Rachel Ou, COL ’26, Bridgewater, NJ
This summer, I worked in the Tsourkas Lab at the University of Pennsylvania on a project aimed at improving antibody-conjugated liposomes for targeted drug delivery. Antibody-functionalized liposomes are powerful tools because they can deliver therapies directly to diseased cells, reducing off-target effects and minimizing side effects. However, traditional methods of attaching antibodies to liposomes often result in random orientations that block or weaken binding. My project sought to address this challenge by combining cobalt porphyrin–phospholipid (Co-PoP) liposome functionalization with Light Activated Site-Specific Conjugation (LASIC), a photocrosslinking technique that allows antibodies to be attached in a controlled, site-specific manner. Together, these methods offer a more precise way of building nanoparticles that preserve antibody activity.
Much of my summer was spent troubleshooting the conjugation process itself. While preparing liposomes and running assays were important, the central challenge lay in adjusting parameters—such as the ratios of lipids to protein, the timing of incubation, or the separation conditions in size exclusion chromatography—to achieve reliable attachment of antibodies. There were many days where experiments didn’t produce the expected separation or fluorescence signal, which forced me to rethink protocols and systematically test alternatives. Although it was often smooth, this process taught me how scientific progress often comes not from one breakthrough, but from incremental problem-solving and careful observation. I also gained experience with techniques like thin-film hydration, extrusion, and dynamic light scattering, which helped confirm the physical stability of the nanoparticles as we worked to refine the conjugation step.
What I found most rewarding was realizing how this persistence could lead to meaningful impact. Developing a reproducible method for antibody-liposome conjugation could improve the design of targeted therapies for cancer and other diseases, and the same principles could be applied to diagnostics or imaging. Just as important, the experience showed me the collaborative nature of research—progress depended on conversations with graduate students and postdocs, whose advice helped me troubleshoot and refine my experiments. By the end of the summer, I had strengthened not only my technical skills but also my ability to approach challenges with patience and resilience. This experience reaffirmed my long-term goal of becoming a physician-scientist, committed to bridging laboratory innovation with real-world healthcare needs.
This is part of a series of posts by recipients of the 2025 Career Services Summer Funding Grant. We’ve asked funding recipients to reflect on their summer experiences and talk about the industries in which they spent their summer. You can read the entire series here
