2026 Merck Lectureship

James Brennan

5th Year PhD, Materials Science & Engineering

Abstract: The increasing demand for plastics is creating a plastics dilemma. The ubiquity and utility of petroleum-based plastics put a strain on the environment when these materials sit in landfills and find their way into the natural environment. Biological molecules, especially proteins and peptides, are a promising avenue for alternative plastic building blocks. The bundlemer is a customizable, homotetrameric, coiled coil peptide nanoparticle made via solid phase peptide chemical synthesis. In this work, bundlemers of various charge states (-8, 0, +8, and +24 per bundlemer nanoparticle) are investigated for their compatibility with model bacteria (Escherichia coli and Bacillus subtilis) as this is the first step to ensure new material building blocks that potentially can be degraded in the natural environment. Circular dichroism and small angle X-ray scattering were used to characterize bundlemer nanostructure with different amino acid modifications and in different solution environments. Bacterial growth and viability studies were performed to assess bundlemer toxicity towards the model bacteria since bacterial interactions in the environment would be a prime mechanism for bundlemer-based materials degradation. These assays showed -8 having no effect on the growth or viability of the bacteria, 0 and +8 affecting the growth of bacteria, and +24 deleteriously affecting both the growth and viability of bacteria. Future work focuses on scalable synthesis of the bundlemer building blocks with biosynthetic expression combined with solution-based purification and bulk film/fiber material environmental degradation.

Yujue Liu

6th Year PhD, Chemistry & Biochemistry

Abstract: USP9X is an important deubiquitinase that regulates diverse cellular processes, including apoptosis, cell migration, and stem cell renewal. Dysregulation of USP9X has been implicated in neurodegenerative diseases and cancer. However, structural information on full-length USP9X (FL USP9X) remains limited, and the mechanisms underlying its recognition of polyubiquitin chains are not well understood.
We generated linkage-specific diubiquitin activity-based probes containing electrophilic warheads that covalently trap USP9X during substrate recognition. Using these probes, we determined cryo-electron microscopy structures of full-length USP9X in complex with K48- and K33-linked diubiquitin probes. The structures reveal a conserved mode of S1 ubiquitin recognition and identify previously uncharacterized interactions between the S1 ubiquitin and the N-terminal region of FL USP9X. These interactions may contribute to the substantially higher catalytic activity of FL USP9X compared with its isolated catalytic domain. Our structures also reveal a putative S1′ ubiquitin-binding site adjacent to a β-hairpin insertion within the catalytic domain. Mutational and kinetic analyses further support the functional importance of these newly identified interfaces.
Together, our structures provide mechanistic insight into how the S1 and S1′ ubiquitin-binding sites engage distinct ubiquitin moieties and contribute to linkage-specific ubiquitin recognition. This study also demonstrates the utility of semisynthetic, linkage-defined ubiquitin activity-based probes for elucidating the structural basis of ubiquitin-chain recognition and cleavage.

Will Rears

5th Year PhD, Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering

Abstract: Peptide-polymer conjugates combine the self-assembly of protein motifs, like coiled-coils, with the mechanical properties of synthetic polymers to create tunable materials for therapeutics and biosensing. We developed “bundlemers”—computationally designed coiled-coil peptides acting as molecular “Legos” with well-defined cylindrical geometry. While their faces drive robust self-assembly in water, selectively modifying specific residues and grafting polymers from these sites expands their tunability by dictating interactions based on polymer identity, size, and location.

Using solid-phase peptide synthesis, we created an antiparallel, positive mixed-charge bundlemer functionalized with lateral atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP) initiators (four per bundlemer). Tetrameric coiled-coil assembly was confirmed via CD spectroscopy and SEC-UV-MALS. We then used sodium pyruvate-mediated, oxygen-tolerant photoinduced ATRP to graft hydrophilic acrylates and acrylamides, yielding well-defined star conjugates. The interaction complexity of the conjugates required extensive SEC-UV-MALS method development to distinguish polymerization artifacts from non-ideal chromatography behavior.

Kinetics and control were monitored via (_^1)H NMR and SEC-UV-MALS. After 60 minutes of 395 nm irradiation, the conjugates achieved molecular weights of 20–300 kDa with low dispersities (<1.2). Absolute molecular weights were determined using compositional analysis (ASTRA 8, Wyatt), which decoupled the peptide and polymer contributions and confirmed the tetrameric state of the 16 kDa bundlemer core. Current work focuses on hierarchical assembly, post-synthetic processing, and expanding these materials into multi-polymer, miktoarm star conjugates.

