Handa Biomaterials Lab - University of Georgia
Welcome to the Handa Biomaterials Research Group at the University of Georgia. Our lab is committed to developing biocompatible coatings for medical devices through highly translational and interdisciplinary research. We perform fundamental cell/protein surface interaction studies, novel biomaterial development and optimization, and material testing in animal models. Due to the critical nature of our research field, we have received NIH, CDC, and VA funding. Our novel materials stand to decrease the morbidity, mortality, and hospitalization costs associated with medical devices by reducing fouling, thrombosis, and infection.
Latest Lab News
01/22/26: Sarah’s paper entitled “Bacteriophage and Nitric Oxide Combined Release from a Dual Hydrogel Matrix for Wound Healing Applications” has been published in the journal Macromolecular Bioscience. Congratulations, Sarah!
01/05/26: Elaine’s paper entitled “Nitric Oxide-Releasing Dextran Surface with Enhanced Albumin Affinity Mitigates Infection and Foreign Body Reaction” has been published in the journal Carbohydrate Polymers. Congratulations, Elaine!
12/11/25: Dr. Shome has received a Postdoctoral Fellowship Award from the American Heart Association (AHA). Congratulations, Dr. Shome!
11/29/25: Dr. Shome’s and Natalie’s paper entitled “AI-Directed 3D Printing of Hierarchical Polyurethane Foams” has been published in the journal Advanced Science. Congratulations, Dr. Shome and Natalie!
11/01/25-11/03/25: Dr. Shome was selected to attend the ACS Bridge Career Conference in Columbus, Ohio this November. Congratulations, Dr. Shome!
10/23/25-10/24/25: Dr. Shome was selected to attend the Rising Stars in Engineering workshop at MIT. Congratulations, Dr. Shome!
10/08/25-10/12/25: Anastasia presented “Targeting Biofilms with a Novel Secondary Dithiol S-Nitrosothiol: Synthesis, Characterization, and Antibacterial Evaluation” at the BMES 2025 Annual Meeting in San Diego. Well done, Anastasia!
09/12/25: Adam’s paper entitled “Dual Action Nitric Oxide-Releasing Polydimethylsiloxane Sponge: Preventing Infection in Needleless Connectors” has been published in the journal ACS Applied Bio Materials. Congratulations, Adam!
09/09/25: Everett’s paper with Dr. Ramana Pidaparti entitled “Pathogenic Bacteria Characterization Through Portable Optical Scatter Device and Machine Learning” has been published in the journal RSC Sensors and Diagnostics. Congratulations, Everett!
08/25/25: Dr. Shome’s paper entitled “Surface engineering ‘liquid-like’ solid surfaces with nitric oxide releasing polymers to combat biofouling” has been published in the Chemical Engineering Journal. Congratulations, Arpita!
08/12/25: Welcome to our new doctoral students Nidhi Gupta and Zin Lin!
07/01/25: Congratulations to Dr. Handa on being appointed Adjunct Professor in the School of Bio Sciences and Technology at the Vellore Institute of Technology (VIT), India. He looks forward to creating a collaborative relationship with VIT!
07/01/25: Congratulations to Dr. Handa on his promotion to Full Professor at the University of Georgia!
06/27/25: Myddie’s paper entitled “Anti-biofouling organogel and substrate independent coatings with a continuous lubricating network” has been published in the Chemical Engineering Journal. Congratulations, Myddie!
05/22/25: Dr. Handa was a plenary speaker at the Materials in Translational Research (MiTR) conference organized by the Indian Institute of Technology (Ropar), Indian Institute of Technology (BHU), and Punjab Engineering College.
05/19/25: We are excited to welcome two REU students, Ethan Renken and Catherine Cicci, to the lab this summer!
05/08/25: Congratulations to our Spring 2025 graduates, Dr. Elaine Wu, Dr. Sierra Milligan, and Mofolu Popoola!
4/14/25: Rashmi’s paper entitled “Combating Concomitant Bacterial and Fungal Infections via Codelivery of Nitric Oxide and Fluconazole” has been published in the journal ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces. Congratulations, Rashmi!
