Doctoral Candidate

Nanjing, China

Education B.S. Materials Science and Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, 2016

Lab Duties Safety Chief

Research Focus

H. pylori adhesion onto gastric epithelial cells is crucial to the survival of H. pylori in stomach and the pathogenesis of gastric disorders. I will examine the influence of different bacterial outer membrane proteins on the adhesion dynamics using a rheometer-based assay and investigate the adhesion rates through modeling and simulation. This project will illustrate a pivotal process in the pathology of H. pylori through the combination of experimental rheology, microbiology, and theoretical kinetics.

My broader research goal is to study biological processes in a quantitative manner with methodologies from applied physics. As my doctoral research, this project will focus on a particular biological process, the process of the bacterial adhesion onto mammalian cells. The results will not only contribute to our understanding of this specific system, but also help medical researchers design new preventive methods to regulate H. pylori associated diseases. More generally, this combined experimental and theoretical approach can be employed in research efforts on adhesion involved in many other infectious diseases.