Joel Collier

Research Interests

The design of biomaterials for a range of biomedical applications, with a focus on understanding and controlling adaptive immune responses. Most materials investigated are created from molecular assemblies- proteins, peptides or bioconjugates that self-organize into useful structures such as nanofibers, gels, and particles.

Bio

The Collier Lab designs biomaterials for a range of biomedical applications, with a focus on understanding and controlling adaptive immune responses.  Most materials investigated are created from molecular assemblies- proteins, peptides or bioconjugates that self-organize into useful structures such as nanofibers, gels, and particles. 

These biomaterials are being developed as novel treatments for infectious diseases, cancer, wound healing, and chronic inflammation.  Additionally, as these strategies are developed, basic insights into how materials engage the immune system are uncovered.

Education

• Ph.D. Northwestern University, 2003

Positions

• Theodore Kennedy Professor of Biomedical Engineering
• Professor of Biomedical Engineering
• Associate Dean for Doctoral Education in the Pratt School of Engineering
• Associate Professor in Integrative Immunobiology

Awards, Honors, and Distinctions

• Clemson Award for Basic Research. Society for Biomaterials. 2024
• Lois and John L. Imhoff Distinguished Teaching Award. Pratt School of Engineering. 2020
• Fellow. American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE). 2017
• 2015 Biomaterials Science Lectureship. Royal Society of Chemistry Publishing. 2015
• Distinguished Investigator, Junior. Biological Science Division, University of Chicago. 2012

Courses Taught

• ME 391: Undergraduate Projects in Mechanical Engineering
• EGR 790: Special Topics in Engineering
• EGR 393: Research Projects in Engineering
• EGR 391: Projects in Engineering
• BME 792: Continuation of Graduate Independent Study
• BME 791: Graduate Independent Study
• BME 790: Advanced Topics for Graduate Students in Biomedical Engineering
• BME 789: Internship in Biomedical Engineering
• BME 729S: Teaching Seminar for Repeat Teaching Assistants
• BME 728S: Teaching Seminar for New Teaching Assistants
• BME 702S: BME Graduate Seminars
• BME 701S: BME Graduate Seminars
• BME 494: Projects in Biomedical Engineering (GE)
• BME 493: Projects in Biomedical Engineering (GE)
• BME 394: Projects in Biomedical Engineering (GE)
• BME 221L: Biomaterials

