Past Research Projects

Phase-Separated Liposomes

During my time at Northwestern University, I was working in the Kamat group studying cell-material interactions. Specifically, we were interested in mimicking lipid rafts with synthetic biological systems for applications in drug delivery. We've demonstrated that clustering ligands on the surface of liposomes with phase-separation can enhance cell signaling and cell binding.

Publications and Thesis

Evaluating Lipid Phase Separation in Liposomes for Targeted Nanotherapies.

Sant'Anna, L. E. Undergraduate Honors Thesis.

Tuning targeted liposome avidity to cells via phase separation.

Vu, T. Q.*, Sant'Anna, L.E.*, & Kamat, N. P. BMES 2022, ACS Fall 2022,

Biomacromolecules (2023). (*Co-First Author)

Lipid Phase Separation in Vesicles Enhances TRAIL-Mediated Cytotoxicity.

Vu, T. Q., Peruzzi, J. A., Sant'Anna, L. E., Roth, E. W., & Kamat, N. P. Nano Letters (2023).

Molecular Dynamics of Chromatin

During my time working with the Shenoy group at UPenn, I was developing a model of the chromosome in a molecular dynamics engine. We used physics to model the epigenetic dynamics of the chromosome with the end goal of predicting gene expression in response to external stimuli, such as culturing cells on different substrates.

Publications

Polymer model predicts history dependent epigenetic and lamin-associated domain sizes.

Vinayak V., Basir, R., Sant'Anna, L. E., & Shenoy, V. B. Biophysical Journal (2023).

mini-cube:
Miniature Cell Culture Incubator
First prize in 2023 Medtronic/BMES Student Design Competition (Mechanical & Electrial DIvision)

As part of my capstone project for my BME degree from Northwestern, I worked with Dr. Thomas McDade at Northwestern, a biological anthropologist studying inflammation with population based studies. We developed a miniature, battery-powered blood cell culture incubator that can be mailed across the world to enable at-home blood cell culture assays to be conducted. I also traveled to Stellenbosch and Cape Town Universities in South Africa and worked with Dr. Peter Naudé to explore how battery-powered incubators can enable new types of tests in resource-limited environments during South Africa's energy crisis. Specifically, we envision this device could be used to perform active cell culture assays in HIV-positive patients across South Africa. Dr. McDade and our team envision this device could potentially enable new anthropological studies that depend on portable cell-culture systems.

Endobronchial Valves

I worked at Eolo Medical in Summer 2020, where I developed an endobronchial valve implant for treatment of severe late-stage emphysema. I designed the flow membrane and performed design verification testing of the device and the delivery system. I also got experience with performing our porcine animal study.

Patents

Methods and Devices for the Treatment of Pulmonary Disorders with a Braided Implantable Flow Control Device

Patent Numbers • US: WO2021150872A1, Europe: EP4093332A1

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Assistive Device for Independent Self-Catheterization

During Winter 2020, I led a team of student engineers to develop a customized assistive device for a quadriplegic client. We tailored the assistive device to his specific mobility needs to create a mobile solution to aid him in opening his catheter casing independently, which could help enable his goal to travel independently.