ASSISTANT PROFESSOR - CHEMICIAL AND BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING
Education
Ph.D., Yale University, 2012
M.Phil., Yale University, 2011
M.S., Yale University, 2009
B.S., University of Pittsburgh, 2007
For my doctoral work at Yale University, I specialized in MRI cell tracking and contrast agent development for the diagnosis of glioblastoma multiforme, an invasive type of brain tumor. After completing my doctorate, I accepted a postdoctoral fellowship in the M+Visión Program, a collaborative venture between the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and clinical laboratories in Madrid, Spain. One of my projects involved the early detection of ovarian cancer through identifying characteristics of precursor lesions that could be imaged using optical microscopy. During my second postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Pittsburgh, I developed an in vivo multiphoton microscopy technique called quantitative fluorescence intravital lung microscopy (qFILM) for visualizing blood cell trafficking within the pulmonary microcirculation of live sickle cell disease mice and received an NIH NRSA F32 Fellowship to pursue this work. MRI and in vivo fluorescence imaging have many complimentary qualities and I am utilizing both imaging modalities in my research group at West Virginia University. I joined WVU as an Assistant Professor in August 2017.
Research interests
Develop novel MRI nanoparticle contrast agents for early cancer detection
Elucidate role of tumor microenvironment in promoting metastasis using qFILM
Create targeted drug delivery systems for metastasis inhibition
Teaching interests
Biomedical imaging
Biomaterials and tissue interactions
Drug delivery
Stem cell engineering