Publications

• Freire Haddad H, Roe EF, Xie Fu V, Curvino EJ, Collier JH. Multi-Target Peptide Nanofiber Immunotherapy Diminishes Complement Anaphylatoxin Activity in Acute Inflammation. Advanced healthcare materials. 2024 Oct;e2402546.
• Shetty S, Wu Y, Lloyd CZ, Mehta N, Liu Y, Woodruff ME, et al. Anti-Cytokine Active Immunotherapy Based on Supramolecular Peptides for Alleviating IL-1β-Mediated Inflammation. Advanced healthcare materials. 2024 Aug;e2401444.
• Shetty S, Alvarado PC, Pettie D, Collier JH. Next-Generation Vaccine Development with Nanomaterials: Recent Advances, Possibilities, and Challenges. Annual review of biomedical engineering. 2024 Jul;26(1):273–306.
• Curvino EJ, Woodruff ME, Roe EF, Freire Haddad H, Cordero Alvarado P, Collier JH. Supramolecular Peptide Self-Assemblies Facilitate Oral Immunization. ACS biomaterials science & engineering. 2024 May;10(5):3041–56.
• Curvino EJ, Roe EF, Freire Haddad H, Anderson AR, Woodruff ME, Votaw NL, et al. Engaging natural antibody responses for the treatment of inflammatory bowel disease via phosphorylcholine-presenting nanofibres. Nat Biomed Eng. 2024 May;8(5):628–49.
• Hainline KM, Haddad HF, Gilpin A, Curvino EJ, Varghese S, Collier JH. Active immunotherapy for C5a-mediated inflammation using adjuvant-free self-assembled peptide nanofibers. Acta Biomater. 2024 Apr 15;179:83–94.
• Cossette BJ, Shetty S, Issah LA, Collier JH. Self-Assembling Allergen Vaccine Platform Raises Therapeutic Allergen-Specific IgG Responses without Induction of Systemic Allergic Responses. ACS biomaterials science & engineering. 2024 Mar;10(3):1819–29.
• Si Y, Wang Y, Tian Q, Wang Q, Pollard JM, Srivastava PK, et al. Lung cDC1 and cDC2 dendritic cells priming naive CD8⁺ T cells in situ prior to migration to draining lymph nodes. Cell reports. 2023 Oct;42(10):113299.
• Lazar KM, Shetty S, Chilkoti A, Collier JH. Immune-active polymeric materials for the treatment of inflammatory diseases. Current Opinion in Colloid and Interface Science. 2023 Oct 1;67.
• Liu Y, Suarez-Arnedo A, Shetty S, Wu Y, Schneider M, Collier JH, et al. A Balance between Pro-Inflammatory and Pro-Reparative Macrophages is Observed in Regenerative D-MAPS. Advanced science (Weinheim, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany). 2023 Apr;10(11):e2204882.
• Ozer I, Slezak A, Sirohi P, Li X, Zakharov N, Yao Y, et al. An injectable PEG-like conjugate forms a subcutaneous depot and enables sustained delivery of a peptide drug. Biomaterials. 2023 Mar;294:121985.
• Freire Haddad H, Roe EF, Collier JH. Expanding opportunities to engineer mucosal vaccination with biomaterials. Biomaterials science. 2023 Feb;11(5):1625–47.
• Kelly SH, Votaw NL, Cossette BJ, Wu Y, Shetty S, Shores LS, et al. A sublingual nanofiber vaccine to prevent urinary tract infections. Science advances. 2022 Nov;8(47):eabq4120.
• Chen J-L, Fries CN, Berendam SJ, Rodgers NS, Roe EF, Wu Y, et al. Self-assembling peptide nanofiber HIV vaccine elicits robust vaccine-induced antibody functions and modulates Fc glycosylation. Sci Adv. 2022 Sep 23;8(38):eabq0273.
• Wu Y, Wen H, Bernstein ZJ, Hainline KM, Blakney TS, Congdon KL, et al. Multiepitope supramolecular peptide nanofibers eliciting coordinated humoral and cellular antitumor immune responses. Sci Adv. 2022 Jul 22;8(29):eabm7833.
• Ozer I, Kelly G, Gu R, Li X, Zakharov N, Sirohi P, et al. Polyethylene Glycol-Like Brush Polymer Conjugate of a Protein Drug Does Not Induce an Antipolymer Immune Response and Has Enhanced Pharmacokinetics than Its Polyethylene Glycol Counterpart. Adv Sci (Weinh). 2022 Apr;9(11):e2103672.
• Fries CN, Chen J-L, Dennis ML, Votaw NL, Eudailey J, Watts BE, et al. HIV envelope antigen valency on peptide nanofibers modulates antibody magnitude and binding breadth. Sci Rep. 2021 Jul 14;11(1):14494.
