Oscar Boyadjian
Ph.D. Candidate

Biological and Biomedical Engineering

Co-Supervisor: Dr. Stephanie Lehoux

Email: oscar.boyadjian@mail.mcgill.ca

LinkedIn | Google Scholar

Education Background:

M.Sc.A. in Biomedical Engineering, École Polytechnique de Montréal (joint program, 2020) Diplome d’Ingenieur, ENSTA Paris (joint program, 2020)

“Diplome de Gradue en Ingenierie” (equivalent B.Sc) in Mechanical Engineering, ENSTA Paris (2018)

Favourite Lab Equipment:

Flow cytometer

“During my time as a Ph.D. student, I’ve learned as much about myself as about my research topic.”
— Oscar Boyadjian

Research Project and Interests:

My research project consists in enabling efficient DNA and RNA-based therapies against cardiovascular diseases by engineering blood-derived extracellular vesicles so they can target atheroma in blood vessels. Delivering such payloads to non-liver tissues (including atheroma) upon systemic administration is still a major hurdle for nanomedicines. As natural entities with innate targeting and immune evasion properties, extracellular vesicles are foreseen to overperform traditional drug delivery systems in this matter. I thus engineer red blood cell-derived extracellular vesicles so that functional nucleic acids can be delivered in vivo to the atheroma responsible for myocardial infarctions and strokes. In addition to therapeutic applications, we develop new methodological tools for the study of those yet poorly understood vesicles.

  • Top Poster Award, Controlled Release Society Annual Meeting (2024)

    Finalist of "La preuve par l'Image" (Science Exposed) (2024)

    McGill Graduate Mobility award (2024)

    MITACS Globalink Research Award Abroad (2024)

    McGill Graduate Research Enhancement and Travel Awards (2023)

    Fonds de Recherche du Quebec Sante (FRQS) Doctoral Scholarship (2023)

    Biomedical Engineering Recruitment Scholarship, McGill University (2021)

    Engineer Title, valid European Union-wide, ENSTA Paris (2020)

    Nominated for the best Master's Thesis competition, Ecole Polytechnique de Montreal (2020)

    Innovation Day's best presentation award, Ecole Polyetchnique de Montreal (2019)

  • Van Der Sanden N., Paun R.A., Yitayew M., Boyadjian O., Tabrizian M. (2024) An Investigation of the Protein Corona in the Cellular Uptake of Nanoliposomes Under Flow Conditions Using Quartz Crystal Microbalance with Dissipation, Nanoscale Advances

    Welsh, J. A., Goberdhan, D. C. I., O'Driscoll, L., Buzas, E. I., Blenkiron, C., Bussolati, B., Cai, H., Di Vizio, D., Driedonks, T. A. P., Erdbrügger, U., Falcon-Perez, J. M., Fu, Q.-L., Hill, A. F., Lenassi, M., Lim, S. K., Mahoney, M. G., Mohanty, S., Möller, A., Nieuwland, R., … Witwer, K. W. (2024). Minimal information for studies of extracellular vesicles (MISEV2023): from basic to advanced approaches. Journal of Extracellular Vesicles, 13, e12404. https://doi.org/10.1002/jev2.12404

    Boyadjian, O., Boulais, E., & Gervais, T. (2022). Microfluidic Surface Shields: Control of Flow and Diffusion over Sensitive Surfaces. Physical Review Applied, 17(1), 014012.

    Boyadjian, O. (2020). Conception d’un dispositif de camouflage microfluidique (Doctoral dissertation, Polytechnique Montréal).

  • Conferences:

    O. Boyadjian, S. Lehoux, M. Tabrizian, "Extracellular vesicles subpopulations yield different DNA encapsulation efficiencies", Controlled Release Society Annual Meeting and Exposition 2024, July 8-12 2024, Bologna, Italy. Oral & Poster Presentation

    Boyadjian, O. (Presenter), Lehoux, S., Tabrizian, M. (April 19, 2023). DNA Tags to Study Red Blood Cell – Derived Extracellular Vesicles Uptake and Biodistribution. Poster presented at the 2023 American Society for Biomaterials Annual Meeting, San Diego, CA.

    "Un fluide peut-il en cacher un autre ?" Polytechnique Montreal's Innovation Day, 2019 (oral presentation)

  • Visiting scientist (January 2024-April 2024)
    ETH Zurich (Switzerland)
    Joined Professor J.-C. Leroux laboratory to work on novel methods to load extracellular vesicles with nucleic acids. MITACS Globalink internship.

    Graduate Student Researcher, (2019-2020)
    Ecole Polytechnique de Montreal (Canada)
    Developed a microfluidic device for momentum and diffusion cloaking to protect biosensors

    Research intern, (Summer 2018)
    INRIA & Ecole Polytechnique (France)
    Investigated hemophilic blood clots rheology to improve anticoagulant treatments

    Undergraduate Student Researcher, (Winter 2018)
    ENSTA Paris & Ecole Polytechnique (France)
    Worked on Magnus effect analytical models (fluid mechanics).