We extend our heartfelt gratitude to our mentors, Dr. Ester Kwon, PhD (Principal Investigator), and Akash Canjels (Graduate Student Mentor), for their invaluable guidance and provision of resources, which have been instrumental in making this project a reality. We also want to thank Dr. Alyssa Taylor and the BENG 187 teaching staff for their mentorship during our project design process.Their generous funding and thoughtful support have been indispensable in bringing this project to fruition.
Ester J. Kwon is an Associate professor of Bioengineering at the University of California San Diego. Dr. Kwon earned her B.S. in Bioengineering and B.A. in Molecular & Cell Biology at UC Berkeley. She went on to earn her Ph.D. at the University of Washington in Bioengineering with Suzie H. Pun, where she engineered polymeric nanoparticles that were grafted with peptides to give them biological function for the delivery of therapeutic nucleic acid into the central nervous system. Her postdoctoral research was completed in the laboratory of Sangeeta N. Bhatia at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. There, she engineered several nanomaterial scaffolds for application to cancer, bacterial infections, and traumatic brain injury. Her lab in the Bioengineering Department at UCSD engineers nanoscale tools, diagnostics, and treatments for diseases of the central nervous system. In order to fulfill these goals, Dr. Kwon is motivated to create an inclusive research environment through the individualized mentorship of trainees and outreach to young scientists. Dr. Kwon is a recipient of the pre- and post-doctoral NIH Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Awards, the 2018 NIH Director’s New Innovator award, and a 2021 NSF CAREER Award.
Akash is a PhD Student in the Bioengineering department at UCSD. He is interested in using nanomaterials to develop therapeutics for neurological diseases and understand those diseases using computational systems. He obtained his B.S. in Bioengineering from UCSD. Outside of the lab, he enjoys reading, trying different cuisines and activities with friends.