• Votaw NL, Collier L, Curvino EJ, Wu Y, Fries CN, Ojeda MT, et al. Randomized peptide assemblies for enhancing immune responses to nanomaterials. Biomaterials. 2021 Jun;273:120825.
• Kelly SH, Cossette BJ, Varadhan AK, Wu Y, Collier JH. Titrating Polyarginine into Nanofibers Enhances Cyclic-Dinucleotide Adjuvanticity in Vitro and after Sublingual Immunization. ACS biomaterials science & engineering. 2021 May;7(5):1876–88.
• Cossette B, Kelly SH, Collier JH. Intranasal Subunit Vaccination Strategies Employing Nanomaterials and Biomaterials. ACS biomaterials science & engineering. 2021 May;7(5):1765–79.
• Hainline KM, Shores LS, Votaw NL, Bernstein ZJ, Kelly SH, Fries CN, et al. Modular complement assemblies for mitigating inflammatory conditions. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 2021 Apr;118(15):e2018627118.
• Fries CN, Curvino EJ, Chen J-L, Permar SR, Fouda GG, Collier JH. Advances in nanomaterial vaccine strategies to address infectious diseases impacting global health. Nat Nanotechnol. 2021 Apr;16(4):1–14.
• Kelly SH, Opolot EE, Wu Y, Cossette B, Varadhan AK, Collier JH. Tabletized Supramolecular Assemblies for Sublingual Peptide Immunization. Advanced healthcare materials. 2021 Mar;10(6):e2001614.
• Ozer I, Slezak A, Everitt J, Li X, Zakharov N, Collier J, et al. Injectable non-immunogenic PEG-like conjugate that forms a subcutaneous depot and enables sustained delivery of a peptide drug. 2021;
• Fries CN, Wu Y, Kelly SH, Wolf M, Votaw NL, Zauscher S, et al. Controlled Lengthwise Assembly of Helical Peptide Nanofibers to Modulate CD8⁺ T-Cell Responses. Advanced materials (Deerfield Beach, Fla). 2020 Oct;32(39):e2003310.
• Si Y, Tian Q, Zhao F, Kelly SH, Shores LS, Camacho DF, et al. Adjuvant-free nanofiber vaccine induces in situ lung dendritic cell activation and T_H17 responses. Science advances. 2020 Aug;6(32):eaba0995.
• Wu Y, Kelly SH, Sanchez-Perez L, Sampson JH, Collier JH. Comparative study of α-helical and β-sheet self-assembled peptide nanofiber vaccine platforms: influence of integrated T-cell epitopes. Biomater Sci. 2020 Jun 21;8(12):3522–35.
• Kelly SH, Wu Y, Varadhan AK, Curvino EJ, Chong AS, Collier JH. Enabling sublingual peptide immunization with molecular self-assemblies. Biomaterials. 2020 May;241:119903.
• Shores LS, Kelly SH, Hainline KM, Suwanpradid J, MacLeod AS, Collier JH. Multifactorial Design of a Supramolecular Peptide Anti-IL-17 Vaccine Toward the Treatment of Psoriasis. Front Immunol. 2020;11:1855.
• Nelson C, Wu Y, Gemberling M, Oliver M, Bohning JD, Robinson-Hamm JN, et al. Long-Term Evaluation of AAV-CRISPR Genome Editing for Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy. In: MOLECULAR THERAPY. CELL PRESS; 2019. p. 46–7.
• Nelson CE, Wu Y, Gemberling MP, Oliver ML, Waller MA, Bohning JD, et al. Long-term evaluation of AAV-CRISPR genome editing for Duchenne muscular dystrophy. Nat Med. 2019 Mar;25(3):427–32.
• Jewell CM, Collier JH. Biomaterial interactions with the immune system. Biomaterials science. 2019 Feb;7(3):713–4.
• Hainline K, Madhira M, Bernstein Z, Wen Y, Collier J. Modular complement assemblies as defined active immunotherapies. In: Transactions of the Annual Meeting of the Society for Biomaterials and the Annual International Biomaterials Symposium. 2019. p. 112.
• Hainline KM, Gu F, Handley JF, Tian YF, Wu Y, de Wet L, et al. Self-Assembling Peptide Gels for 3D Prostate Cancer Spheroid Culture. Macromolecular bioscience. 2019 Jan;19(1):e1800249.
• Roberts S, Harmon TS, Schaal JL, Miao V, Li KJ, Hunt A, et al. Author Correction: Injectable tissue integrating networks from recombinant polypeptides with tunable order. Nat Mater. 2018 Dec;17(12):1164.
• Roberts S, Harmon TS, Schaal JL, Miao V, Li KJ, Hunt A, et al. Injectable tissue integrating networks from recombinant polypeptides with tunable order. Nat Mater. 2018 Dec;17(12):1154–63.
