About
Dr Oikari is a human stem cell researcher and her work focuses on using patient-derived induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) to model neurodegenerative diseases, including Alzheimer’s disease, ALS and childhood dementia. Her work currently focuses on developing 2D and 3D models of the neurovascular unit (blood-brain barrier and brain cells) to identify disease-specific changes and model drug delivery. Her key expertise and skillsets include iPSC culture, the use of 3D culture platforms (including hydrogel-based and microfluidic platforms), co-culture models of stem cell-derived neural cells and studying the effects of focused ultrasound on drug delivery in cellular models.