DrIsabella Fiorello

Dr. Isabella Fiorello is an Assistant Professor at Imperial College London, where she leads the Hybrid Nature Lab (https://www.fiorellolab.com/). 

Her research focuses on the development of small-scale hybrid robotic machines inspired by nature, integrating biological components, advanced materials, microfabrication, and robotics to create systems capable of interacting with and adapting to complex, unstructured environments. Her work explores applications in precision agriculture, environmental sustainability, soft robotics, smart textiles, and space exploration.

Before joining Imperial College London, she was a Junior Group Leader at the Cluster of Excellence Living, Adaptive and Energy-autonomous Materials Systems (livMatS) at the University of Freiburg, where she led the Biohybrid Machines group. From 2023, she was also a Fulbright Scholar at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) in Pasadena, California. She received her Master’s Degree in Industrial Biotechnology, with honors, from the University of Turin (Italy) in 2017 and her PhD in Biorobotics, with honors, from the Sant’Anna School of Advanced Studies (Pisa, Italy) in 2021. From 2021 to 2023, she was a postdoctoral researcher in the Bioinspired Soft Robotics Laboratory at the Italian Institute of Technology (Genoa, Italy).

She is the principal investigator of several European and international research projects, including a Horizon Europe Marie Skłodowska-Curie Doctoral Network and a National Geographic grant. During her scientific career, she has received several prestigious awards and recognitions, including the Young Researcher of the Year – Eni Award (2022), Falling Walls Lab Italy (first prize), and a Fulbright Grant.