People

Linas Mažutis, PhD., Prof.
Principal Investigator
Research ID: A-5408-2012

Linas Mazutis is internationally educated researcher who obtained a PhD degree at Strasbourg University under the supervision of Prof. Andrew Griffiths, a leading expert in microfluidic techniques for biological applications. He continued his post-doctoral training at Harvard University in the group of Prof. David Weitz, where he co-developed microfluidics technology for screening of single-cells secreting therapeutic antibodies (1) and co-invented a single-cell transcriptomics technique inDrops, which was successfully adopted by 10X Genomics, and which arguably remains the most popular scRNA-Seq platform to-date. Since the beginning of his academic career Mazutis has been closely involved in close collaborations with industrial partners, and many microlfuidic systems that he has developed have been successfully implemented by different companies (Novozymes, BioRad, RainDance Technologies, HiFiBio Inc, etc). Mazutis is a co-founder and founding CTO of the biomedical company Platelet Bio., located in Boston MA., which specializes in synthesis of artifial blood products. Mazutis is also a co-founder and founding CEO of Droplet Genomics, located in Vilnius LT., which specializes in commercializing single-cell technologies. Therefore, developing innovative tools and systems for biomedical and biotechnological applications constitutes a very strong component in his career.  

His current research interests are focused on multi-omics and understanding the molecular mechanisms that drive cell response, adaptation and memory.

Simonas Juzėnas, PhD.
Molecular & Computational Biology

Simonas Juzenas is molecular and computational biologist. Simonas' focus area is bioinformatics data analysis and analytical pipeline development for transcriptome sequencing (RNA-seq) with a special interest in small RNA research. Currently, Simonas' main research aim is to develop a high-throughput, droplet-based method for simultaneous small and long RNA capture and sequencing in single cells. He is interested in understanding what role miRNAs plays in cell development process, and whereas miRNAs regulate the robustness of the cellular state by calibrating expression levels of driving genes, or they drive cell fate choices by suppressing transcription factors, leading to lineage commitment. Read more. In his spare time Simonas enjoys fishing 🎣 and mushroom picking.

 
Rapolas Žilionis, PhD.
Single-cell RNA-seq

Rapolas Zilionis is an expert in single-cell RNA-seq. His work surrounds the application of single-cell RNA-seq, from method refinement to data analysis (1). He performed his PhD work at Harvard Medical School (Prof. Allon Klein lab) and co-authored multiple studies in the fields of tumor immunology (2, 3) and tissue regeneration (4), including discoveries of new cell types in humans (5). Apart from research work, Rapolas teaches a course on single-cell data analysis at Vilnius University (Master studies). Currently, he is interested in novel droplet-based method development.💧 

 
Monika Kirsnytė, PhD.
Polymer chemistry

Monika Kirsnyte graduated from Vilnius University with a Bachelor degree in Chemistry and Master degree in Nanomaterial Science. During her PhD she focused on conducive polymer (CP) synthesis technologies and in situ polymerization processes which then leads to such CP composites fabrication with application possibilities in smart textiles, flexible electronics or various biosensors. Monika's interest also includes adhesive polymer film synthesis and modification, conductive polymer film and composite formation, CP microsphere synthesis in bacteria medium and porous microsphere formation using microfluidic technologies. Currently, Monika's focus is directed towards development of controlled porosity polymeric microspheres. She has an interest in understanding specific conditions needed to obtain polymer droplets with the ability to shrink or expand depending on pH or temperature change. As well as science Monika also enjoys sports (especially volleyball) and creating homemade candles 🕯

Karolis Goda, PhD student
scRNA-Seq, epigenomics

Karolis Goda received his MSc in Biochemistry at Vilnius University and is currently pursuing a PhD in biochemical sciences. His research efforts are diverse from improving current droplet-based single cell RNA-seq methods to investigating DNA epigenetic marks in individual chromosomes. He's also working on droplet based approaches for other -omics fields, such as developing a high throughput droplet based method to study open chromatin, methylome and transcriptome in single cells. He is also involved in a project aiming at developing droplet based approach for simultaneous small and long RNA capture and sequencing in single cells. He hopes that developing these methods will allow to improve our ability to better idenfity and characterize cell states and cell types. In his spare time Karolis chooses to remain active with occasional biking and hiking trips and camping. Lately, Tour du Mont Blanc, one of the most popular hikes in Europe, has captured his attention and he hopes to complete it in the near future 🏔.

