Nastassja A. Lewinski, Ph.D.
Associate Professor, Department of Chemical and Life Science Engineering | VCU College of Engineering
Engineering West Hall, Room 438, Richmond, VA, UNITED STATES
Dr. Lewinski's research topics include nanomaterial toxicity, nanomedicine, and nanoinformatics.
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Biography
Nastassja Lewinski is currently an Associate Professor of Chemical and Life Science Engineering at Virginia Commonwealth University. She holds a Ph.D. in Bioengineering and a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from Rice University. Dr. Lewinski has focused her career on integrating biological and environmental compatibility into the design process of engineered nanomaterials. Her research areas include nanotoxicology, nanoinformatics, and sustainable nanotechnology. Her projects over the past three years were supported through industry and VCU sponsorship. She has received numerous prestigious awards and fellowships including the AIChE 35 Under 35 Award in 2017, Leenaards Nested Research Projects Award in 2014, Whitaker International Scholar Award in 2011, NSF Graduate Research Fellowship in 2008, Barry Goldwater Scholarship in 2005, and she is a member of both Tau Beta Pi and Phi Lambda Upsilon. Dr. Lewinski has authored and co-authored 30 peer-reviewed journal articles, 5 book chapters, and 1 provisional patent. She currently advises 1 Postdoctoral fellow, 2 Ph.D. student and 1 M.S. student.
Industry Expertise (3)
Nanotechnology
Education/Learning
Research
Areas of Expertise (5)
Nanomaterial toxicity
Nanoinformatics
Nanomedicine
Advanced in vitro exposure systems
Comparative in vitro – in vivo analyses
Accomplishments (5)
AIChE 35 Under 35 Awardee (professional)
2017
Leenaards Nested Research Projects Prix Awardee (professional)
2014
Whitaker International Scholar (professional)
2011
NSF Graduate Research Fellow (professional)
2008
Barry Goldwater Scholar (professional)
2005
Education (3)
Institute for Work and Health, Lausanne, Switzerland: Postdoctoral 2014
Rice University: Ph.D., Bioengineering 2011
Rice University: B.S., Chemical Engineering 2006
Affiliations (3)
- Research Member, Center for Pharmaceutical Engineering and Sciences
- Fellow, Center for Risk Management of Engineering Systems, University of Virginia
- Section Editor, Drug and Chemical Toxicology
Media Appearances (1)
AIChE 35 Under 35: Safety
American Institute of Chemical Engineering (AIChE) online
2017-09-14
Nastassja is an assistant professor of chemical and life science engineering at Virginia Commonwealth University. She serves as faculty advisor to the student chapter and is the VCU faculty representative in the Tidewater Virginia Local Section. Nastassja is also active in the Sustainable Engineering Forum. Among her awards are the Leenaards Nested Research Projects Prix (2014), a NNEMS Fellowship with the U.S. EPA (2008), and an NSF Graduate Fellowship (2008). AIChE YPC: What inspired you to pursue chemical engineering? Nastassja Lewinski: I chose to pursue chemical engineering because it encompasses my lifelong interests in chemistry and math. AIChE YPC: Chemical engineering is a diverse field. How did you get involved in your specialty? NL: During my studies, several people reinforced my interest in nanotechnology and safety by design. My Ph.D. advisor, Rebekah Drezek, cultivated my interest in nanomedicine. The WISE program sponsored by AIChE and my advisor, Dave Gushee, encouraged my engagement in science policy. Vicki Colvin and Kristen Kulinowski drew my attention to aquatic toxicology and industrial hygiene. AIChE YPC: What professional achievement are you most proud of? NL: My postdoctoral fellowship in Lausanne, Switzerland, provided the opportunity not only to collaborate with fellow researchers in the institute who spoke English, but also work with non-English speaking staff. I learned how people outside the United States conduct research and how to work in a non-English speaking environment professionally. AIChE YPC: What is the most challenging part of your job? NL: The most challenging part of being a university professor is balancing research and teaching. Besides advancing my own research program, motivating and supporting both the students in my lab and also the students in my courses consumes a good portion of my time.
