Urinary tract infections (UTIs) are the most common outpatient infection and can lead to severe complications, including pyelonephritis and renal damage. Indwelling catheters account for 80% of UTI cases in American individuals who have urinary tract abnormalities, predominantly caused by bacterial biofilms on the catheter surface. To this end, our research investigates hydrogel coatings inspired by mucins, heavily glycosylated proteins that form protective mucus barriers, to prevent bacterial biofilm formation on catheter surfaces. We will engineer synthetic mucin-mimetic compounds to inhibit Klebsiella pneumoniae biofilm formation; to advance this work toward clinical translation, we will test the compounds on real catheters obtained from Massachusetts General Hospital.

I am an aspiring physician-entrepreneur, with interest in developing therapeutics for rare neurological diseases difficult to treat with conventional drug-development approaches. I am fascinated by the intersection of biophysics and molecular engineering for therapeutics, and this SuperUROP project gives me the opportunity to learn more about engineering physical properties of molecules for direct clinical translation. Participating in this project will also teach me more about neuro-urology and give me clinical exposure to urology patient care, which I have never seen.