted Talks: (1) https://www.ted.com/talks/nina_tandon_caring_for_engineered_tissue (2) https://www.ted.com/talks/nina_tandon_could_tissue_engineering_mean_personalized_medicine (3) https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=yJoQj5-TIvE

Bioelectricity, Biomimicry, Bioreactors, Climbing Fences, Headstands, Jewelry Design & Silversmithing, Making Fresh Pasta, Stem Cells, Tissue Engineering, watergun assassination

it began back in the 90s, and involves me hiding behind some urban foliage, as well as the 1st Star Wars prequel...fast forward through a decade or so, and a nomination for a TED Fellowship -- ask me about it some time :)

deciphering pharmaceutical pipelines, playing drums, darkroom photography, making fresh pasta, yoga, navigating through complex urban environments, shooting waterguns, running marathons *slowly*