The Provost’s TPAC-RL Faculty Newsletter (Spring 2026) went out this week, and I’m grateful that several of the lab’s milestones from the past academic year were included in the round-up of faculty achievements. The newsletter is sent to the university’s Teaching, Professor of the Practice, Advising, Clinical, Research, and Library faculty community, and it’s a nice once-a-year snapshot of what colleagues across campus have been up to. Below is a brief recap of the items credited to me and the lab and a few updates not included in that as well— a useful occasion to take stock.
A New Multi-Year Federal Grant — CDMRP-PRCRP IDEA Award
The biggest single piece of news is one I haven’t yet posted about here: I am the PI on a Department of Defense Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs (CDMRP) Peer Reviewed Cancer Research Program (PRCRP) IDEA Award — an invited award in the amount of $694,330 (HT94252510332), running 2025–2027:
“Multispecific Bridge Nanoparticles to Engage T Cells and Off-the-Shelf CAR-T Cells Against Antigen(+) EC Tumors to Enhance Antitumor Immune Activity”
The work is a collaboration with the Indiana University School of Medicine — South Bend (IUSM-SB), and it builds directly on the bispecific-bridge nanoparticle platform now protected by U.S. Patent 12,576,160 B2 (issued March 17, 2026 — see below). The IDEA mechanism is reserved for high-risk, high-reward translational concepts, and being invited to submit is itself a meaningful endorsement of the underlying science. More to come as the project progresses.
Patent Issued — U.S. 12,576,160 B2
As previously announced, the USPTO issued U.S. Patent 12,576,160 B2 on March 17, 2026, covering bispecific bridge nanoparticles for cancer-cell targeting via universal CAR-T cells or chemotherapeutics. This is the same platform now powering the CDMRP IDEA award above.
Patent Licensed for Commercialization — U.S. 12,161,725 B2 → nanoBLASTx, LLC
Another piece of news worth singling out: in March 2026, U.S. Patent 12,161,725 B2 (“Phage Mimicking Nanoparticles”; inventors P.D. Nallathamby and J. Hopf) was licensed to nanoBLASTx, LLC for commercialization. This is the platform IP underlying both our phage-architecture antibacterial nanoparticles and the BactiBlank anti-adhesive antibiofilm coating, and the license is the formal start of its translational journey out of the academic lab. Sincere thanks to the Notre Dame IDEA Center team — particularly Carrie Jennings and Tim Joyce — for shepherding the process.
Invited Feature Review — Journal of Nanotheranostics, Led by Aurelie Brownsberger
Our invited Feature Review in MDPI’s Journal of Nanotheranostics was published this spring, led by graduate researcher Aurelie Brownsberger as first author. Full citation:
Brownsberger, A. F.; Kudary, C.; Williams, H. H.; Wei, S.; Latorre, P.; Eastland, R.; Sayani, O.; Lyu, J.; Davey, R.; Hopkins, V.; Roeder, R. K.; Nallathamby, P. D. Intrinsically Selective Nanoplatforms for Precision Therapy and Monitoring. J. Nanotheranostics 2026, 7(2), 12. https://doi.org/10.3390/jnt7020012
A nice subplot: among the co-authors are Jack Lyu and Victoria Hopkins — both undergraduate researchers in the lab who graduated this Spring — alongside trainees C. Kudary, H. H. Williams, S. Wei, P. Latorre, R. Eastland, O. Sayani, and R. Davey, plus our collaborator Prof. Ryan Roeder. Producing a Feature Review of this scope, with this many trainees contributing meaningfully, is one of the better outcomes a lab can hope for in a single academic year.
TechConnect World 2026 — Critical Technology Spotlights Finalist + Two Oral Talks + Two Chaired Sessions
I was selected as a finalist in the Advanced Materials track of the TechConnect Innovation Spotlights, where I pitched BactiBlank (Anti-Adhesive, Antibiotic-Free Shield) at TechConnect World 2026 in Raleigh, NC. The broader trip — recapped here — also included two oral presentations from the lab on the phage-architecture antibacterial platform and two chaired sessions (Biopharmaceutical Manufacturing; Precision Health and Diagnostics).
Society For Biomaterials (SFB) 2026 — Atlanta, March 25–28
SFB 2026 was one of our best-represented conferences of the year, with three lab contributions:
- Invited 30-Minute Oral Presentation (Slots 3–4, Saturday, March 28) — “Antibiotic-Free Polyethylenimine Synergized Biomimetic Antibacterial Nanoparticle Metal Implant Coatings Create Anti-Adhesive, Antibiofilm Surfaces” — the BactiBlank-mechanism talk, in the CS8 session on antimicrobial/antibiofilm biointerfaces. Standard concurrent slots at SFB are 15 minutes; the 30-minute slot (25 + 5 Q&A) is reserved for invited speakers, which let me develop the full mechanistic story for an audience of orthopedic and trauma-device specialists.
- Poster PS2599 (Thursday, March 26, Drug Delivery SIG) — “Phage-Architecture Antibacterial Nanoparticles Clear Multidrug-Resistant ESKAPEE Pathogens, Resensitize MDR Pathogens to Legacy Antibiotics, Prevent Emergence of New MDR, and Accelerate Wound Healing” — a collaboration with the W.M. Keck Center for Transgene Research (Castellino, Ploplis, Donahue).
- Aurelie Brownsberger — Oral Presentation — “Magneto-electric Silica Nanocarriers for Doxorubicin Delivery Inhibit Tumor Growth and Reduce Systemic Toxicity in Triple-Negative Breast Cancer” in the Biomaterials and Nanotechnology for Cancer Modeling and Theranostics 2 session.
Full recap of the trip is on the blog here.
Trainee Recognition — Aurelie’s Travel Awards
It would be incomplete to talk about the lab’s year without highlighting that Aurelie Brownsberger earned two competitive conference travel awards this cycle:
- The Harper Cancer Research Institute (HCRI) Presentation Award for Conference Travel ($400), tied to her selection as one of fifteen oral presenters out of more than 100 abstracts at Harper Cancer Research Day.
- A Notre Dame Graduate School Conference Travel Award, supporting her trip to SFB 2026 in Atlanta.
Both awards directly enabled her to take her MagSiN-platform research outside Notre Dame and in front of national audiences — exactly what these mechanisms are designed to do. Congratulations again, Aurelie.
New Role — Indiana CTSI Navigator at Notre Dame
I was also recognized in the New Position section of the newsletter for my role as Indiana CTSI Navigator at Notre Dame. The Navigator role connects ND faculty and trainees to the resources of the Indiana Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute — including pilot funding, regulatory expertise, biostatistics consultation, and core facilities across the state — and I am glad to help colleagues here tap into that infrastructure for their own translational projects. If you are at ND and your research is heading toward clinical or human-subjects work, please feel free to reach out.
Looking Ahead
Looking at all of this on one page is a useful exercise. The through-line is translation — moving the lab’s core platforms (bispecific bridge nanoparticles, phage-architecture antibacterials, BactiBlank antibiofilm coatings, and MagSiNs) from validated science toward licensable, federally-funded, and clinically-relevant impact — while training the next generation of researchers along the way. Sincere thanks to the lab — undergraduates, graduate students, and collaborators — who power every line of this recap, and to Emily Beck and the TPAC-RL newsletter team for compiling such a generous overview of faculty work across the university.
A great year. On to the next.
#YearInReview #NotreDame #Berthiaume #PDNanoLab #CDMRP #BactiBlank #PhageArchitecture #MagSiNs #IndianaCTSI #Translation #Patented #Licensed #SFB2026 #TechConnect2026
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