I am Castro Johnbosco, a Postdoc at Stanford University. My research focuses on how mechanosensing determine brain tumor invasion with an emphasis on how mechanical and physical cues regulate cell behavior using engineered material systems.

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My academic background is rooted in biomedical engineering, with progressive specialization in biomaterials, mechanics, and microscale systems. I completed my Master’s degree in Biomaterials and Tissue Engineering at FH Aachen, Germany, where I developed a strong foundation in material design, structure–property relationships, and experimental mechanics. During laboratory rotations at the Leibniz Institute in Dresden, I worked on biomaterial synthesis and mechanical characterization, as well as microscale blood–material interaction studies relevant to medical device interfaces. For my Master’s thesis at ETH Zurich, I developed mechanically reinforced double-network hydrogels for bioprinting applications. This work involved tailoring hydrogel architectures and mechanical responses at relevant length scales, strengthening my expertise in soft matter mechanics, biofabrication, and structure-driven material design.

In my doctoral work, I engineered microfluidic platforms leveraging multiphase flow phenomena, phase separation, and precisely regulated crosslinking to create microstructured materials and living constructs with programmable mechanical behavior. These platforms provided fine control over local stiffness, stress propagation, and viscoelastic evolution in biological systems, enabling applications in microparticle production, modular tissue construction, and microengineered culture environments. Through this work, I aimed to unresolve engineering constraints including mechanical non-uniformity, material systems to create microarchitectures in engineered systems, and structural stability over time through the intersection of microtechnology, materials science, and mechanics.