Currently

Education

• Advisor: Shuming Nie, Ph.D (Chemistry, Biomedical Engineering)
• Dissertation: Biomedical instrumentation and nanotechnology for image-guided cancer surgery (link)

• Graduated With Distinction
• ABET-accredited

Work Experience

• Oversight for development of the College of Engineering Capstone Engineering Design programs for support of student education.
• Support engineering student experiential learning in translational development processes through focus on project/product solutions to unmet industrial and clinical needs.
• Source external project topics from industry, nonprofits, government and health care, and other sources.
• Source external funding for the Capstone Engineering Design program including sources, but not limited to industry, medical departments, medical clinics, non-profits and hospitals and grants for governments and foundations.

Tech Transfer

Maintain a select portfolio of high-value medical device, pharmaceutical, and catalysis technologies for research development, licensing, and commercialization. Advise on IP and commercialization related issues for other university offices, including sponsored projects and university counsel. Provide seminars on IP, product development, and commercialization to faculty, staff, and students.

Proof of Concept Funding

Mentored over 30 faculty teams pitching their work for internal seed funding in 2017–2020, for competitive awards totaling approximately $675,000. Overall, fund has returned over 18x in follow-on funding, and resulted in 5 startup licenses.

Commercialization Funding

Assisted 12 faculty teams in applying for competitive state commercialization research grants in 2017–2019, with six successful awards of $600,000 total in 2018–2019, and one award of $150,000 in 2020. Provide SBIR guidance to VCU licensees. Scope of work includes market research, business model development, customer discovery assistance, strategic planning, and grant writing.

National Prominence Elevation for VCU

Member of the excuitive committee for the university-wide effort to be designated as an Innovation and Economic Prosperity (IEP) University by the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities (APLU). The IEP designation recognizes the comprehensive economic enterprise of public universities, and produces a growth and improvement plan informed by a rigorous self-study of internal and external stakeholders. VCU received the designation late 2022. Member of the VCU Strategic Research Priority Plan-Implementation Committee (SRPP-IC), contributing subject matter expertise in the implementation of VCU’s new strategic plan for research.

• A medical imaging start-up company founded to commercialize an intraoperative cancer imaging technology platform that I co-invented during my dissertation research. I was the scientific leader of the company and responsible for technical presentations during fundraising, including educating prospective investors on our technology as well as technical discussions with due diligence investigators. Our team successfully raised about $2MM USD from angel investors, completed working engineering prototypes, contracted with vendors for key subsystem components, and executed a term sheet and completed due diligence with a venture capital group for series A raise. Ultimately the company board of directors and venture fund failed to agree on terms. The company closed due to undercapitalization.

Teaching Experience

• 3 lecture hours, 3 credits
• Engineering design for 3rd year biomedical engineering undergraduate students

• Advisor: Barbara Boyan, Ph.D. (Biomedical Engineering)
• Introductory cell biology for engineering students. Designed and taught a lecture series (cell cytoskeleton, cell-cell interactions, and cellular motility), designed a "lab math" introductory lecture in response to student need as gauged by analysis of student performance, and participated in an experimental problem-based learning (PBL) approach to laboratory instruction that was later adopted.

Awards

• Advisor: Andrés García, Ph.D. (Mechanical Engineering, Bioengineering)
• Competitive NIH-funded training grant in cell and tissue engineering for Ph.D. candidate students at Georgia Institute of Technology.

• Business plan competition for engineering senior design projects at the University of Rochester.
• Senior design team awarded first place for a hearing loss simulator tool.

Patents and Applications

• Nie, S.; Mohs, A.; Mancini, M. C. inventors; Emory University and Georgia Tech Research Corporation, assignees. Advanced Systems and Methods for Providing Real-Time Anatomical Guidance in a Diagnostic or Therapeutic Procedure. PCT application WO 2015/069657 A1.
• Nie, S.; Mohs, A.; Mancini, M. C. inventors; Emory University and Georgia Tech Research Corporation, assignees. Additional Systems and Methods for Providing Real-Time Anatomical Guidance in a Diagnostic or Therapeutic Procedure. PCT application WO 2012/065163 A2: Granted in U.S. (9,345,389).
• Nie, S.; Mohs, A.; Mancini, M. C. inventors; Emory University, assignee. System and method for providing real-time anatomical guidance in a diagnostic or therapeutic procedure. PCT application WO 2011/084528 A1: Granted in U.S. (9,451,882), China (CN102770071B and CN104757936B), Australia (AU2010339972B2), Canada (CA2784576C), Japan (JP6275382B2), European Union (EP2512337B1).

