麻豆传媒

Marian Hettiaratchi and members of her lab work to develop protein delivery vehicles for regenerative medicine by integrating cutting-edge techniques in protein engineering, polymer chemistry, and computational modeling to design versatile, clinically-relevant biomaterials. Hettiaratchi is a recipient of an NIH R21 Trailblazer Award for her project, 鈥淎 Directed Evolution Approach to Affinity-Based Protein Delivery.鈥�  She was a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Toronto after receiving her PhD in biomedical engineering from Georgia Institute of Technology and Emory University. She joined the UO faculty in 2020 and holds an affiliate appointment at Oregon Health & Science University. 

Fiona's research expertise lies in controlled polymer synthesis, whereby we can control the chemistry and architecture of the polymers for various biomedical applications. Through this control we can design polymers to self-assemble, to form polymeric particles with tunable size, shape and surface properties to enable the development of hydrogels or nanoparticles for drug delivery.

Priera (she/her) is passionate about leveraging science and technology to advance food security, improve environmental sustainability, and ensure equitable access and flourishing livelihoods for producers across food and agricultural value chains. Her role at the Good Food Institute focuses on accelerating the plant-based meat industry by analyzing the plant-based protein landscape, identifying emerging technological solutions and bottlenecks, and communicating with other scientists about advancing alternative protein research. She aims to take a “big tent” approach to food system transformation—strongly advocating for inclusive solutions that provide opportunities for farmers, processors, food manufacturers, and consumers alike. Priera has also applied her chemistry background to address issues of minimizing food waste, improving water use in agriculture, reducing agricultural chemical runoff, and, currently, optimizing the sustainability of our global protein supplies. 
Priera has bachelor’s degrees in chemistry and math from the University of California, Santa Cruz as well as a master’s and a doctorate in organic chemistry from the University of California, Los Angeles. Prior to joining the Good Food Institute, Priera spent almost a decade focusing on polymer, formulation, and materials chemistry research. Particularly, she honed these skills for food security applications by creating novel sustainable agriculture materials and compounds.