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
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!
08/25/25: Arpita’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 Pravalika Irukulla, 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, Arpita, Elaine, Danielle, Joseph, Annalise, and Sumit 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.
01/05/25: Joseph’s paper entitled “In Situ Nitric Oxide Generating Nano‐Bioactive Glass‐Based Coatings and Its Therapeutic Ion Release toward Attenuating Implant‐Associated Fibrosis and Infection” has been published in the journal Small. Congratulations, Joseph!
01/03/25: Welcome to our new doctoral students, Everett Grizzle and Shermane Sylvester!
12/13/24: Congratulations to our Fall 2024 PHD graduates, Patrick Maffe and Sarah Wilson!
11/17/24: Lori’s paper entitled “Investigation of the Susceptibility of Clinical Infection Loads to Nitric Oxide Antibacterial Treatment” has been published in the journal Nitric Oxide. Congratulations, Lori!
11/08/24: Adam, Grace, Myddie, Vicente, and Elaine participated in the School of CMB Three Minute Thesis (3MT) Competition. Congratulations to Grace and Elaine for winning 1st and 2nd prize, respectively.
11/01/24: Welcome to our new postdoctoral student Dr. Aisa Larsson, and our new undergraduate researchers Joshua Kim and Zin Lin!
11/01/24: Arpita Shome and Sarah Wilson presented posters at the GeorgiaBio Summit in Atlanta, GA. Arpita received the Best Poster in the Medical Devices category.
10/23/24-10/26/24: Doctoral students Patrick Maffe, Vicente Pinon, Sarah Wilson and REU students Nandini Joshi, Sadah Schell, Chloe Deabler, and McKenna Clary gave presentations at the Biomedical Engineering Society (BMES) conference in Baltimore, MD.
Recent Publications
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.
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. Academic Press, 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.
Ozkan E, Bright LME, Kumar A, Pandey R, Devine R, Francis D, Ghalei S, Ashcraft M, Maffe P, Brooks M, Shome A. Bioinspired superhydrophobic surfaces with silver and nitric oxide-releasing capabilities to prevent device-associated infections and thrombosis. Journal of Colloid and Interface Science, 2024; 664: 928-37.
Nguyen DT, Pant J, Sapkota A, Goudie M, Singha P, Brisbois EJ, Handa H. Instant clot forming and antibacterial wound dressings: Achieving hemostasis in trauma injuries with S-nitroso-N-acetylpenicillamine—tranexamic acid—propolis formulation. Journal of Biomedical Materials Research Part A, 2024; 1930-1940.
Pandey R, Pinon V, Garren M, Maffe P, Mondal A, Brisbois EJ, Handa H. N-Acetyl Cysteine-Decorated Nitric Oxide-Releasing Interface for Biomedical Applications. ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces, 2024; 24248-24260.
Wu Y, Xu LC, Yeager E, Beita KG, Crutchfield NC, Wilson SN, Maffe P, Schmiedt C, Siedlecki C, Handa H. In vivo assessment of dual-function submicron textured nitric oxide releasing catheters in a 7-day rabbit model. Acta Biomaterialia, 2024; 372-382.