Patents (1)
Portable in vitro exposure cassette (PIVEC)
62/490,751
U.S. Provisional Patent Application. Inventors: N. Lewinski and L. Secondo
Courses (7)
CLSE 202: Chemical Engineering Fundamentals II: Energy Balances and Engineering Thermodynamics
Spring 2018, 2019, 2020
CLSE 305: Thermodynamics of Phase Equilibria and Chemical Reactions
Fall 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017 This course provides the foundation needed to solve sophisticated problems encountered in thermodynamics and unit operations. Students are introduced to the mathematical relationships and thermodynamic models needed to describe pure component and mixture phase behavior. These models include equations of state, liquid solution activity coefficient models, and fugacity estimation techniques. Numerous phase equilibrium problems are addressed including liquid-vapor, liquid-liquid, liquid-liquid-vapor, and solid-vapor equilibria. The prediction of chemical equilibrium is also covered in this course.
ENGR 497: Vertically Integrated Project - Nanoinformatics
Fall 2017 - present The VIP Nanoinformatics team will participate in cutting-edge research in machine learning and nanomedicine design. This includes the development of multiple natural language processing tools that use complex algorithms and artificial intelligence techniques to retrieve nanomedicine texts from the primary literature, classify the texts into topics, extract relevant entities on nanomedicine, and extract relationships between entities, to name a few. Students also have the opportunity to gain hands on laboratory experience in nanoparticle synthesis, physico-chemical characterization, exposure assessment, and biocompatibility testing.
ENGR 591: Nanotechnology Environmental, Health, and Safety Impacts
Spring 2016, 2017 This course provides a fundamental understanding of nanotechnology and its environmental, health, and safety impact. We will discuss nanomaterials synthesis, fabrication, and characterization. Applications of engineered nanomaterials in medicine, including nanotechnology-based drug delivery systems will be discussed and used as examples for nanoEHS analyses. Host response to nanomaterials and nanotoxicology will be the focal point of the course. Research methods in nanotoxicology will be emphasized, including essential skills such as critical analysis of scientific literature, effective oral and written communication.
ENGR 591: Nanotoxicology
Fall 2019 This course provides a fundamental understanding of toxicity evaluation of nanoscale materials. Applications of engineered nanomaterials in medicine, including nanotechnology-based drug delivery systems and medical devices will be discussed and used as examples for toxicological assessment. Emerging approaches to predictive toxicology will be the focus of the course. Research methods in nanotoxicology will be emphasized, including essential skills such as critical analysis of scientific literature, effective oral and written communication, and grant writing.
ENGR 591: Bioprinting & Nanotoxicology
Fall 2020
CLSE 650: Quantitative Analysis
Fall 2020
Selected Articles (13)
Real-time monitoring of cellular oxidative stress during aerosol sampling: a proof of concept study
Drug and Chemical Toxicology2020
Comparative analysis of ventilation efficiency on ultrafine particle removal in university MakerSpaces
Atmospheric Environment2020
On‐site three‐dimensional printer aerosol hazard assessment: Pilot study of a portable in vitro exposure cassette
Process Safety Progress2019
A new portable in vitro exposure cassette for aerosol sampling
Journal of Visualized Experiments2019
Nano-enabled personal care products: Current developments in consumer safety
NanoImpact2018
Influence of ZnO thin film crystallinity on in vitro biocompatibility
Toxicology Research2018
An annotated corpus with nanomedicine and pharmacokinetic parameters
International Journal of Nanomedicine2017
Effectiveness of hand washing on the removal of iron oxide nanoparticles from human skin ex vivo
Journal of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene2017
Methodological considerations when conducting in vitro, air-liquid interface exposures to engineered nanoparticle aerosols
Critical Reviews in Toxicology2016
Oxidative Stress Biomarkers in Apprentice Welders Exposed to Tungsten Inert Gas (TIG) Welding Fume: A Controlled Human Exposure Study
Particles & Fibre Toxicology2016
Using natural language processing techniques to inform research on nanotechnology
Beilstein Journal of Nanotechnology,2015 In this paper, we review the different informatics methods that have been applied to patent mining, nanomaterial/device characterization, nanomedicine, and environmental risk assessment.
Nanocuration workflows: Establishing best practices for identifying, inputting, and sharing data to inform decisions on nanomaterials
Beilstein Journal of Nanotechnology2015 There is a critical opportunity in the field of nanoscience to compare and integrate information across diverse fields of study through informatics (i.e., nanoinformatics). This paper is one in a series of articles on the data curation process in nanoinformatics (nanocuration).
Characterization of Tungsten Inert Gas (TIG) Welding Fume Generated by Apprentice Welders
Annals of Occupational Hygiene2015 Tungsten inert gas welding (TIG) represents one of the most widely used metal joining processes in industry. Its propensity to generate a greater portion of welding fume particles at the nanoscale poses a potential occupational health hazard for workers. However, current literature lacks comprehensive characterization of TIG welding fume particles.
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