Annie Porter

5th Year PhD, Mechanical Engineering

Abstract: Osteoarthritis (OA) affects over 500 million people worldwide, yet no approved disease-modifying therapies exist to prevent cartilage degeneration. Using metformin, a common type 2 diabetes drug, as a case study for drug repurposing, this work integrates population-scale data, quantitative pharmacokinetic measurements, and human tissue-based analytics to evaluate whether epidemiological associations can be linked to direct biological activity within the joint. Evidence was integrated across three biological scales. Analysis of a nationally representative cohort of adults with type 2 diabetes found that metformin use was associated with lower OA prevalence compared with non-use, and a directionally similar trend relative to sulfonylurea therapy. To determine whether this association reflected a possible direct joint mechanism beyond indirect metabolic effects, a targeted LC-MS/MS assay was developed to quantify metformin in human knee synovial fluid following oral administration. Metformin was detected in all analyzed samples at low-micromolar concentrations, demonstrating for the first time that clinically administered metformin reaches the synovial joint at concentrations consistent with potential biological activity. Finally, quantitative characterization of extracellular matrix turnover in living cartilage using bioorthogonal click chemistry demonstrated that these physiologically relevant concentrations attenuated inflammation-induced collagen degradation without stimulating matrix synthesis, supporting an anti-catabolic rather than regenerative mechanism. By connecting population-scale observations with target-tissue pharmacokinetics and quantitative tissue responses, this work establishes a translational analytical framework for drug repurposing and demonstrates how integrated measurements across biological scales can uncover clinically actionable mechanisms of therapeutic response.

Poster Session #1 (Merck)

Poster	Name	Title
Biologics Process Research & Development
1	Jonathan Romero Xiaolin Zhang John Sperduto	Implementation of low pH multi-modal anion exchange chromatography to combat product stability challenges
2	Jonathan Romero Xiaolin Zhang John Sperduto	Biologics Process Research & Development
Large Molecule Analytical
3	Daniel Burke	ADCC sensitivity to antibody fucosylation is influenced by target antigen density and target affinity
4	Gary Citrone	Impact of Environmental Factors on icIEF profiles and Charge Variant Results of Biological Samples
5	Innocent Dlamini	Analytical Control Strategies for Camptothecin-based ADCs: Discriminating True DAR Species and Charged Variants Profiles from Lactone Ring Opening Artifacts
6	Mania Dorrani	Strategy for Bridging Methods for an Accelerated Late-Stage mAb
7	Troy Halseth	Applications of AF4 in Vaccine Development
8	Wei Lin	Mitigation Strategies to Address Analytical Gaps of an in-licensed ADC, Enabling Phase 3 IND Filing and Clinical Trials
9	Caitlin Wood	Pharmaceutical Analysis and Digital Technologies (PADT) and Large Molecule Analytical (LMA) at Merck: Leveraging Diverse Expertise to be Partners in Problem Solving
Large Molecule Analytical Sciences
10	Brian Harrison	Global Quality Large Molecule Analytical Science: Ensuring Quality and Supply of Biologics and Vaccines Around the World
Pharmaceutical Analysis & Digital Technologies
11	Brock Fiorito	Next-Generation Sequencing as an Adventitious Agent Detection Tool
12	Smriti Gupta	Using In-Vitro Dissolution to Derisk pH-Dependent Degradation from PK Variability
13	Jialiu Jiang	Driving Strategic Analytical Excellence through External Partnerships
14	Chey Jones	Forecasting directed evolution campaigns in silico: An a priori assessment of evolutionary fitness using high-throughput modeling and machine learning
15	Justin Lomont	Modernizing Vaccine Process Development with Real-Time, In Situ Spectroscopic Process Analytical Technologies
16	Scott Shultz	The Influence of Particle Size, Shape and Surface Area on Drug Release for the Islatravir Long-Acting Subdermal Implant
17	Dan Smith	Dissolution by Design: Establishing a Clinically-Relevant Dissolution Safe Space for Drug Products
18	Maple Wang	Biophysical Approaches to Characterize Stability in Aluminum-Adjuvant Recombinant Vaccines
Pharmaceutical Sciences & Device Development
19	Yingkai Liang	Droplet-based microfluidic templating of injectable hydrogel microparticles for biomacromolecule delivery
Vaccines Process Research & Development
20	Ryan Bringenberg	Elucidating Antigen Expression Variability in Saccharomyces

