Research Interests

As a biomaterials researcher who has centered my research around opportunistic pathogens and commensal microbes, I am keenly interested in developing materials capable of interacting with and influencing the composition of the gut microbiome to address different disease states. The gut microbiome is a complex consortium of microbes that has been shown to be implicated in musculoskeletal disorders, cancer, and neurological disorders, among others. Therefore, materials that modulate gut microbes have the potential to have lasting impacts on different distal tissues.

I seek to establish a new line of research at the intersection of drug delivery and the gut microbiome with broad disease applications. This work leverages my prior training in polymers/organic chemistry, drug delivery, in vivo microbiome models, and computational microbiome analysis. I specifically aim to develop systems for prolonged delivery of gut microbe-derived molecules (short chain fatty acids, probiotics, microbial-derived proteins) to the gut lining and to local tissues of interest. My initial studies will be focused on applying these delivery systems for orthopaedic applications, however, over time the work will expand to encompass applications in cancer, neurological, and gastro-intestinal disorders with assistance from appropriate collaborators. It is my ambition to pursue a tenure-track faculty position in Biomedical Engineering/Bioengineering at an R1 institution.