We are interested in engineering biomaterials with novel polymer chemistries that promote the local and controlled delivery of a variety of therapeutic payloads to the skin including small molecules, nucleic acids, and proteins to treat autoimmune skin diseases, wound healing, and hair loss. Our research advances our understanding of how basic biomaterial and chemical properties affect pharmacokinetic properties and drug delivery in vivo, and we utilize advanced spectroscopic approaches to answer these questions. Our goal is to develop novel biomaterial therapeutics with high likelihood of success in the dermatology clinic.

We utilize advanced biomaterial fabrication approaches including 3D printing to generate biocompatible materials that can used to facilitate drug delivery and as scaffolds for tissue engineering. We utilize many polymers both natural and synthetic that are functionalized with additional chemistries that influence additional interactions with local environments and drug behavior. Our goal is to leverage our fabrication technologies to better control and probe cellular environments, furthering our understanding of processes such as appendage development and wound healing.

Our laboratory focuses on the clinical translation of bioengineered therapies and diagnostic devices. We have multiple preclinical models with high translational relevance for a variety of dermatologic diseases. We are also dedicated to an understanding of Chemistry, Manufacturing, and Controls (CMC) processes and Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP), facilitating the progression of our technology into the dermatology clinic. We also investigate how therapeutics are metabolized in the skin locally and systemically, and probe local and systemic toxicities from controlled delivery systems.