We seek to understand responses to extreme stress and to leverage stress protectants for biomedical applications.

How do some animals survive extreme stress?

We use tardigrades and C. elegans as comparative models to understand how animals can tolerate extreme conditions like complete drying.

How do we repurpose evolved protectants for improved storage of biomaterials?

Some cells can survive stresses that even their biological building blocks cannot. We use a combination of heterologous systems and in vitro assays to identify potent protectants that can stabilize biological materials like proteins and nucleic acids.

“As soon as I had poured on the water… [I] perceived some Animalcules lying closely heaped together. In a short time afterwards they began to extend their bodies, and in half an hour at least a hundred of them were swimming about the glass”

– A. van Leeuwenhoek, 1702

On certain animalcules found in the sediment in gutters of the roofs of houses