04/10/25: Congratulations to Natalie on winning the Student Trailblazer award, and to Elaine on receiving the Brahm P. Verma Award at the College of Engineering’s annual Celebration of Excellence!
04/09/25-04/13/25: Dr. Handa, Dr. Garren, Dr. Shome, Dr. Catori, Sierra, Elaine, Tia, and Natalie gave presentations at the Society for Biomaterials conference in Chicago. Congratulations to Grace for winning the Surface Characterization & Modification (SC&M) SIG Student Award as well as the Student Travel Achievement Recognition (STAR) Award!
04/09/25: Dr. Handa received the Distinguished Alumni Award from the Department of Chemical Engineering & Materials Science in the College of Engineering at Wayne State University.
04/04/25: Sierra successfully defended her dissertation entitled “Enhancing the Antimicrobial Efficacy of Biomaterials Via Metabolic Targeting, Surface Modifications, and Nitric-Oxide Donor Systems.” Congratulations, Sierra!
04/03/25: Mofolu successfully defended her thesis entitled “Investigation of Biomacromolecular Coating for Added Antifouling and Antimicrobial Properties of Nitric Oxide Releasing Polymers.” Congratulations, Mofolu!
3/20/25: Aasma’s paper entitled, “Catalyst-Free Synthesis of a Mechanically Tailorable, Nitric-Oxide-Releasing Organohydrogel and Its Derived Underwater Superoleophobic Coatings” has been published in the journal “ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces.” Congratulations, Aasma!
03/17/25: Adam, Natalie, Myddie, Dr. Shome, Elaine, Dr. Catori, Joseph, Annalise, and Dr. Kumar participated in the School of CMB symposium today. Congratulations to Myddie for winning first place and to Tia for winning third place in the poster competition.
03/11/25: Elaine successfully defended her dissertation entitled “Integration of Hemocompatible Surface Design Strategies: Advancing Bioactive Materials to Combat Fouling and Infections in Clinical Applications.” Congratulations, Elaine!
02/28/25: Dr. Handa has been named a “Regents’ Entrepreneur” by the University System of Georgia Board of Regents for his commercialization efforts.
Recent Publications
Wilson S, Sapkota A, Goodman A, Brisbois EJ, Handa H. Bacteriophage and Nitric Oxide Combined Release from a Dual Hydrogel Matrix for Wound Healing Applications. Macromolecular Bioscience, 2026; In Press.
Wu Y, Sapkota A, Wilson S, Thompson S, Garren M, Handa H, Brisbois EJ. Nitric oxide-releasing dextran surface with enhanced albumin affinity mitigates infection and foreign body reaction. Carbohydrate Polymers, 2025; 124855.
Patil D, Tian J, Jiang K, Westover C, Thummalapalli SV, Ramanathan A, Shome A, Crutchfield N, Sobczak MT, Lee S, Sun H, Brisbois EJ, Handa H, Long TE, Wang X, Song K. AI‐Directed 3D Printing of Hierarchical Polyurethane Foams. Advanced Science, 2025.
Wilson S, Gondil V, Brisbois EJ, Handa H. Potential of Nitric Oxide and Bacteriophages as Combined Antibacterial Agents to Counter Drug-Resistant Infections. ACS Applied Bio Materials, 2025.
Goodman AB, Chug M, Crutchfield N, Garren M, Handa H, Brisbois EJ. Dual Action Nitric Oxide-Releasing Polydimethylsiloxane Sponge: Preventing Infection in Needleless Connectors. ACS Applied Bio Materials, 2025.
Pidaparti R, Oruganti S, Kurra N, Maffe P, Grizzle E, Mondal A, Johnson R, Handa H, Tatavarti R. Pathogenic bacteria characterization through portable optical scatter device and machine learning. Sensors and Diagnostics, 2025; 1122-1133.
