My Google scholar is always updated, even if this page isn’t.

first author papers:

This paper seeks to answer the question: what if making a gel stiffer made it easier to inject? We report surprising trends in injection force for dynamic hydrogels and develop a new model to predict injectability. We hope this model and insight will be useful to users of injectable gels in the drug formulation and 3D bioprinting communities- it’s a critical step towards connecting measured material properties and predicting operating conditions for injectors and extruders.

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What controls the viability of encapsulated cells in injectable hydrogels? We use rheological tools including large-amplitude oscillatory shear to demonstrate the rapidity of the yielding transition, controlled by the network crosslink strength, is responsible for post-injection viability (while controlling for the network modulus).

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We describe the fundamental roles of biomaterials as both manufacturing platforms and delivery vehicles for enhancing ACT, and highlight current and future applications of these materials-based approaches that could lead to improved therapeutic outcomes.

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other contributions by area:

making new biomaterials

  • Bailey, S. J.; Eckman, N.; Brunel, E. S.; Jons, C. K.; Sen, S.; Appel, E. A. A Thiol–Ene Click-Based Strategy to Customize Injectable Polymer–Nanoparticle Hydrogel Properties for Therapeutic Delivery. Biomaterials Science 2025.

  • Song, Y. E.; Eckman, N.; Sen, S.; Jons, C. K.; Saouaf, O. M.; Appel, E. A. Highly Extensible Physically Crosslinked Hydrogels for High-Speed 3D Bioprinting. Advanced Healthcare Materials 2025, 14 (10), 2404988.

  • Jons, C. K.^; Prossnitz, A. N.^; Eckman, N.; Dong, C.; Utz, A.; Appel, E. A. Glassy Surfactants Enable Ultra-High Concentration Biologic Therapeutics. Science Translational Medicine 2025, In Press.

  • Prossnitz, A. N.; Nguyen, L. T.; Eckman, N.; Borkar, S.; Tetef, S.; Autzen, A. A.; Fuller, G. G.; Appel, E. A. Defining Structure-Function Relationships of Amphiphilic Excipients Enables Rational Design of Ultra-Stable Biopharmaceuticals. Advanced Science 2025, 12 (8), 2409604.

  • Jons, C. K.; Kasse, C. M.; Mayer, B. T.; Hyrien, O.; Sen, S.; Meany, E. L.; d’Aquino, A. I.; Ganesh, P.; Eckman, N.; Dong, C.; others. Engineering Sustained-Release Broadly Neutralizing Antibody Formulations. bioRxiv 2025, 2025–05.

  • Kong, G.; Song, Y.; Yan, Y.; Calderazzo, S. M.; Saddala, M. S.; Rivera, F. D. L.; Cherry, J. D.; Eckman, N.; Appel, E. A.; Velenosi, A.; others. Clonally Expanded, Targetable, Natural Killer-like NKG7 T Cells Seed the Aged Spinal Cord to Disrupt Myeloid-Dependent Wound Healing. Neuron 2025.

  • Tang, S.; Pederson, Z.; Meany, E. L.; Yen, C.-W.; Swansiger, A. K.; Prell, J. S.; Chen, B.; Grosskopf, A. K.; Eckman, N.; Jiang, G.; others. Label-Free Composition Analysis of Supramolecular Polymer–Nanoparticle Hydrogels by Reversed-Phase Liquid Chromatography Coupled with a Charged Aerosol Detector. Analytical Chemistry 2024, 96 (15), 5860–5868.

designing better vaccines

  • Meany, E. L.; Klich, J. H.; et al; Eckman, N.; et al. Generation of an Inflammatory Niche in a Hydrogel Depot through Recruitment of Key Immune Cells Improves Efficacy of mRNA Vaccines. Science Advances 2025, 11 (15), eadr2631.

  • Yan, J.; Ou, B. S.; Saouaf, O. M.; Meany, E. L.; Eckman, N.; Appel, E. A. A Regimen Compression Strategy for Commercial Vaccines Leveraging an Injectable Hydrogel Depot Technology for Sustained Vaccine Exposure. Advanced Therapeutics 2024, 7 (1), 2300108.

fluid mechanics

  • Kroo, L.; Binagia, J. P.; Eckman, N.; Prakash, M.; Shaqfeh, E. S. A Freely Suspended Robotic Swimmer Propelled by Viscoelastic Normal Stresses. Journal of Fluid Mechanics 2022, 944, A20.

3d printed microelectronics

  • Restaino, M.; Eckman, N.; Alsharhan, A. T.; Lamont, A. C.; Anderson, J.; Weinstein, D.; Hall, A.; Sochol, R. D. In Situ Direct Laser Writing of 3D Graphene-Laden Microstructures. Advanced Materials Technologies 2021, 6 (8), 2100222.

energetic materials

  • Wang, H.; Shen, J.; Kline, D. J.; Eckman, N.; Agrawal, N. R.; Wu, T.; Wang, P.; Zachariah, M. R. Direct Writing of a 90 Wt% Particle Loading Nanothermite. Advanced Materials 2019, 31 (23), 1806575.

  • Kline, D. J.; Rehwoldt, M. C.; Wang, H.; Eckman, N.; Zachariah, M. R. Why Does Adding a Poor Thermal Conductor Increase Propagation Rate in Solid Propellants? Applied Physics Letters 2019, 115 (11).

  • Rehwoldt, M. C.; Wang, H.; Kline, D. J.; Wu, T.; Eckman, N.; Wang, P.; Agrawal, N. R.; Zachariah, M. R. Ignition and Combustion Analysis of Direct Write Fabricated Aluminum/Metal Oxide/PVDF Films. Combustion and Flame 2020, 211, 260–269.