Undergraduate researchers from the Johns Hopkins Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering have been selected to receive the WSE Design Center Award Fund, a competitive grant administered through the Whiting School of Engineering Design Center. The award supports student-led engineering innovation projects and is expected to provide them with between $2,500 and $5,000 to advance their work.
The team includes Alisa Fedotova, Enzo Larralda, Melina Mohammadi, Giancarlo Zambrano, and Claire Zeng.
The funding will help power the team’s project, DentiPhage, a therapeutic aimed at combating antibiotic-resistant biofilm buildup on dental implants, which is the leading cause of peri-implantitis and implant failure.
“Receiving the WSE Design Center Award Fund serves as strong validation of our project’s scientific merit and practical potential. That vote of confidence is incredibly motivating,” says Fedotova.
The grant will allow them to purchase specialized laboratory materials and chemical components necessary for testing and validation. It also allows for the team to work without immediate budgetary restrictions.
“Without this financial support, many aspects of our experimental work would be significantly delayed or scaled back due to cost limitations,” says Mohammadi. “The award enables us to conduct more rigorous testing, iterate on our design more efficiently, and gather higher-quality data—steps that are essential for moving from concept validation toward real-world application.”
DentiPhage harnesses bacteriophages—viruses that selectively infect and kill bacteria—to target biofilms that accumulate on dental implants. Traditional treatments for severe biofilm-related infections often require invasive and costly surgical intervention. The team hopes their phage-based therapeutic could offer a safer, more cost-effective alternative.
“We hope to transform the dental health care industry through a safe and cost-effective solution to a problem that faces millions of adults worldwide,” says Zeng.
Looking ahead, the team plans to continue refining and validating their therapeutic through controlled laboratory testing. They also intend to pursue intellectual property protection and explore commercialization pathways through the university’s technology transfer resources.
“In the long term, we envision DentiPhage advancing toward preclinical testing and eventually clinical application,” says Larralda. “Our ultimate goal is to translate this research into a viable therapeutic product that can be integrated into standard dental practice.”
The group is optimistic about the future of their research. “With continued development, we believe DentiPhage could help reshape how dental biofilm infections are treated and contribute to the broader effort to combat antibiotic resistance,” says Zambrano.