Gregoritis BM, Wu Y, Chen C, Yeager E, Parker MC, Martinez I, Lancaster M, Schmiedt C, Handa H, Allcock HR, Siedlecki CA, Xu L. In Vitro and In Vivo biocompatibility study of fluorinated polyphosphazene coatings for blood-contacting medical devices. Acta Biomaterialia, 2025; 346-357.
Shome A, Pandey R, Martinez I, Crutchfield N, Brisbois EJ, Handa H. Surface engineering ‘liquid-like’solid surfaces with nitric oxide releasing polymers to combat biofouling. Chemical Engineering Journal, 2025; 166069.
Parker M, Shome A, Pinon V, Crutchfield N, Garren M, Brisbois EJ, Handa H. Anti-biofouling organogel and substrate independent coatings with a continuous lubricating network. Chemical Engineering Journal, 2025; 165456.
Goodman A, Chug M, Crutchfield N, Handa H, Brisbois EJ. Nitric Oxide-Releasing Polydimethysiloxane Sponges with Tunable Porosity. ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces, 2025, 17, 24, 35262–35274.
Pandey R, Crutchfield N, Garren M, Kasetty E, Chug MK, Brisbois EJ, Handa H. Combating Concomitant Bacterial and Fungal Infections via Codelivery of Nitric Oxide and Fluconazole. ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces, 2025, 17, 16, 23613-23626.
Sapkota A, Shome A, Crutchfield N, Moses JC, Martinez I, Handa H, Brisbois EJ. Catalyst-Free Synthesis of a Mechanically Tailorable, Nitric-Oxide-Releasing Organohydrogel and Its Derived Underwater Superoleophobic Coatings. ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces, 2025, 17, 13, 19335-19347.
Nguyen G, Garren M, Wu Y, Mondal A, Handa H, Brisbois EJ. Multifunctional slippery nanoemulsion-infused porous nitric oxide-releasing surfaces. Journal of Colloid and Interface Science, 2025; 137199.
Gondil V, Ashcraft M, Ghalei S, Kumar A, Wilson S, Devine R, Handa H, Brisbois EJ. Anti-Infective Bacteriophage Immobilized Nitric Oxide-Releasing Surface for Prevention of Thrombosis and Device-Associated Infections. ACS Applied Bio Materials, 2025; 8, 2, 1362-1376.
Chambers L, Zhu Y, Yu C, Crutchfield N, Hou J, Liang L, Wang X, Liu Y, Sobczak MT, Theobald T, Sun X, Stoll C, Pulido T, Yi J, Cornella J, McIlwee H, Handa H, Brisbois EJ, Lancaster J, Song K. 3D Printable Biopolymers as Pelvic Floor Scaffolds. Polymer Chemistry, 2025; 16, 345-355.
Bright LME, Mondal A, Pinon V, Kumar A, Thompson S, Brisbois EJ, Handa H. Investigation of the Susceptibility of Clinical Infection Loads to Nitric Oxide Antibacterial Treatment. Nitric Oxide, 2025; 19-28.
Moses JC, Sapkota A, Wu Y, Martinez I, Handa H, Brisbois E. In Situ Nitric Oxide Generating Nano-Bioactive Glass-Based Coatings and Its Therapeutic Ion Release toward Attenuating Implant-Associated Fibrosis and Infection. Small, 2025; 2411984.
Ashcraft M, Garren M, Lautner‐Csorba O, Pinon V, Wu Y, Crowley D, Hill J, Morales Y, Bartlett R, Brisbois EJ, Handa H. Surface Engineering for Endothelium‐Mimicking Functions to Combat Infection and Thrombosis in Extracorporeal Life Support Technologies. Advanced Healthcare Materials, 2024; 2400492.
Bright LME, Chug MK, Thompson S, Brooks M, Brisbois EJ, Handa H. Analysis of the broad‐spectrum potential of nitric oxide for antibacterial activity against clinically isolated drug‐resistant bacteria. Journal of Biomedical Materials Research Part B: Applied Biomaterials, 2024;112(7): e35442.