Our diverse projects are unified by a single aim:
To develop new polymeric hydrogel-based platforms that can be used to improve therapeutic outcomes for ocular diseases

Hyaluronic acid is naturally present within our bodies that is important for normal biological function. While hyaluronic acid is typically crosslinked by modifying the polymer, we instead leveraged the innately present ion-interacting groups to develop a new class of ionically crosslinked hydrogels using a wide variety of bivalent metal cations. These materials, especially the Mg(II)-HA could eventually be optimized towards arthritis treatment and dermal, ocular or drug delivery applications.

We are currently working towards formulating our Mg(II)-HA hydrogels towards ocular applications.

Check out our recent paper published in Biomacromolecules:
Prakash et al., “Ion-Mediated Cross-Linking of Hyaluronic Acid into Hydrogels without Chemical Modification.”

<Under construction coming soon!>

Discovering DISCO NMR

Direct Saturation Compensated (DISCO) NMR, developed by Frank Gu Lab alumni Dr. Jeffery Watchorn is a novel NMR technique useful for detecting and measuring atomic-level interactions between various polymers and large biomolecules, such as proteins.

Understanding how polymers interact with the wide range of biomolecules within the body can help researchers improve the delivery of drugs.