BME Distinguished Seminar

Wednesday, March 4, 2026

9:30 – 10:30 am, MJIS 1001

Students registered for the seminar are expected to attend in person.

Teams Meeting ID: 211 123 896 292 8 Passcode: Uh9qs2pf

“Playing In a Nano/Bio/Materials Sandbox: Challenging Problems, and The Elegant Solutions That Mattered (or Didn’t)”

Michael Natan, PhD

President of Diametryx

3PoundFlax, LLC

Abstract: A common thread in much of my professional career has been the design and application of nano- and microparticles with novel compositions that give rise to distinctive, information-rich optical signatures. These signatures can be exploited for generations of encoded particles for highly multiplexed assays, for creation of exceptionally robust, quantitative detection labels, and for novel pigments for anti-counterfeiting applications. In some cases, the enabling discoveries were made in my academic lab at Penn State, and later moved into start-up companies (Nanoplex Technologies, Oxonica Materials- along with me- for commercialization; in others, the technology was conceived and completely developed within industry (Diametryx).

Biography: Michael J. Natan, Ph.D. has over 30 years of entrepreneurial activity in the fields of nanotechnology, materials science, and bioanalytical chemistry. He has a degree in Chemistry with Honors from Yale University (1981), a Ph.D. in Chemistry from MIT (1986), and carried out postdoctoral research at Northwestern University (1987-1991). He was an Assistant, Associate and Full Professor of Chemistry at Penn State from 1991 – 1999. Since then, he has served in leadership roles at SurroMed (CTO), Nanoplex Technologies (co-founder/CEO), Oxonica Materials (co-founder/CEO), Ultivue (CEO), Cabot Corporation (Director, New Business Development), Harvard (entrepreneur-in-residence), Cavisense (CEO), and Spear Bio (co-founder/CEO). Michael is currently a co-founder and President of Diametryx Inc., a Boston-based start-up focused on novel color-changing micro/nano materials.

~BMEGSA Host: Samantha Robles~