<LINA MARIA BELLO ROJAS> — HTBAA Fall 2026

Hi, I’m Lina 👋

Biomedical Engineer graduate of Universidad del Rosario, wet-lab enthusiast, and permanently curious person from Colombia 🇨🇴

I am happiest in the lab, where I often find myself hearing or asking:

“What happens if we try this?”

My path into biotechnology has moved through nanotechnology, mammalian cell culture, biomaterials, microbiology, and biological manufacturing.

One of the projects that made me fall in love with experimental biology involved testing nanoplatforms in mammalian cells, studying their cytotoxicity and trying to understand how engineered materials interact with living systems. Since then, my interests have kept expanding.

Lately, through my work, I have been spending much more time around microorganisms and I have become increasingly fascinated by how much these tiny living systems can tell us, produce and transform!

HTBAA feels like the perfect excuse to explore all of those worlds at once.

I am particularly interested in technologies that make advanced biotechnology more accessible to people and laboratories that do not have enormous amounts of infrastructure. I am also becoming increasingly curious about living systems as sensors: the idea that cells, microorganisms, or cell-free systems could not only manufacture something useful, but also detect, remember, or communicate information about their environment. That is one of the questions I want to explore through my HTBAA work.

Outside the lab

🎶 I play Colombian folk music

I play instruments with my dad, especially Colombian folk music such as llanera music and carranga. It is one of my favorite things we do together.

🍄 Biology also runs in the family

My dad is a biology teacher and an absolute fungi enthusiast. He can turn almost any walk into a conversation about the world of fungi. I think some of his curiosity about living things definitely rubbed off on me.

🏺 I am learning ceramics

My first ceramic classes produced cups were… Let’s call them structurally experimental. You be the judge 🫣 I am getting better… Probably 😅.

🧩 I also love putting together huge jigsaw puzzles and watching anime

I really enjoy working on large jigsaw puzzles and watching anime in my free time.

What I hope to bring to this community

I want this website to show not only what I make, but how my way of thinking changes as I learn.

I really enjoy spaces where people come from completely different backgrounds but are willing to teach each other.

I hope to bring: curiosity, a strong willingness to learn, hands-on laboratory experience and, most importantly, the habit of trying to get the best out of both the experiments and the people around me.

I am here to learn things I do not know yet, discover new ways of thinking, and hopefully help other people do the same.

Say hi

Lina María Bello Rojas
Biomedical Engineer · Bogotá, Colombia 🇨🇴

lina.bellom@gmail.com +57 305 201 7171

Interested in:

Cell Culture · Microbiology · Synthetic Biology · Biomanufacturing · Biomaterials · Accessible Biotechnology