Expertise
nano-bio interface, environmental transformations of nanomaterials

Instrumentation
- DLS/Zeta Sizer - QCM-D - AAS (flame and furnace) - Fluorimeter - GC-MS - HPLC - UPLC-MS - FTIR - 400 MHz NMR - UV-vis - XRD

Background & Research Interest
I am a second-year assistant professor at Lafayette College as of 2020. I obtained my PhD from UW-Madison as part of the Center for Sustainable Nanotechnology with Bob Hamers. My thesis work focused on environmental transformations of nanomaterials and characterizing the interactions between nanomaterials and supported lipid bilayers (a mimic for cellular membranes) using quartz crystal microbalance and atomic force microscopy. I completed a postdoc with Galya Orr at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (as part of the Center for Sustainable Nanotechnology) where I looked at the interactions between nanomaterials and trout gill epithelial cells using correlative atomic force and super resolution fluorescence microscopies. I also did some RNA sequencing work to understand the impacts of nanomaterials and cells at the RNA level. Thus far at Lafayette, my group has been focused on nanoplastics -- the environmental transformations they may undergo (e.g., sorption of more harmful pollutants) and their interactions with trout gill epithelial cells and model sediment surfaces.