Our Mission

We are interested in multidisciplinary approaches to solving problems in biology and biomedicine, combining physics, chemistry, biology, and engineering. To solve these problems, we use a broad range of tools, including synchrotron x-ray scattering and spectroscopy, quantitative optical microscopy, microfluidic systems, machine learning and “big data” methods, x-ray and electron microscopy, and laser scanning confocal microscopy. The group is inherently interdisciplinary; our collaborators include not only bioengineers, but also medical doctors, biologists, physicists, chemists, and material scientists. Our current interests are in bacterial biofilms, immunity & antibiotic design, and fundamental science that enables new bioengineering opportunities.

Research Areas

Synthetic Microbiology

'Social media for microbes': We track entire bacterial communities across dozens of generations at single cell resolution.

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Innate Immune Peptides

Understanding innate immune peptide sequences using ideas from machine learning, geometry, and coordination chemistry.

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Synthetic Immunology

Programatically assembling supramolecular complexes with innate immune peptide chaperones for either pro- or anti-inflammatory responses.

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The Physical Immunology of COVID-19

Studying why the coronavirus responsible for COVID-19 is so hyperinfectious and hyperinflammatory from a physical perspective.

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