Hello, I am a postdoctoral researcher at Harvard studying how to make the tiniest braids in the world! We believe that such braids can eventually go into your smartphones so that you will still have five bars of signal even when you're in the basement or the elevator. With the help of our amazing collaborators, we have shown that we know how to handle tiny and fragile wires that make up the braids - we assemble the wires with water!

Now you may think that I'm a physicist. I actually got my Ph.D. in physical chemistry studying viruses. I use a tiny probe to image the nice looking viruses (thanks to their high symmetry) and then crush them to study their mechanical response. Those experiments help answer key questions, such as how viruses contact with surfaces, how capsid proteins put themselves together into a perfect shell, and what happens if you force the virus to grow into an unnatural shape.

While my research spans a very wide range of topics, at the heart, I study systems that self-assemble into ordered structures to find out the physical principles that nature uses to get there. Along the way, I try to quickly learn any knowledge and skills that help me achieve my goals. Now I'm in transition to a future role, and I am excited to take on new challenges! 

Want to know more? Check out News and Publications. For more information about my experiences, see my Biography.