Ou
Engineering Biology for Human Health
With 2023 Nobel Prize Laureate in Physiology and Medicine Dr. Katalin Karikó
Researching synthetic biology as part of UPenn's 2023 iGEM team
My iGEM team members
Autoantigen Discovery in Hidradenitis Suppurativa (Independent Project)
In the Tsourkas Lab, I work on isolating tissue-bound autoantibodies from hidradenitis suppurativa (HS) lesions and using them to capture their native antigen targets from patient tissue. Combining this with high-resolution mass spectrometry allows us to pinpoint the exact proteins and modifications the immune system is attacking in HS, an essential step toward clarifying whether HS is autoimmune in nature and resolving the long-standing question of what triggers its chronic, destructive inflammation.
Colton Center Discovery Pilot Grant Proposal
Tsourkas Lab
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Site-Specific Antibody–Liposome Conjugation Using Co-PoP and LASIC (Independent manuscript in progress)
In the Tsourkas Lab, I am working on engineering a site-specific, modular platform for attaching off-the-shelf antibodies to liposomes. This project combines cobalt porphyrin–phospholipid (Co-PoP) bilayers, which allow stable, non-covalent binding of His-tagged proteins, with Light Activated Site-Specific Conjugation (LASIC) to covalently link antibodies to Protein G without disrupting their antigen-binding domains. The goal is to create a highly controlled and versatile antibody–liposome system that preserves antibody orientation and functionality, enabling more precise targeting for drug delivery, imaging, and immunotherapy applications.
2025 Fall CURF Research Symposium Poster Presentation
Tsourkas Lab
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Vagelos Undergraduate Research Grant Proposal 2024
Tsourkas Lab
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2024 Penn Center for Undergraduate Research and Fellowships Poster Presentation
During my PURM fellowship in the Mitchell Lab, I worked on developing EGFR-targeted lipid nanoparticles (LNPs)as a platform for treating placental dysfunction in pregnancies complicated by conditions like preeclampsia and fetal growth restriction. The project explored how protein-conjugated LNPs can overcome one of the biggest challenges in nanomedicine, achieving precise delivery beyond the liver, by engineering nanoparticles that selectively home to the placenta. This work advances the broader goal of creating safe, targeted mRNA therapies that can modulate placental biology without harming the parent or fetus, offering a promising therapeutic strategy for maternal-fetal medicine.
Penn Undergraduate Research Mentorship Program
Poster Presentation 2024
Mitchell Lab
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International Genetically Engineered Machine Competition 2023
As part of a student-run project in the Bugaj Lab, I led a three-person team to engineer a light-activated protein secretion system using split TEV protease. We built OptoTEV, a blue-light–responsive protease, and integrated it into the RELEASE pathway to control when mammalian cells secrete a protein of interest. Through plasmid cloning, HEK293T transfections, and GFP-based assays, we showed that light can precisely tune protease activity and developed a nanobody-based method to detect secreted GFP. This platform could ultimately help enable more precise therapeutic protein delivery and improve how we study cell–cell communication in diseases like cancer.
iGEM Final Presentation
Bugaj Lab
2023
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iGEM Final Paper
Bugaj Lab
2023
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