Zhonghao (Eric) Dai

BioE Ph.D. Proposal Presentation

9:00 AM on Friday, Feburary 27, 2026

Location:  IBB Suddath Seminar Room 1128

Zhonghao Dai PhD Proposal Presentation | Meeting-Join | Microsoft Teams

Advisor: Ankur Singh, Ph.D. (George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering, Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering at Georgia Tech and Emory University)

Committee:

Tara Deans, Ph.D. (Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology and Emory University)

Melissa Kemp, Ph.D. (Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology and Emory University)

Mark Prausnitz, Ph.D. (School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology and Emory University)

Todd Sulchek, Ph.D. (George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering at Georgia Tech and Emory University)

Engineering Nanowires for FunctionalRejuvenation of Aged T Cell via Intracellular Engineering

Aging impairs T cell–mediated immunity, reducing protection against infection, vaccine efficacy, and immunotherapy responses. Aged CD8⁺ T cells harbor cell-intrinsic defects in signaling, transcription, metabolism, and organelle homeostasis that limit activation, proliferation, and persistence. Most existing interventions act extracellularly and fail to correct these intracellular dysfunctions, and in part due to the lack of cytocompatible platforms capable of manipulating intracellular programs in primary aged T cells without inducing stress, toxicity, or activation artifacts. Nanowire-based biointerfaces offer a unique opportunity to overcome this limitation by enabling direct cytosolic access to hard-to-transfect immune cells. This work aims to develop nanowire-enabled intracellular engineering as a strategy to rejuvenate aged CD8⁺ T cell function. Aim 1 will establish nanowire-mediated delivery of regulatory microRNAs to restore activation dynamics, metabolic fitness, proliferation, and effector function in resting aged CD8⁺ T cells, including validation in antigen-specific and in vivo infection models. Aim 2 will extend this intracellular programming framework to functional proteins and synthetic gene circuits to achieve durable, state-dependent control of aged T cell activation, differentiation, and persistence. Together, these advances will establish new translational strategies to enhance immunity in older and immunocompromised populations.