I am a Chemical Engineer based in Columbia, Maryland.

I grew up in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and completed my undergraduate at the University of Minnesota in 2020. I then moved to Maryland to complete a Ph.D. program in Chemical Engineering from Johns Hopkins University.

While my professional work has focused heavily on the study of colloids, I my expertise and interests includes coding, troubleshooting problems of any type, and an interest in nuclear that leaves my wife nervous.

Transmucosal Drug Delivery with Nanoparticles

None of us like needles, which makes the prospect of delivery life-saving pharmaceuticals in more convenient ways compelling. Imagine if a child with diabetes did not have to face a needle twice a day.

The biggest barrier to creating ocular, inhaled and oral versions of for today’s drugs is the mucus barrier. It covers every part of the body that needs to interact with the environment without the tough layer of skin in the way. The eyes, the lungs, and gastro-intestinal tract are all protected by mucus.

While the mucus barrier is repels attacks from most viruses, we know that some are good at getting through. Protecting against viral infections is a big problem, but also, the very properties that make viruses effective could be used to develop better treatments.

I have spent the last 5 years measuring and modeling potential coatings for drug delivery. In that time, I have developed simplified models for hydrodynamic and transport theories, I have validated surface interaction models for the most common drug delivery coating (PEG brushes), and I have collaborated with chemists to synthesize model systems with virus-mimetic surfaces.

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