Cyrus Cao
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B.S., Chemical & Biochemical Engineering,
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My research focuses on colloidal aspects of antiviral performance of organic acids, surfactants and polymers. We plan to deliver two major advances that will be key to developing future antiviral products. The first would be applying the proven fundamentals of colloidal science to viral vectors interacting with various chemicals. This will allow systematic formulation of products that will destabilize and inactivate viruses.
Second, we aim to develop a method that allows accelerated and low-cost delivery of versatile and safe viral surrogates. The growing research interest in drug delivery, vaccinology, and gene therapy indicate a rising need for viral surrogates due to their virus-mimicking properties while being nonpathogenic. However, the current manufacturing process of viral surrogates is time-consuming and costly. This study will enable an at least ten-fold reduction in the cost of fabricating viral surrogates and speed up the processing time from days to hours. Consequently, society can have quick access to low-priced viral surrogates, accelerating the research progress in the biopharmaceutical, like vaccine development.