Avanish Mishra, PhD

Brief Biography

Avanish Mishra, PhD, received his BTech from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Dhanbad, India, and PhD in Mechanical Engineering from Purdue University, where he contributed to the development of microfluidic optoelectronic tweezers technology. Dr. Mishra joined the Center as a postdoctoral fellow in March 2017 under the mentorship of Prof. Mehmet Toner and was promoted to Instructor in Surgery in 2020 and then Assistant Professor in Surgery at Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital in 2025.

Dr. Mishra’s research is focused on developing translational tools at the intersection of engineering and medicine, with emphasis on liquid biopsy and cell and gene therapy manufacturing. He has more than 21 publications spanning Cancer Discovery, PNAS, Science Advances, Nature Communications, and Nature.

Research Summary

In the Mishra laboratory, we harness micro- and nanoscale physics to innovate high-throughput microfluidic devices for liquid biopsy and synthesis of cell and gene therapies. We operate at an intersection of microfluidics, biology, engineering, and translational medicine.

Research Thrust 1: Synthesis in Flow

Cell and gene therapies are transforming the treatment of cancer, inherited disorders, and other complex diseases, offering the possibility of durable remission and functional cure. However, their personalized manufacturing remains expensive, operationally complex, and difficult to scale. We are developing clinically-scaled microfluidic technology capable of performing all steps of cell and gene therapy manufacturing in a single, compact device. We aim to enable point-of-care clinical manufacturing of cell and gene therapies in fully enclosed microchannels. This research program fuses fundamental innovations in microscale flow physics, magnetics, optics, materials, and tissue culture.

Research Thrust 2: Liquid Biopsy for Precision Cancer Therapy

In recent years, targeted therapies such as Antibody Drug Conjugates (ADCs), CAR T-cell therapies, and Bispecific T Cell Engagers (BiTEs), that depend on extracellular protein expression on tumor cells have transformed cancer treatment. However, this therapeutic revolution has not been matched by equally effective diagnostic tools to guide patient selection or define mechanisms of resistance. We are developing Circulating Tumor Cells (CTCs)-based single-cell protein and RNA analysis to guide selection of these targeted therapies. CTCs, shed from multiple tumor deposits in the blood, are ideal for the quantitation of such protein markers. Not only is their sampling non-invasive and optimal for repeated serial analysis, but they also represent tumor cells derived from multiple metastatic lesions. Using unbiased microfluidic CTC enrichment technology, coupled with single-cell analysis, we recently showed that CTCs predict response to DLL3-targeting bispecific antibody tarlatamab in small-cell lung cancer and provide guidance on ADC design in metastatic breast cancer. We are translating these discoveries into a CLIA-compatible CTC DLL3 assay for tarlatamab treatment selection while expanding the platform to additional therapeutically actionable markers.

Education

• BTech, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT-ISM), Dhanbad, India, 2009
• MSc, Cranfield University, Shrivenham, UK, 2011
• PhD, School of Mechanical Engineering, Purdue University, 2016 
• Postdoc, Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital, 2017
• Instructor, Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital, 2020
• Assistant Professor, Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital, 2025

Research Thrusts

• BioMEMS and Nanoscale Engineering
• Liquid Biopsy
• Cell and Gene Therapies