Scholarly Publications

• Yoon, Y.; Mohs, A. M.; Mancini, M. C.; Nie, S.; Shim, H. Combination of an Integrin-Targeting NIR Tracer and an Ultrasensitive Spectroscopic Device for Intraoperative Detection of Head and Neck Tumor Margins and Metastatic Lymph Nodes. Tomography 2016, 2 (3), 215–222. DOI: 10.18383/j.tom.2016.00253
• Mohs, A. M.*; Mancini, M.*; Provenzale, J.; Saba, C.; Cornell, K.; Howerth, E.; Nie, S. An Integrated Widefield Imaging and Spectroscopy System for Contrast-Enhanced, Image-guided Resection of Tumors. IEEE Trans. Biomed. Eng. 2015, 62 (5), 1416–1424. DOI: 10.1109/TBME.2015.2389626
• Provenzale, J. M.; Mancini, M. C.; Assessment of intra-observer variability in measurement of high-grade brain tumors. J. Neuro-Oncol. 2012, 108, 477–483. DOI: 10.1007/s11060-012-0843-2
• Mohs, A. M.*; Mancini, M. C.*; Singhal, S.; Provenzale, J. M.; Leyland-Jones, B.; Wang, M.D.; Nie, S.; Hand-held spectroscopic device for in vivo intraoperative tumor detection: Contrast enhancement, detection sensitivity, and tissue penetration. Anal. Chem. 2010, 82 (21), 9058–9065. DOI: 10.1021/ac102058k
• Smith A. M.; Mancini M. C.; Nie S. Second window for in vivo imaging. Nature Nano. 2009, 4 (11), 710–711. DOI: 10.1038/nnano.2009.326
• Mancini M. C.; Kairdolf B. A.; Smith A. M.; Nie S. Oxidative quenching and degradation of polymer-encapsulated quantum dots: new insights into the long-term fate and toxicity of nanocrystals in vivo. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2008, 130 (33), 10836–10837. DOI: 10.1021/ja8040477
• Kairdolf B. A.; Mancini M. C.; Smith A. M.; Nie S. Minimizing nonspecific cellular binding of quantum dots with hydroxyl-derivatized surface coatings. Anal. Chem. 2008, 80 (8), 3029–3034. DOI: 10.1021/ac800068q

Scientific Presentations

As Presenter

• Mancini, M. C.; Image-Guided Medicine Gives Physicians A Needed Advantage Over Cancer. Oral presentation at Nanjing University, Nanjing, China, 28 July 2014.
• Provenzale, J. M.; Mohs, A. M.; Mancini, M. C.; Tumor Cell Marker Imaging: Searching for the Micrometastases That Change the Game. Oral presentation at the RSNA/ASTRO Cancer Imaging and Radiation Therapy Symposium, Atlanta, GA, 30 April 2011.
• Mancini, M. C.; Mohs, A. M.; Provenzale, J. M.; and Nie, S.; Area imaging combined with interactive point spectroscopy of optical contrast agents for intraoperative guidance during cancer resection. Poster presentation at the AACR Special Conference on Nano in Cancer, Miami, FL, 12–15 January 2011.
• Mancini, M. C.; Nie, S. Examining the long-term fate of quantum dots in vivo: degradation by inflammatory processes. Oral presentation at the annual fall meeting of the Biomedical Engineering Society, Pittsburgh, PA, 7–10 Oct. 2009.
• Mancini, M. C. and Nie, S. The long-term fate of semiconductor quantum dots in vivo: degradation by inflammatory processes. Oral presentation to the Laboratory for Biological Effects of Nanomaterials and Nanosafety at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China, 4 Sept. 2009.
• Mancini, M. C. and Nie, S. Examining the biocompatibility and long-term fate of semiconductor quantum dots: fluorescence quenching and chemical degradation by inflammatory processes. Oral presentation at the International Conference on Nanoscience and Technology, Beijing, China, 1–3 Sept. 2009.
• Mancini, M. C. and Nie, S. Nanotechnology for Cancer Molecular Imaging and Personalized Therapy. Oral presentation at the Nano Bio International Symposium, Tokyo, Japan, 14 Feb. 2008.
• Mancini, M. C. and Nie, S. Cardiovascular nanotechnology: development of nanoparticle agents for probing oxidative stress. Oral presentation at the annual fall meeting of the Biomedical Engineering Society, Los Angeles, CA, 26–29 Sept. 2007.

As Co-Author

• Provenzale, J. M.; Mohs, A.; Mancini, M.; Saba, C. Howerth, E.; Xu, J.; Cornell, K.; Nie, S. Assessment of a Hand-held Intraoperative Optical Imaging Device for Tumor Resection. Oral presentation at the annual meeting of the American Roentgen Ray Society, Washington, D.C., 14–19 April 2013.
• Provenzale, J. M.; Mohs, A.; Mancini, M.; Saba, C.; Howerth, E.; Cornell, K.; Nie, S. Evaluation of a Hand-held Optical Imaging Device for Tumor Resection. Oral presentation at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America, Chicago, IL, 25–30 November 2012.
• Yoon, Y.; Mohs, A.; Liang, Z.; Mancini, M. C.; Lee, D.; Chen, G. Z.; Brat, D. J.; Chen, A. Y.; Nie, S.; Shim, H. Optical imaging guidance of tumor resection margin for head and neck cancer. In proceedings of the 101st Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research, Washington, D.C., 17–21 April 2010. Cancer Research, 70 (8 supp.) 2257–2257.
• Mohs, A. M.; Mancini, M. C.; Machaidze R.; Nie, S.; Hadjipanayis, C. A.; Intraoperative imaging of brain cancer using integrated spectroscopy and imaging. Poster presentation at the annual meeting of the American Association of Neurological Surgeons, Philadelphia, PA, 1–5 May 2010.
• Behravesh E.; Fasse B. B.; Mancini, M. C.; Newstetter W. C.; Boyan, B. D. A comparative study of traditional and problem-based learning instructional methods in a lab setting. Oral presentation at the annual fall meeting of the Biomedical Engineering Society, Los Angeles, CA, 26–29 Sept. 2007.

Contact information

• My email is "hello" at this domain.
• Research Portfolio at The Lens
• LinkedIn profile