Associate Professor, Integra LifeSciences Term Professor & Graduate Coordinator

Nanomaterials, implants, and immunotherapies

B.S., Chemical Engineering, Illinois Institute of Technology, 2004
M.S., Biomedical Engineering, University of Wisconsin, 2006
Ph.D. Biomedical Engineering, University of Wisconsin, 2010
NIH NRSA Post-doctoral Fellow, Surgery, University of Chicago, 2013

Research Summary:

Dr. Hudalla’s research creates functional biomaterials for therapeutic or diagnostic applications via molecular self-assembly. The Hudalla laboratory develops synthetic peptides that can assemble into a desired nano-scale architecture, and then uses these peptides as “tags” to organize biologically active molecules into functional nanomaterials. For example, their work has led to glycosylated nanofibers that inhibit the immunomodulatory activity of galectins, a family of carbohydrate-binding proteins. In another project, they combine enzymes and carbohydrate-binding proteins into catalytic nanomedicines that are anchored to tissues at an injection site via binding to extracellular carbohydrates. Hudalla’s long-term goals are to create biomaterials that can modulate immune responses for the treatment of autoimmune diseases and aberrant inflammation.

Honors and Awards:

• Integra LifeSciences Term Professor, 2023-2025
• Research Excellence Award, Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Florida, 2019
• J. Crayton Pruitt Family Term Fellow, Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Florida, 2017-2020
• NIBIB Trailblazer Award, 2017
• Young Innovator by Cellular and Molecular Bioengineering, 2016
• NSF CAREER Award, 2015
• Teaching Excellence Award, Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Florida, 2015
• Outstanding Contribution, Cellular and Molecular Bioengineering Journal, 2015

Selected publications:

Google Scholar Citations Link

Restuccia, A.; Fettis, M.M.; Hudalla, G.A. “Glycomaterials for immunomodulation, immunotherapy, and infection prophylaxis.” Journal of Materials Chemistry B, 2016 doi:10.1039/C5TB01780G.

Restuccia, A.; Tian, Y.F.; Collier, J.H.; Hudalla, G.A. “Self-assembled glycopeptide nanofibers as modulators of galectin-1 bioactivity.” Cellular and Molecular Bioengineering, 2015, 8, 471-487.

Hudalla, G.A.; Sun, T.; Gasiorowski, J.Z.; Han, H.; Tian, Y.F.; Chong, A.S.; Collier, J.H. “Gradated assembly of multiple proteins into supramolecular nanomaterials.” Nature Materials, 2014, 13, 829-836.

Hudalla, G.A.; Modica, J.A.; Tian, Y.F.; Sun, T.; Rudra, J.S.; Chong, A.S. Mrksich, M.; Collier, J.H. “A self-adjuvanting supramolecular vaccine carrying a folded protein antigen.” Advanced Healthcare Materials, 2013, 2(8):1114-9.​