Mobina is working on developing comb-shaped polymer-peptide conjugates with antimicrobial activities. Her research focuses on studying the effect of different hydrophilic polymers on comb-shaped conjugates' performance and stability. Outside of the lab, Mobina enjoys cooking, watching movies, and discovering new places in the city.

Kelly is interested in developing novel cell culture systems for the advancement of tissue engineering and regenerative medicine. Specifically, she studies cellular responses to thermoresponsive polymeric culture substrates for biomanufacturing engineered skeletal muscle tissue. When not in the lab, Kelly enjoys gardening, visiting wineries and art museums, crocheting, and barre.

Aditi is working on reversibly modifying therapeutics to tailor them for storage and delivery. Using multi-site esterification to temporarily modify therapeutic charge and hydrophobicity, she is currently focused on developing a polymeric encapsulant to form complexes with these modified therapeutics. Outside work, she loves to cook, hike, and spend way too much time on FT/teleparty w her family. 

Jerwin is working with degradable polymers for protecting therapeutic peptides. He is exploring tunable properties such as polymer length and hydrophobicity to control complexation and degradation for this dynamic pH-responsive system. He enjoys trying new food and playing old video games.

Darren's research focuses on designing hydrogels with controllable mechanical properties and proteolytic degradability. Specifically, he is investigating peptide stereochemical-directed interactions to help establish design rules for using these molecules as dynamic cross-linkers in polymeric hydrogels. Outside of lab, Darren enjoys cooking, golf, and hiking.

Hadley is working on designing stereocomplexed coiled coils for therapeutic separation applications. More specifically, she is investigating the stereochemistry-driven interactions that occur between D- and L- peptides, and how they can be applied to chromatography. Outside of lab, Hadley enjoys reading, cooking, going for walks, and trying new coffee shops. 

Joshua Alexander

yax8zn [at] virginia.edu

• UVA Biomedical Engineering Class of 2025

Elli Brna

jtv5cs [at] virginia.edu

• UVA Chemical Engineering Class of 2025

Anneliese Busch

rzm3zn [at] virginia.edu

• UVA Chemical Engineering Class of 2027

Laura Pfitzer

vqd5ax [at] virginia.edu

• UVA Chemistry and Spanish Class of 2026

Keelin Reilly

ptk8gg [at] virginia.edu

• UVA Biomedical Engineering Class of 2025