RESEARCH.

Advancing probiotic engineering, synthetic biology, and gut–brain–immune therapeutics through rigorous translational research.

My scientific interests have always been in asking questions beyond the bench and in building tools that can improve human well-being.

My relationship with research began early and was shaped as much by mentorship as by curiosity. In early high school, I was awarded a Gold Medal at the National Children’s Science Congress, where I had the opportunity to speak to Dr. Yash Pal. His insistence that science remain humane, courageous, and unconstrained profoundly influenced me.

I carried this mindset through independent research during my school years and undergraduate training. I learned not only how to conduct experiments, but also how to persist through uncertainty and failure.

My training has been interdisciplinary by choice, spanning chemical engineering, microbiology, and molecular biology. My greatest strength as a scientist is perseverance.

Currently, I am a PhD candidate in the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering at Iowa State University, under the guidance of Dr. Thomas Mansell. My research focuses on engineering E. coli Nissle 1917 as a probiotic chassis for gut–brain and immune-modulating biotherapeutics.

I have experience working with bacteria, molecular biology workflows, genome-scale libraries, and in vivo mouse models.

For more, see my Google Scholar.
You can also download my CV here.

Research Focus

Human health is complex, and many of the challenges we face cannot be addressed by conventional treatments. Small-molecule drugs and biologics have transformed medicine, but in many cases, they act as temporary fixes rather than sustained solutions. Each person's body is different, and so a sustained and subjective "lifestyle" fits the hero arc more than a one-time intervention.

This is where the microbiome becomes compelling. The human body hosts trillions of symbiotic microbes which are active participants in our physiology. They form long-term, symbiotic relationships with the host and influence metabolism and immunity. The microbiome has found its way into every area of healthcare, and a growing body of research supports its role in wellness (See my contribution to this in my review published at Advanced Drug Delivery Reviews). Building on this foundation, my work focuses on probiotic engineering and live biotherapeutics. The goal is to engineer beneficial microbes into "inside guys" that reside in the body, sense their environment, respond to biological signals, and/or deliver therapeutics.

While this field has shown immense promise, clinical translation has been challenging. These limitations are exactly what make the field exciting to me. I am optimistic about the future of live biotherapeutics. With advances in synthetic biology, metabolic engineering, and understanding of host–microbe interactions, we are beginning to develop tools that are more precise, robust, and meaningful. My research sits in this space of building microbial platforms that are not just functional in the lab, but contributing to improvements in healthcare.

Please feel free to reach out to discuss and brainstorm on any ideas or thoughts that you may have, or even just to connect, I am friendly, I promise ;)