BRITE Fellows

The inaugural 2026–2028 BRITE cohort brings together doctoral students from chemistry, pharmaceutical sciences, and engineering.

2026–2028 cohort

PhD program: Pharmaceutical Sciences
Faculty mentor: Hossam Hammouda
Research: Seeks small-molecule modulators of currently undruggable proteins involved in multiple myeloma bone disease, toward precision anticancer therapeutics. Her work links high-throughput and DNA-encoded library screening, mass spectrometry, and biophysical validation by surface plasmon resonance and microscale thermophoresis with an AI-enabled drug-discovery platform, in which predictions guide experiments and results refine the next round of predictions. Cell-based assays and organoid models connect binding to biological function.

PhD program: Chemistry
Faculty mentor: Michael Ross
Research: Uses a peptide-library approach to learn how short, intrinsically disordered peptides control the binding of metabolites to nanoparticles, with the goal of predictive design rules for responsive biomaterials. Target analytes include CO₂, lactate, disease-relevant cations such as sodium, calcium, and magnesium, and pH. Later stages of the work aim at functional hydrogels, cellular delivery, and medical device applications.

PhD program: Pharmaceutical Sciences
Faculty mentor: Soumita Das
Research: Studies how the microbial sensor ELMO1 communicates with endolysosomal pathways to sustain chronic inflammation. Her work combines protein–protein interaction studies, plate-based functional assays in wild-type and ELMO1-knockout macrophages, and patient-derived gut organoid models, with the aim of identifying biomarkers and druggable targets for precision immunomodulation.

PhD program: Electrical and Computer Engineering
Faculty mentor: Hengyong Yu
Research: Develops CT reconstruction and image-restoration methods that combine physics-based modeling and machine learning, including deep-learning restoration of low-dose CT. His long-term goal is reliable reconstruction methods that improve clinical imaging.