Greta Leonavičienė
PhD student, 
Single-bacteria biology

Greta Leonaviciene is currently pursuing a PhD degree in Biochemistry at Vilnius University. Before joining a PhD programme, she concluded 1-year internship at Prof. George Church group (Harvard Medical School, USA) where she became fascinated by microbiology and genomics fields. She also completed a short-term internship at Bigelow Laboratory Single Cell Genomics Center, USA. Her primary research focus is single bacteria genomics and transcriptomics using droplet-based microfluidics. She is interested in the role that bacteria play in ecology and human health. Greta has innovated a semi-permeable microcapsule concept paving the way to various single-cell techniques that are impossible to conduct when using water-in-oil droplets (1). The results of her work have opened many exciting projects in our lab and have broadened our research horizons. In her free time, she enjoys long walks with her dog 🦮.

Lorenzo Camisi graduated in Molecular and Industrial Biotechnology from the University of Bologna, Italy working on microbes cultivation in fermenters and photobioreactors. After his post-graduation internship in industry, he became fascinated by the possibilities offered by droplet microfluidics technology and joined Mazutis' lab on the Marie Curie ITN scholarship "EVOdrops" working on enzyme evolution. In his free time, he loves to propagate plants, 🌱 play with clay, watch animes and get fired up by boardgames. Lorenzo is a gold medal recipient of iDEC 2020 competition.

 
Justina Žvirblytė, PhD student
Single Cell Biology

Justina Zvirblyte is currently pursuing a PhD in Biochemistry. She joined our group in 2019 after graduating in Biophysics. She first became interested in single cell biology during her research internship at NASA's Ames Research Center, USA where she studied the microgravity induced changes in embryonic stem cells in the group of dr. Cassandra Juran and dr. Eduardo Almeida. After completing internship at NASA, Justina continued her research career in our group and completed two years Master program in Molecular Biology. Her current research is focused on kidney cancer microenvironment and single cell characterization. She is interested human tissue single cell analysis, computational analysis methods and never-ending discussions on some most fundamental biology and life sciences questions. In her spare time Justina enjoys art in various forms and is also an aspiring young poet 📖

Denis Baronas, PhD student
scRNA-Seq & scATAC-Seq

Denis Baronas is a PhD student in Biochemistry at Vilnius University, where his primary research topic is development of simultaneous single-cell epigenomics and transcriptomics using droplet microfluidics technology and applying it in cancer research. Denis has a Bachelor's degree in Biophysics and Master’s degree in Biochemistry from Vilnius University. Denis also has interests and experience in other scientific fields: molecular biophysics, drug design, synthetic biology and systems biology. Outside the lab, he is passionate about creating new things that allow his soul to unwind, such as writing poetry, making music and taking film photography 🎥  

 
Aušra Želvytė, MSc.
Biochemistry & Bioengineering

Ausra Zelvyte graduated from Vilnius University with a Bachelor degree in Biochemistry, and from Vilnius Gediminas Technical University with a Master degree in Bioengineering. Her previous work involved 2D and 3D breast cancer models, droplet microfluidics, polymer chemistry and semi-permeable hydrogel capsules optimization for molecular biology applications including isothermal amplification and ddPCR. Her current research is largely related to emulsion micro- and macro-stability during the ddPCR. Surfactants are critical for stabilizing the water-in-oil droplets at ambient and even elevated temperatures, however, at extreme conditions approaching water boiling temperature droplets tend to coalesce and lose compartmentalized biomolecules. Uncontrolled droplet coalescence creates a significant challenge for molecular biology applications that are built upon nucleic acid amplification by PCR. Ausra's research efforts are dedicated towards solving this challenge and identifying the technological and molecular solution to circumvent, and prevent, the undesirable droplet coalescence during PCR. 🧪 