Poster Session #2 (UD)

Poster	Name	Title
Bioinformatics & Computational Biology
1	Visnu Chowdhury	Rational domain segmentation improves discovery of phosphoinositide-binding bacterial effectors via 3D structural homology
Biological Sciences
2	Jessica Rainey	Targeting ADAM9: A Versatile Metalloproteinase
3	Karli Sunnergren	Investigating the impact of dysregulated one-carbon metabolism through a multi-omics approach
Biomedical Engineering
4	Ashika Singh	Leveraging friction to engineer medical diagnostics and devices
5	Ann Thomas	Multiscale Characterization of Collagen-Targeting Peptide Nanovesicles for Intra-Articular Drug Delivery
6	Brenna Ellis	High hM3Dq DREADD Expression Drives TRPV4-Dependant Constitutive Calcium Oscillations in ATDC5 Cells
7	Biswarup Goswami	Influence of Hydrogel Adhesivity, Degradability and Cell Seeding Density on Metastatic Prostate Cancer Dormancy, Growth and Reactivation
8	Rose Guerra	F-Actin Loss Resulting from PLS3/Fimbrin Knockout in Osteocyte Dendrites in Mice of Varying Ages
Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering
9	Katherine (Katie) Henderson	Computational investigation of scale-up in mammalian cell culture bioreactors
10	Jessica Rubira	A Synthetic Tool to Explore Chemically Modified Peptide-Protein Interactions
11	Eric Slaughter	Cell Therapies: Enhancing Screening and Manufacturing with Bioinspired Microenvironments
12	Jodi Graf	Collagen Mimetic Peptide-Induced Multiphase Hydrogels Regulate Macrophage Anti-Inflammatory Signaling
13	Christina Ternovskaia	Accelerated Acylated Peptide Formulation using an Autonomous Formulation Laboratory with Small Angle Neutron Scattering
Chemistry & Biochemistry
14	Raghed Kurbaj	Machine Learning Guided Raman Imaging Reveals Biochemical Remodeling Associated with Erlotinib Resistance
15	Kasun Abeyrathne	FTO separation-of-function mutations alter m6A versus m6Am demethylation selectivity on RNA
Materials Science & Engineering
16	Nishtha Pant	TBD
17	Samiksha Udan	Injectable peptide-based hydrogel via linker engineering
18	Maryanne Derkaloustian	Rational Design of Tactile Actuators
19	Quintin Baugh	Development and Characterization of Directed Biosurface-Active Polymerizable Thiophenes
Mechanical Engineering
20	Subrahmanyam Cherukumilli	Magnetic and Acoustic Microrobots for Next Generation Biomedical applications

Speaker Bios

Academic Keynote Speaker

Sarah Heilshorn

Rickey/Nielsen Professor
School of Engineering
Stanford University

Biofabrication of Human Tissue Models

 

Sarah Heilshorn is the Rickey/Nielsen Professor of Engineering and Chair of the Department of Materials Science & Engineering at Stanford University, where she is also a Bass University Fellow in Undergraduate Education. Her laboratory integrates concepts from materials science and protein engineering to design new, bioinspired materials for 3D bioprinting, regenerative medicine, and human tissue modeling. She has been recognized with the Senior Scientist Award from the International Society for Biofabrication, a New Innovator Award from the National Institutes of Health (USA), and the Career Award from the National Science Foundation (USA). She is an elected Fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering and currently serves as an Editor for Acta Biomaterialia and on the Board of Directors for the Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine International Society (TERMIS) Americas chapter.

Merck Keynote Speaker

Joseph P. Smith, Ph.D.

Director
DSCS Digital Technologies
Merck

Transforming Pharmaceutical Development: The Intersection of Analytical Research and Digital Technologies

Dr. Joseph P. Smith is a Director at Merck within the Pharmaceutical Analysis and Digital Technologies organization, where he leads a multidisciplinary research group of 20 scientists and engineers focused on inventing data-rich and digital technologies to enable pharmaceutical development across small molecules, biologics, and vaccines. Dr. Smith’s research group spans process analytical technology, laboratory automation, data science, chemometrics, machine learning, real-time analysis, predictive analytics and monitoring, and data engineering.

Dr. Smith earned his B.S. in Chemistry from the Pennsylvania State University in 2012, where his research focused on synthesis and characterization of magnetic nanoparticles. Dr. Smith earned his Ph.D. in Analytical Chemistry from the University of Delaware in 2017, where his research focused on developing novel analytical tools that leveraged spectroscopy, hyperspectral imaging, chemometrics, and multivariate analysis to analyze geological and planetary materials. Dr. Smith then began his industrial career at Merck in 2017, where he remains today.

