PhD candidate
University of Delaware
Newark, Delaware, United States
I am a Ph.D. candidate in Dr. Xinqiao Jia's research laboratory in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at the University of Delaware. Prior to starting my doctoral studies, I completed my Bachelor of Technology from Institute of Chemical Technology, Mumbai, India (formerly UDCT) in 2018. At University of Delaware, my research lies in developing functional biomaterials for salivary gland tissue engineering applications to treat xerostomia or dry mouth. Radiation therapy for head and neck cancer patients causes xerostomia. Xerostomia does not have any curative solutions and the palliative treatments are ineffective. Salivary gland tissue engineering offers a long-term treatment strategy for patients suffering from xerostomia. I was successfully able to demonstrate that just by modulating degradability of the hydrogel matrix using proteolytically degradable and nondegradable peptide crosslinkers, human salivary stem/progenitor cells maintained their stem and pro-acinar phenotype. Throughout my doctoral studies, I have acquired proficiency in materials synthesis and characterization, as well as various biological characterization techniques.
Friday, October 13, 2023
4:45 PM – 5:00 PM PDT