Mentor: Matt DeLisa

Education:

Northwestern University – B.S., Chemical and Biological Engineering with Honors (2020)

Awards and Honors

• Graduate Research Fellowship, NSF
• Beckman Scholar, Arnold and Mabel Beckman Foundation
• McCormick Summer Research Grant, Northwestern U.

Research Experience:

• Research Lab of Dr. Michael Jewett – Northwestern U.

Current Research Activities:

My project seeks to develop a new type of biologic therapeutic  with reduced immunogenicity and increased circulatory half-life through strategic installation of asparagine-linked (N-linked) glycans. I will achieve the creation of such glycoengineered affibodies via a novel glycan masking approach. To this end, cell-free glycoprotein synthesis (CFGpS) technology and a multiplexable ex vivo immune organoid assay will be combined to produce affibodies with significantly enhanced pharmacokinetics. Moreover, through this development process I will learn design rules which could be extended to other protein therapeutics whose non-human origin and/or small size have precluded clinical translation.