Innovator Profile

Our research is multidisciplinary and focuses on the molecular design and fabrication of biomimetic materials for use in medical device applications. Biomedical materials development includes the synthesis of prodrugs to simultaneously detect and kill bacteria, glucose biosensing, fabrication of biomass-sourced and biodegradable nitric oxide (NO) releasing polymers, the creation of new pediatric cancer therapeutics, and the creation of new materials to improve extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO). Our metal-organic frameworks (MOF) research includes the development of next-generation glucose biosensing, fluorescence-based sensing of heavy metals, incorporation of MOFs into biocompatible medical devices, and MOF-based high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) separations. Fundamental areas of MOF research include thermal/materials analysis of MOF catalysts, development of flow catalysis systems with MOFs, and kinetic/mechanistic investigations into MOF biocatalysis. Current projects related to analytical method development include generation of liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) separation and detection methods to analyze the safety and biocompatibility of biodegradable medical devices, fast and easy LC-MS based detection methods for fungal infection biomarkers, and MOF based HPLC separations.