(6kk) Hierarchical Self-Assembly and Biological Interactions of Functional Synthetic and Natural Supramolecular Systems

Research Interests:
Macromolecules in the biological milieu, such as peptides and proteins, play a critical role in the function of cellular systems. For example, cytoskeletal proteins control adhesion, migration, and transcellular material transport. Such functions heavily rely on the structure and assembly dynamics of the self-assembling components of the cytoskeletal networks. Taking inspiration from these natural structures, I am interested in creating organic supramolecular nanomaterials with engineered function towards cellular interactions. My work as a graduate student involved the development of one-dimensional peptidic nanostructures appended with organic electronic units, which exemplify tunable photophysical, mechanical and biochemical properties. This molecular design approach merges the biological relevance of self-assembling peptides and the optoelectronic function of organic semiconducting units—creating a bioelectronic scaffolding platform compatible with electrically-active cells such as neurons and cardiomyocytes. The findings from this work enabled new ways to effectively generate localized electric fields within the internal electronic conduits of peptide-based nanomaterials. Inspired by photosynthetic systems and by understanding the dynamic structure-function relationships for these materials, semiconducting peptide monomers that can be assembled as aligned hydrogels were successfully built according to design principles that allowed for a directed photonic energy transport, a sequential electron transport in a multicomponent system, and the transmission or equilibration of voltage or current when incorporated in a transistor device. These soft scaffolding materials, with rationally tunable properties, offer a unique tissue engineering platform towards locally delivering electronic, topographical and biochemical cues to cells.

Currently, in my postdoctoral work, I am continuing to investigate the multi-scale interactions of nanomaterials with biological systems. We are particularly exploring the nano-bio interface by understanding how engineered nanomaterials interact with biological barrier tissues (such as the endothelium and dermal layers) and how the biochemically entangled supramolecular networks of cytoskeletal proteins in barrier tissues reorganize in response to nanomaterial exposure. Together with these investigations, our team continuously develops new platforms to assess the impacts of these nanomaterials to tissue function, such as by using “organs-on-chips” systems and utilizing label-free microscopy techniques. Moving forward, as an independent researcher, my goal is to build a research group that will pioneer next generation
functional supramolecular assemblies that can be used as “adaptive probes” for monitoring biological investigations. Beyond the capability of soft organic materials to serve as biocompatible substrates for regenerative medicine applications, I am interested to utilize such functional nanomaterials based on synthetic or natural biomacromolecules as tools for investigating cytoskeletal reorganization processes and cellular signaling events mediated by ion channels. From the library of compounds that will be built, we will engineer appropriate organic nanomaterial-based sensors coupled with device platforms that can enable the investigations on various dynamic biological phenomena at multiple spatiotemporal scales. Developing bioinspired nanomaterials for investigating biological mechanisms and processes opens the possibilities for unraveling new concepts governing cellular mechanotransduction and interactions at the biotic-abiotic interface.

Successful Proposals/ Fellowships: Irving S. Sigal Postdoctoral Fellowship (American Chemical Society), International Student Research Fellowship (Howard Hughes Medical Institute), Faculty for the Future Fellowship (Schlumberger Foundation)

Postdoctoral Supervisor: Prof. Kevin Kit Parker, Disease Biophysics Group, John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA

Ph.D. Supervisors: Prof. John D. Tovar, Department of Chemistry; and Prof. Hai-Quan Mao, Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Translational Tissue Engineering Center (TTEC), and Whitaker Biomedical Engineering Institute, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD

Teaching Interests:

Throughout my academic career, I have served in multiple classroom teaching and laboratory mentoring posts. I was as a laboratory instructor in University of the Philippines-Diliman and a teaching assistant in Johns Hopkins, both for undergraduate introductory and organic chemistry laboratory and lecture classes for chemistry majors and non-majors. I was also as a guest instructor at Harvard for a cellular engineering course for engineering majors. Aside from classroom-setting teaching, I have an extensive undergraduate and graduate student research mentoring experience in graduate school and as a postdoctoral researcher. Four of these undergraduate students were co-authors in publications that resulted from the research projects that we worked on. I have also participated as a mentor in a multitude of STEM-related outreach activities involving students across different elementary to high school levels. These collective teaching and mentoring experiences equip me to teach graduate- and undergraduate-level courses in organic materials/biomaterials, which is my area of research expertise. I am also interested in teaching courses which are related to fundamentals of materialschemistry to nanotechnology. In addition, I would welcome the opportunity to develop new courses, particularly on topics that involve supramolecular materials, optoelectronics, as well as and their applications in engineering and biomedical sciences. I plan to promote an active project-based learning environment for my potential students in these courses. Importantly, I will ensure a learning-centered teaching/ problem-based learning and an inclusive pedagogy practice that aims to foster the best environment where students can excel.