Erica Pratt's doctoral work in Dr. Brian Kirby's lab focused on investigating circulating tumor cells (CTCs) in the peripheral blood system of patients with solid tumors and how these cells can be used as a noninvasive tumor surrogate, and as prognostic biomarkers for survival in advanced disease. She co-designed the geometrically enhanced differential immunocapture (GEDI) platform for size- and antigen-based isolation of CTCs from whole blood samples.
After graduating, Erica was a postdoc at the University of Texas at MD Anderson Cancer Center and the University of Minnesota. She then landed an assistant professorship at Boston University, where she leads an engineering-driven cancer research laboratory.
The Pratt Group employs a multi-pronged approach combining engineering with multi-omics strategies to design blood-based assays for cancer diagnosis and monitoring. The long-term goal of her work is to enable sensitive and multiplexable profiling of both genomic and functional biomarkers with a simple blood draw. The ability to noninvasively and quantitatively measure cancer-specific biomarkers would enable real-time longitudinal monitoring of patients at every stage of treatment.
Ph.D. student Omary Mzava is developing cell-free nucleic acids assays to diagnose and monitor infectious and immune-related diseases. Read more about From Tanzania to Cornell: A biomedical engineer's journey to bridge gaps in global health
From a research focus to an entrepreneurial mindset, Ph.D. student Jon Albo is developing new technology to revolutionize how experiments are done, enabling better treatment of illness in humans and animals Read more about Revolutionizing Research: A drive for real-world impact results in cutting-edge technology
Research, service and giving back are at the heart of Peyton Lancaster's Cornell experience. Read more about Paying it forward: A heart patient inspired to impact future patients
