Ongoing Research Projects

Bi-continuous nanospheres are a stable structure that can be sono-sensitized to release drug payloads when treated with ultrasound. We apply this technology to deliver cancer immunotherapies to tumors while sparing healthy tissue. This approach leads to significantly improved T cell activation, immune memory, and tumor control in preclinical models.

While existing therapeutics for Chagas disease can reduce parasitic burden, they do not prevent or reduce cardiac damage. Anti-inflammatory regimens often have the unintended effect of reducing anti-parasitic immunity. We are working on delivering anti-parasitic therapies alongside immunomodulatory drugs to address both parasitic burden and cardiac inflammation. 

We have developed a new polymeric drug delivery system which can easily self assemble, encapsulate a wide variety of drugs, as well as protect enzymes and proteins from degradation. We decorate these nanoparticles with monoclonal antibodies specific to mast cells to prevent anaphylaxis and deliver drugs to mast cells. 

We are developing tolerogenic immune therapies for type 1 diabetes and transplant using biomaterials that target and reprogram antigen-presenting cells. By promoting immune tolerance rather than general immunosuppression, this approach aims to slow disease progression and enable transplantation without leaving patients vulnerable to opportunistic infection. 

We have developed and employed cell-softening nanotherapy to selectively modulate stiffness of Schlemm's canal endothelial cells for therapeutic reduction of IOP and treatment of glaucoma.

We use hydrogels for intracellular co-delivery of multiple chemically diverse payloads at controllable concentrations to mimic the molecular complexity of attenuated vaccines. We use a single simple homopolymer capable of rapid and stable loading and intracellular delivery of diverse molecular cargoes for a wide range of biomedical applications.

Across projects, we integrate immunology, bioengineering, and materials science to develop targeted, biomaterials-based immunotherapies. We aim to serve as the go-to resource at UVA for using nanotechnology in the biomedical space.