 
Valdemaras Milkus, MSc.
Theoretical Physics

Valdemaras Milkus is a PhD student at the Institute of Biotechnology. He received  BSc and MSc in theoretical physics from Vilnius University and completed 1.5 year internship at EPFL (Switzerland). His research is related to microfluidic-droplet generation, droplet stability and methods of droplet sorting. He enjoys using mathematical concepts to describe the biological (biochemical) systems. His latest efforts aim to characterize the cell sedimentation during encapsulation process. Outside the laboratory Valdemaras is an active marathon runner 🏃 having achieved his personal record of 2h 51min. He also enjoys running long distances in the mountains and is daily training for the next competition.

 
Barbora Popova
Molecular Biotechnology

Barbora Popova holds a BSc in Biochemistry from University of York, UK and is currently working on her master’s degree in Molecular Biotechnology in Vilnius University. Her previous work involved studying nuclear matrix proteins in cancerous cells and virus-like particles role in antibiotic resistance before moving to industrial R&D role working on gene therapy based on adenoviruses against cancer. She has experience in mammalian expression systems, protein and virus characterization, formulation development and analytical assay validation. She is currently working on DNA hydrogel beads and whole genome amplification using droplet microfluidics that can be applied for diagnostics, epidemiology, or gene evolution studies. After lab books are closed, Barbora enjoys water sports 🏄‍♀️ and skiing or curling up for long-lasting family board games.

Suji Kim graduated in Biology and Biotechnology from the Catholic University of Korea. She is curretly pursuing the Master’s degree in Molecular Biotechnology at Vilnius University. Her research is related to tissue engineering, spheroids and 3D cell cultures. She is interested in tackling incurable diseases such as cancer and autoimmune diseases. Suji enjoys travelling ✈️  and collecting souvenirs from countries that she has visited. She likes playing the ukulele guitar and watching movies and TV shows.

Dominykas Murza, MSc.
small RNA-Seq

Dominykas Murza holds a BSc in Biochemistry from Vilnius University and a master’s degree in Biological Science from University of Cambridge. He has ample experience in microbial expression systems, Toxoplasma-macrophage transcriptomics, synthetic biology, and industrial R&D. Dominykas efforts are focused towards development of high-throughput miRNA methods and their applications. His work aims to uncover the functional roles of small RNAs matter and how these biomolecules contribute to cell biological functions. Besides doing science, Dominykas enjoys paddling,  exploring nature 🌳 , and (uncomplicated) board games. 

 
Emilė Pranauskaitė, BSc.
Student in Biochemistry

Emile Pranauskaite is a fourth-year Bachelor's student of Biochemistry. Emile is interested in cell encapsulation and how different types of cells are acting inside microfluidic devices and droplets. She is investigating how to reduce cell sedimentation, clumping and other mechanisms of cell losses during the encapsulation process. In her spare time, Emile enjoys running, playing the piano, and painting 🖼. People who work hard to achieve their goals inspire and motivate me.

 
Simonas Norvaišis, MSc.
Bio- and Organic Chemistry

Simonas Norvaisis graduated in Biochemistry from Vilnius University in 2029 and is currently studying Master’s degree. During his undergraduate studies, he worked on microbial degradation and metabolism of modified nucleotides that are found in the tRNAs of microorganisms, as well as investigated industry-applicable methods for hard-to-dissolve active pharmaceutical ingredients to enhance their bioavailability. Simonas has experience in molecular biology techniques, analytical methods (HPLC-MS, NMR spectroscopy, spectrophotometry), organic chemistry. He is currently working on developing hydrogel microcapsules applicable for single-cell biology research. Apart from science, Simonas plays tennis 🎾 and enjoys running, reading books.

Barbora Vasiliauskaitė, MSc.
Bioinformatics

Barbora Vasiliauskaite graduated in Bioinformatics from Vilnius University and is currently pursuing a Master's degree in Genetics. During her undergrad studies she worked on artificial intelligence for recognizing synthetic constructs. She was a member of iGEM team who won First Place in iGEM 2020 competition. Aside from science and coding, she enjoys computer and board games, music 🎻 (both listening and performing), drawing and napping.