Omolola Eniola-Adefeso

Research Interests:

Due to their high specific interaction with their counter-receptors and their carefully regulated expression (limit to inflammation), leukocyte-endothelium adhesion molecules (LECAM) are attractive molecules for vascular targeting in human diseases in which inflammation plays a role. Our research goal is to use knowledge of the cellular inflammatory response and blood flow dynamics to design bio-functionalized particles for targeted drug delivery and imaging.

Work in the lab is divided into 3 major groups:

-Cell Adhesion and Migration – Cells of the immune system.
Our goal is to use in vitro experimental setups to understand the receptor-ligand interactions involved in leukocyte firm arrest and transmigration.

-Design of polymeric cells for targeted drug delivery.
We are working on designing sophisticated leukocyte mimetics that can target therapeutics to diseased vasculature via multiple receptor-ligand interactions with applications in cardiovascular disease and cancer.

-Smart Biomaterials for Drug Delivery.
We working closely with polymer chemists and material scientist to identify new materials for drug delivery. Our work in this area is currently focused on immune response to new materials.

Dr. Omolola Eniola-Adefeso is the University Diversity and Social Transformation Professor of Chemical Engineering, Biomedical Engineering, and Macromolecular Science and Engineering at the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor.

She graduated from the University of Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC) with a bachelor’s in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering. She received a doctoral degree (2004) in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at the University of Pennsylvania. She was a postdoctoral associate at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas in the Pediatrics/Leukocyte Biology Department. Dr. Eniola-Adefeso joined the faculty of Chemical Engineering at the University of Michigan in 2006 where she runs the Cell Adhesion and Drug Delivery Laboratory.

Since her arrival at Michigan, Dr. Eniola-Adefeso has received several honors and awards including the NSF CAREER Award, Lloyd Ferguson Young Investigator Award, American Heart Association Innovator Award, and the American Heart Association Scientist Development Grant. She was recently inducted into the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE). Her research is currently funded by multiple grants from the NIH National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, American Heart Association, and the National Science Foundation.