Maria Elena Grimmett

Maria Elena Grimmett

About Me

Hello! I’m a process engineer at Neurona Therapeutics and a recent graduate from the Whiting School of Engineering at Johns Hopkins University concurrent B.S./M.S.E. program in chemical and biomolecular engineering. I have a focus on molecular and cellular bioengineering as well as a minor in visual arts.

I love engineering because it lets me solve problems that can directly impact people, communities, and the world at large. I’m passionate about bringing elegant research and a creative outlook to every project. I believe in the power of collaboration and multidisciplinary approaches because the best solutions to modern problems are those we forge together.

I’m also passionate about making art. I love fiber arts like sewing, crochet, and cross-stitch as well as other media such as metalwork, clay sculpture, and photography. My favorite projects, however, are mixed media works where I can combine a variety of different techniques and materials.

Research

I’ve been excited about research for almost as long as I can remember. Over the years, my love and appreciation for research have only grown. For me, research has been the perfect mix of my passion to solve problems and to produce solutions creatively.

Independent Research

My early research focused on the remediation of groundwater from sulfamethazine contamination. Sulfamethazine is a prominent agricultural antibiotic that commonly contaminates fresh water with adverse effects on the environment and human health. Current methods to remove drugs from water are ineffective or impractical for everyday people, like homeowners with a private well. My research evaluated sulfamethazine removal from water using a resin (specifically, hypercrosslinked polystyrene adsorbent MN250), leaving the water antibiotic-free. This resin had a high capacity to remove sulfamethazine from water in a wide range of environmentally realistic situations and can be reused thousands of times, making it cost-effective, eco-friendly, and applicable at any scale. Moreover, its implementation can readily proceed using delivery systems currently in the marketplace for drinking water treatment.

Cui Lab

Once at Johns Hopkins University, I was honored with the opportunity to join the Cui Lab. Since joining, my work has primarily focused on the design of peptide amphiphiles to create hydrogels as a means for local drug delivery. My projects have varied from designing hydrogels to treat glioblastoma (a deadly and aggressive form of brain cancer) to inhalable nanotherapeutics for the treatment of lung cancer. For my master’s thesis, I developed and evaluated the efficacy of a novel sprayable collagen-binding hydrogel for antimicrobial use in the treatment of trauma.

Publications