At Merck, Dr. Smith has devoted his career to advancing interdisciplinary research efforts at the intersection of data science and analytical research. Dr. Smith has published over 58 peer-reviewed articles and currently has over 1771 citations with an h-index of 20 and an i-10-index of 33. Dr. Smith has presented at over 66 conferences with 34 invited presentations and 7 award symposia. He serves as an Associate Editor of Applied Spectroscopy and as an elected representative on the Governing Board of the Society for Applied Spectroscopy. Dr. Smith has established a myriad of external collaborations at Merck, including with the University of Delaware, Purdue University, and Indiana University. Dr. Smith is co-principal investigator for an NSF-GOALI collaboration between Merck and the University of Delaware.

Dr. Smith is deeply passionate about outreach and service. He has advised multiple postdoctoral research fellows at Merck, served as Merck’s representative on the National Institute for Innovation in Manufacturing Biopharmaceuticals (NIIMBL) for vaccine analytics, and established the Merck-University of Delaware ambassador program for recruitment efforts. He served as a mentor in the NSF Science and Engineering Leadership Initiative, designed to enable students with disabilities to pursue STEM careers. Dr. Smith is deeply committed to talent development, having formally managed over 50 employees to date. Dr. Smith has received a variety of prestigious awards, including the Emerging Leader in Molecular Spectroscopy Award, the Bruce Kowalski Award, the Glenn Skinner Memorial Award, and the University of Delaware’s Excellence in Teaching Award.

Caitlin Wood, Ph.D.

Associate Principal Scientist, Large Molecule Analytical
Merck

Bio: Caitlin Wood is an Associate Principal Scientist in Large Molecule Analytical at Merck & Co., Inc., where she develops and applies analytical strategies to support the clinical and commercial development of biologics. Her expertise spans protein stability, particle characterization, interfacial science, and formulation development, and she has contributed to multiple IND and BLA submissions across Merck’s biologics portfolio. Among the programs she has supported, Caitlin is especially proud of her contributions to the development of Enflonsia, which was approved in 2025.

Beyond her program responsibilities, Caitlin leads cross-functional scientific collaborations, mentors early-career scientists, and advances innovation through industry and academic partnerships. She has authored numerous peer-reviewed publications focused on biologics stability, protein aggregation, particle characterization, and machine learning applications in pharmaceutical development.

Caitlin received her Ph.D. in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering from the University of Delaware, where her research in the labs of Chris Roberts and Eric Furst focused on elucidating mechanisms of interface-mediated protein aggregation. While at UD, Caitlin was a proud resident of The Horseshoe and spent much of her free time running in White Clay.

Yingkai Liang, Ph.D.

Principal Scientist, Discovery Pharmaceutical Sciences
Merck

Bio: Yingkai is currently a Principal Scientist in Discovery Pharmaceutical Sciences at Merck Research Laboratories in West Point, Pennsylvania, USA. He obtained his Ph.D. in Materials Science and Engineering under the mentorship of Professor Kristi Kiick at the University of Delaware. His doctoral research was focused on developing polymeric hydrogels and nanoparticles for controlled drug delivery applications. He joined Merck in 2016 after completing his Ph.D and has progressively held roles of increasing responsibility in the department of Discovery Pharmaceutical Sciences. He and his team support drug discovery and drug product development through application of pharmaceutical science to drug delivery research from target identification through clinical candidate selection for both small and large molecules as well as vaccines.

Niko Gebreselassie, Ph.D.

Principal Scientist, Vaccines & Advanced Biotechnologies Process R&D
Merck

Bio: Niko is a bioprocess scientist with extensive experience in vaccine and gene therapy process development. He currently serves as a Principal Scientist at Merck’s Vaccines & Advanced Biotechnologies Process Research and Development group, where he leads process development and upstream process and mechanistic understanding efforts across programs. His work focuses on developing process knowledge, advancing mechanistic models, and enabling data-driven strategies to improve process robustness, scalability, and manufacturing performance.

Prior to rejoining Merck, Niko was a Process and Media Development Lead at Spark Therapeutics, where he led drug substance development for a recombinant adeno-associated virus (rAAV) gene therapy program from early development through IND filing and first-in-human process definition. He also directed technology development initiatives in cell culture media optimization and process analytical technologies (PAT), including Raman spectroscopy-based monitoring and control strategies.

