VPD GROUP

Education

Northwestern University, Evanston, IL (May 2012)

• Ph.D., Organic Chemistry, with focus on nanotechnology

Miami University, Oxford, OH (May 2007)

• Bachelor of Science, Chemistry

Research Experience

Research Associate, VPD Group (2012-present)

• Currently employed by the NUANCE Center (Keck-II Facility) at Northwestern University
• Perform maintenance and train new users on five separate instruments within the Keck-II Facility
• Expert on the use, operation, and processing / interpretation of data from XPS and ToF-SIMS
• Designed new analytical methods to fully characterize nanoparticle-based drug delivery systems

Graduate Student Researcher/Postdoctoral Fellow, Stoddart Group (2007-2012)

• Developed drug delivery systems to selectively release drugs / imaging agents in biological tissue
• Synthesized various mesoporous silica nanoparticles and an array of organic compounds
• Collaborated with researchers at UCLA, Notre Dame, NU Feinberg School of Medicine
• Responsible for function / maintenance of peptide synthesizer and centrifuge in Stoddart lab
• Reviewed 12 separate manuscripts for acceptance in peer-review scientific journals
• Produced 2 grant applications that were approved for funding:
  • $930,000 from King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology (KACST) in Saudi Arabia
  • $52,500 from the NU Center of Cancer Nanotechnology Excellence (NU-CCNE)

Current Research Interests

• nanotechnology
• drug delivery systems
• nanoparticles
• instrumentation
  • XPS
  • ToF-SIMS

Selected Publications

Ambrogio, M. W.; Frasconi, M.; Yilmaz, M. D.; Chen, X. “New Methods for Improved Characterization of Silica Nanoparticle-Based Drug Delivery Systems” Manuscript in preparation, 2013.

Wang, C.; Li, Z.; Cao, D.; Zhao, Y.-L.; Gaines, J. W.; Bozdemir, O. A.; Ambrogio, M. W.; Frasconi, M.; Botros, Y. Y.; Zink, J. I.; Stoddart, J. F. “Stimulated Release of Size-Selected Cargos in Succession from Mesoporous Silica Nanoparticles” Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2012, 51, 5460–5465.

Ambrogio, M. W.; Thomas, C. R.; Zhao, Y.-L.; Zink, J. I.; Stoddart, J. F. “Mechanized Silica Nanoparticles: A New Frontier in Theranostic Nanomedicine” Acc. Chem. Res. 2011, 44, 903–913.

Ambrogio, M. W.; Pecorelli, T. A.; Patel, K.; Khashab, N. M.; Trabolsi, A.; Khatib, H. A.; Botros, Y. Y.; Zink, J. I.; Stoddart, J. F. “Snap-Top Nanocarriers” Org. Lett. 2010, 12, 3304–3307.

Selected Presentations

Mechanized Silica Nanoparticles: A New Frontier in Theranostic Nanomedicine

• Presented at 6th ISMSC in Brighton, UK, July 2011

Controlled Release from Mesoporous Silica Nanoparticles

• Presented at 8th FNANO Meeting in Snowbird, UT, April 2011.

Snap-Top Nanocarriers

• Presented at the 239th ACS National Meeting in San Francisco, CA, March 2010.