Aaron Berliner

Dr. Aaron J. Berliner is a Research Scientist in the Departments of Radiation Oncology at Weill Cornell Medicine where he works with Dr. Silvia Formenti and Dr. Christopher Mason on projects at the interface of radiation biology, systems biology, and space bioprocess engineering. His current work includes studies of biological responses to ionizing radiation, spaceflight-associated stressors, the development of translational frameworks for understanding radiation response. Before joining Weill Cornell Medicine, Dr. Berliner was a postdoctoral scholar and inaugural lecturer in Aerospace Engineering at UC Berkeley, where he earned his Ph.D. in Bioengineering and M.S. in Nuclear Engineering. His earlier training at Boston University and research roles at NASA Ames Research Center and Autodesk Research spanned biomedical engineering, synthetic and systems biology, astrobiology, bioelectrochemical systems, bioprinting, and biological design. He also co-founded the NASA-funded Center for the Utilization of Biological Engineering in Space (CUBES), where he helped develop interdisciplinary programs in space bioprocess engineering, biological life-support systems, and in situ resource utilization. At Weill Cornell Medicine, he is extending this systems-level approach into radiation oncology and immunotherapy, including new research and translational efforts focused on thymus-related health, thymic function as a marker of host immune competence, and radiation-associated immune resilience.