Earlier in his career at Merck, Niko contributed to Vaxneuvance, a Pneumococcal Conjugate Vaccine program, leading and supporting initiatives spanning process optimization, process characterization, technology transfer, PAT implementation, regulatory authorship, and BLA-enabling activities.

Niko holds a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Delaware and a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from UMBC. He is passionate about mentorship, scientific innovation, and translating data into practical solutions that accelerate biopharmaceutical development.

Jill DeHaven

Associate Director, Global Quality Large Molecule Analytical Sciences
Merck

Bio: Jill DeHaven is an Associate Director in Merck’s Global Quality Large Molecule Analytical Sciences Department. She leads a global team responsible for providing external analytical technical oversight for late-stage pipeline programs through commercialization and launch. Her team also supports product lifecycle management for large molecule products, including vaccines and biologics, as well as cross-modality compounds such as antibody-drug conjugates. Jill’s career spans both Merck Research Laboratories and Merck Manufacturing Division, with experience in live virus vaccine discovery, vaccine manufacturing and scale-up, analytical method development and validation, analytical laboratory operations, sample management, and project management.

Jill earned a B.S. in Comprehensive Science with a minor in Biology from Villanova University and a M.S. in Clinical Research Organization and Management from Drexel University College of Medicine. She also holds a Lean Six Sigma Green Belt and a certificate in project management. Jill is passionate about mentoring others and, outside of work, enjoys baking, golfing, and traveling with her family.

Mackenzie L. Smith, PhD

Associate Principal Scientist, Large Molecule Analytical
Merck

Bio: Mackenzie earned her Ph.D. in Chemistry from the University of Delaware in the labs of Profs. Brian Bahnson and Catherine Grimes where she studied the molecular interactions of innate immune receptors and bacterial cell wall agonists. She joined Merck in 2017 in Animal Health contributing to the development of products like Bravecto Quantum.

Motivated by the global pandemic, Mackenzie joined Large Molecule Analytical in 2020 and has impacted our vaccine pipeline with contributions towards franchise programs like HPV (Gardasil) and PCV (Capvaxive, Vaxneuvance) as well as technology development in high-throughput automation. Most recently, she came back to her immunology roots, focusing on the development of our vaccine adjuvants.
In her current role, Mackenzie serves as both an analytical project lead and scientific supervisor to a team of scientists. Recent reports of their scientific advancements can be found in Bioconjugate Chemistry, The AAPS Journal, and the Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences.

John Sperduto, PhD

Senior Scientist, Biologics Process R&D
Merck

Bio: John is an Associate Principal Scientist in Biologics Process R&D at Merck & Co., where he currently leads the innovation and operation of high-throughput process development (HTPD) to support all phases of pipeline development. Prior to his current role, John served as downstream scientist and lead for multiple biologics programs. He holds a PhD in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Delaware and BSc in Mechanical Engineering from The College of New Jersey. Through his diverse education and experience, John has developed expertise in multiple fields, including laboratory automation, separation sciences, cell biology, cancer biology, biophysical characterization, continuum mechanics, robotics, and numerical modeling. Highlights of John’s work include his PhD research studying how tumor-derived proteins and extracellular vesicles impact the microvascular endothelium using a custom microvessel-on-a-chip devices; his undergraduate research integrating eletrospun fibers into microfluidic devices; and placing 5 of 100 in the Design Event at Baja SAE Rochester 2016. In his current role focusing on HTPD, John continues to blend engineering and science to build the next-generation HTPD platform for biologics process development at Merck & Co.

Matt Lamm, PhD

Director, Materials and Biophysical Characterization
Merck

Bio: Matthew leads an analytical research group at Merck in Rahway, NJ focused on physical chemistry and materials science that enable small molecule active pharmaceutical process and drug product formulation development. Now in his 19th year at Merck, he has championed efforts within the company to develop advanced characterization tools and methodologies, especially in the areas of imaging, needed to solve challenges for the increasingly complex formulation strategies utilized in modern pharmaceutical development. He has made significant contributions to the development of multiple commercial products including DELSTRIGO, WELIREG, and LIPFENDRA.

Matthew earned his PhD and BS degrees in materials science and engineering from the University of Delaware and Virginia Tech, respectively. He is member of the scientific advisory boards for the UDel MSE department and William Patterson University Biotechnology Master’s program. Additionally, he leads the IQ Consortium Working Group on amorphous solid dispersion characterization and actively publishes and presents research in this field.