Ty Naquin

Ty Naquin has always enjoyed engineering, but he wanted to use it to answer biological questions and address problems in human health.

While pursuing his doctoral degree at Duke University, Naquin began developing microfluidic and acoustic technologies that use sound waves and precisely controlled fluid flows to manipulate and measure biological systems.

“I realized that working at the interface of engineering and biology offered a unique blend of both,” Naquin says. “It allows me to tackle biological and medical problems that are difficult to address without an engineering perspective.”

Now an assistant professor in the School for Engineering of Matter, Transport and Energy, part of the Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering at Arizona State University, Naquin brings expertise in acoustics, microfluidics and computational methods for biological and medical applications. Before joining ASU, he was a postdoctoral associate at the Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Naquin says ASU’s joint efforts between engineering and medicine made it an ideal place to continue his research.

“I was drawn to ASU because of the strong engineering and medical collaborations, particularly with the new medical school and Mayo Clinic,” he says. “My research is highly interdisciplinary and sits at the interface of engineering and medicine, so ASU’s collaborative environment is a great fit for my research and long-term goals.”

At ASU, Naquin’s research focuses on understanding why some cell therapies succeed while others fall short. His lab will develop tools to study individual cells and their interactions to better predict and improve therapeutic performance.

“I want to develop new tools that allow us to probe and understand these interactions at the single-cell level and use that information to produce more effective therapies,” he says.

Beyond developing new technologies, Naquin wants his research to ultimately improve how new therapeutics are understood, developed and manufactured. At ASU, he plans to work with clinical and industry partners to translate promising technologies into real-world applications.

As an educator, he hopes students walk away with more than technical knowledge. He wants them to feel comfortable asking questions, learning from mistakes and applying engineering principles to unfamiliar challenges.

“I want students to leave my classes with a strong technical foundation and the ability to apply it to problems they have not seen before,” he says. “As a mentor, I emphasize independence and accountability while giving students the guidance they need to develop their own judgment.”

Outside the lab, Naquin is a former wrestler at Duke. He credits the sport with teaching him resilience and perseverance — qualities he says are equally important in research. More recently, he helped earn a silver medal at the 2024 Beach World Championships in Ultimate Frisbee.

Written by Erik Wirtanen