Principal Investigator

Current Postdoc Members

Aida Lopez-Ruiz
Postdoc Fellow
Joined Winter 2023
Research Interests: Using nanoparticles as drug delivery systems to achieve better drug efficiency and immune engineering to target specific diseases in the body without a negative immune response.
Hobbies: Running, reading
Email: alopezr@udel.edu
Pronouns: She/Hers
Fun Fact about the Lung: The right and left lung are not the same sizes!
Current Graduate Student Members

Ian Woodward
PhD Candidate
Joined Fall 2018
Research Interests: Working on new in vitro tools for pulmonary drug delivery, namely how we can use the unique capabilities of 3D printing to facilitate personalized medicine and approximate the lung.
Hobbies: Building, Programming, and Graphic Design
Email: irw@udel.edu
Pronouns: He/His
Fun Fact about the Lung: Your heartbeat can influence the delivery of inhaled therapeutics!

Emma Sudduth
PhD Candidate and CBI Fellow
Joined Spring 2022
Research Interests: Inhalable vaccines using model PEG-based hydrogel nanoparticles for more effective aerosolized immunotherapies of the elderly population.
Hobbies: Soccer, Volleyball, and Softball
Email: esudduth@udel.edu
Pronouns: She/Hers
Fun Fact about the Lung: The average adult breaths 13 pints of air every minute!

Michael Trautmann Rodriguez
PhD Candidate
Joined Fall 2021
Research Interests: Nanoparticle-Antigen Presenting Cell interactions, and development of PEG-based hydrogel nanoparticle immunotherapies for driving immune tolerance.
Hobbies: Volleyball, Reading, and Painting
Email: matr@udel.edu
Pronouns: He/His
Fun Fact about the Lung: The lungs only use 5% of the oxygen we breathe in!

Yinkui Yu
PhD Candidate
Joined Fall 2021
Research Interests: Exploiting in-vitro and in-silico engineering tools including 3D printing and CFPF to model aerosol transport and deposition in human lungs.
Hobbies: Rock Climbing, Motorcycle, and Lego
Email: yinkui@udel.edu
Pronouns: He/His
Fun Fact about the Lung: The lung is the only human organ that can float on water!

Jodi Graf
PhD Student and GRFP Fellow
Joined Fall 2022; co-advised with A. Kloxin
Research Interests: Engineering macrophages in different micro environments to better model respiratory therapeutics in vitro.
Hobbies: Volleyball, Exercising and Cooking/Baking
Email: grafjo@udel.edu
Pronouns: She/Hers
Fun Fact about the Lung: The lung is able to float on water because of the aveoli which expand their diameter nearly 20x when filling with air!

Saiful Roslan
PhD Student
Joined Fall 2022
Research Interests: Probing the interplay between metabolism and macrophages phagocytic events to advance understanding of key metabolic targets.
Hobbies: Playing video games, exploring new restaurants
Email: sroslan@udel.edu
Pronouns: He/His
Fun Fact about the Lung: Our lung is asymmetrical and not equal in size!

Eric Slaughter
PhD Student
Joined Fall 2022; co-advised with A. Kloxin
Research Interests: Improving CAR T-cell therapy manufacturing through tangential flow filtration and tunable hydrogel materials.
Hobbies: Tennis, Cooking/Baking, Video games w/ friends
Email: ersla@udel.edu
Pronouns: He/His
Fun Fact about the Lung: You lose water when you exhale. At rest, the body loses approximately 0.5 ounces of water!

Spencer Wolfe
PhD Student
Joined Fall 2022
Research Interests: Trained immunity; the immunological memory of the innate immune system.
Hobbies: Reading and cooking
Email: spwolfe@udel.edu
Pronouns: He/His
Fun Fact about the Lung: An average person breathes in around 11,000 liters of air every day!
Current Undergraduate Student Members

Saurav Padhye
UD ChE Class of 2024
Research interests: Using a combination of in vitro and in silico methods to model aerosol particle deposition in the upper airways of pediatric patients
Hobbies: Basketball, volleyball, and video games
Email: spadhye@udel.edu
Fun Fact about the Lung: The shape of a child’s airways changes as they develop!

Nicole Gill
UD ChE Class of 2024
Research Interests: Investigate how nanoparticle uptake affects the cellular structures of macrophages.
Hobbies: Running and mountain biking
Email: nicoleag@udel.edu
Fun Fact about the Lung: The surface area of the alveoli in both lungs sums up to approximately 160 square meters, which is 80 times greater than the surface area of an adult human’s skin!

Joaquina Somma
UD CBE Class of 2025
Research Interests: Understanding how different factors like diseases and age affect the lung’s structure and functionality.
Hobbies: Listening to music, swimming, and reading
Email: jfsom@udel.edu
Fun Fact about the Lung: A person could live with one lung and life expectancy would not significantly change!

Adhya Anilkumar
UD BME Class of 2026
Research Interests: utilizing nanoparticles and therapeutics for pulmonary drug delivery, and exploring molecular transportation mechanisms for targeted delivery of biomedical interventions within the body
Hobbies: Exercising, Solving Puzzles, Painting, and Baking/Cooking
Email: adhya@udel.edu
Fun Fact about the Lung: The lungs play a key role when we speak! Air is pushed up through the Trachea and into the Larynx (voice box), where the vocal cords vibrate and create sound as air passes.

Ning Zhang
UD ChE Class of 2024
Research Interests: Understanding how engineering tools including 3D printing helps to solve problems related to pulmonary delivery
Hobbies: Watching musicals and forest hiking
Email: zisaning@udel.edu
Fun Fact about the Lung: The left lung tends to be smaller than the right lung in people to accommodate for the heart, which is located on the left side of the body!
Group Pictures
Group Alumni

Simone Sabnis
UD BME Class of 2023

Dr. Kartik Bomb
PhD Graduate 2023
Now at Merck

Dr. Emily Kolewe
PhD Graduate 2023
Now at Fisher & Paykel Healthcare

Dr. Zach Stillman
PhD Graduate 2022
Now at UD CHARM

Dr. Bader Jarai
PhD Graduate 2022
Now at Janssen

Hannah Bockius
UD BME Class of 2023

Daniel Liu
UD ChBE MS 2023

Aaron Lam
UD ChE Class of 2022

Teresa Cruz
UD BISC 2022

Brendan Boggs
UD ChE Class of 2022

Lucas Attia
UD ChE Class of 2021

Emma Peterman
UD CBE Class of 2021

Premal Patel
UD ChE Class of 2021

Nisha Raman
UD CBE Class of 2020

Rickey Egan
MEPT Masters Class of 2020

Ellie Papoutsakis
UD BME Class of 2020

Azeem Sharief
UD CBE Class of 2020

Shuja Abbas
UD CBE Class of 2019

Justin Chernokal
UD CBE Class of 2020

Daksh Jain
UD CBE Class of 2020