Mickael Dang

PhD.

Mickael was born and raised in Paris, France, where he completed his undergraduate studies in Biomedical Science at Université Paris Descartes. He then pursued a Master’s in Applied Physics at École Normale Supérieure (ENS) Paris-Saclay, where he became fascinated by the intersection of physics and translational medicine. As part of this program, he moved to the United States to complete his master’s thesis at Harvard Medical School in the lab of Dr. Jeff Karp, co-supervised by Dr. Nitin Joshi, working on long-acting drug delivery systems for inflammatory diseases.

To complement his scientific training, Mickael also earned a Master’s in Innovation and Entrepreneurship from HEC Paris, where he learned how to translate research discoveries into real-world health solutions. This fusion of science, engineering, and business laid the foundation for his next step: pursuing a PhD in Biomedical Engineering at the University of Toronto under Dr. Molly Shoichet. His doctoral work focused on developing long-acting delivery systems for glaucoma using nanoparticles and hydrogels. He published several first-author papers in journals such as Advanced Materials and Advanced Science, and completed additional research stints at Stanford and Yale.

In parallel, Mickael co-founded Synakis, a biotech startup developing biomaterials to treat blindness. As a co-founder, he helped raise pre-seed funds in non-dilutive funding, led regulatory strategy and product development, and won several business competitions.

At the Rasul Learning Group, Mickael looks forward to inspiring students and supporting their growth in science and math. Outside of research, he enjoys cooking, CrossFit, and traveling the world to compete in HYROX fitness races.