• Si Y, Wen Y, Kelly SH, Chong AS, Collier JH. Intranasal delivery of adjuvant-free peptide nanofibers elicits resident CD8⁺ T cell responses. Journal of controlled release : official journal of the Controlled Release Society. 2018 Jul;282:120–30.
• Hainline KM, Fries CN, Collier JH. Progress Toward the Clinical Translation of Bioinspired Peptide and Protein Assemblies. Advanced healthcare materials. 2018 Mar;7(5).
• Solano CM, Wen Y, Han H, Collier JH. Practical Considerations in the Design and Use of Immunologically Active Fibrillar Peptide Assemblies. Methods in molecular biology (Clifton, NJ). 2018 Jan;1777:233–48.
• Si Y, Wen Y, Chen J, Pompano RR, Han H, Collier J, et al. MyD88 in antigen-presenting cells is not required for CD4+ T-cell responses during peptide nanofiber vaccination. MedChemComm. 2018 Jan;9(1):138–48.
• Wu Y, Norberg PK, Reap EA, Congdon KL, Fries CN, Kelly SH, et al. A Supramolecular Vaccine Platform Based on α-Helical Peptide Nanofibers. ACS Biomater Sci Eng. 2017 Dec 11;3(12):3128–32.
• Mora-Solano C, Wen Y, Han H, Chen J, Chong AS, Miller ML, et al. Active immunotherapy for TNF-mediated inflammation using self-assembled peptide nanofibers. Biomaterials. 2017 Dec;149:1–11.
• Kelly SH, Shores LS, Votaw NL, Collier JH. Biomaterial strategies for generating therapeutic immune responses. Advanced drug delivery reviews. 2017 May;114:3–18.
• Wu Y, Collier JH. α-Helical coiled-coil peptide materials for biomedical applications. Wiley interdisciplinary reviews Nanomedicine and nanobiotechnology. 2017 Mar;9(2).
• Keselowsky BG, Collier JH. Editorial: Special Issue on Biomaterials for Immunoengineering. ACS biomaterials science & engineering. 2017 Feb;3(2):106–7.
• Rudra JS, Kelly SH, Collier JH. 2.4 Self-assembling biomaterials. In: Comprehensive Biomaterials II. 2017. p. 67–89.
• Wen Y, Waltman A, Han H, Collier JH. Switching the Immunogenicity of Peptide Assemblies Using Surface Properties. ACS nano. 2016 Oct;10(10):9274–86.
• Vigneswaran Y, Han H, De Loera R, Wen Y, Zhang X, Sun T, et al. This paper is the winner of an SFB Award in the Hospital Intern, Residency category: Peptide biomaterials raising adaptive immune responses in wound healing contexts. Journal of biomedical materials research Part A. 2016 Aug;104(8):1853–62.
• Collier JH, Rudra JS. Methods and compositions related to immunogenic fibrils. US Patent No. 9,241,987. 2016.
• Sun T, Han H, Hudalla GA, Wen Y, Pompano RR, Collier JH. Thermal stability of self-assembled peptide vaccine materials. Acta biomaterialia. 2016 Jan;30:62–71.
• Collier JH, Hudalla GA. Methods and compositions involving fibrillizing polypeptides for nanofibers. US Patent No. 9,200,082 B2. 2015.
• Restuccia A, Tian YF, Collier JH, Hudalla GA. Self-assembled glycopeptide nanofibers as modulators of galectin-1 bioactivity. Cellular and molecular bioengineering. 2015 Sep;8(3):471–87.
• Wen Y, Collier JH. Supramolecular peptide vaccines: tuning adaptive immunity. Current opinion in immunology. 2015 Aug;35:73–9.
• Pompano RR, Chen J, Verbus EA, Han H, Fridman A, McNeely T, et al. Titrating T-cell epitopes within self-assembled vaccines optimizes CD4+ helper T cell and antibody outputs. Advanced healthcare materials. 2014 Nov;3(11):1898–908.
• Hudalla GA, Sun T, Gasiorowski JZ, Han H, Tian YF, Chong AS, et al. Gradated assembly of multiple proteins into supramolecular nanomaterials. Nature materials. 2014 Aug;13(8):829–36.
• Mora-Solano C, Collier JH. Engaging adaptive immunity with biomaterials. Journal of materials chemistry B. 2014 May;2(17):2409–21.
• Zaborin A, Defazio JR, Kade M, Kaiser BLD, Belogortseva N, Camp DG, et al. Phosphate-containing polyethylene glycol polymers prevent lethal sepsis by multidrug-resistant pathogens. Antimicrobial agents and chemotherapy. 2014 Jan;58(2):966–77.
• Chen J, Pompano RR, Santiago FW, Maillat L, Sciammas R, Sun T, et al. The use of self-adjuvanting nanofiber vaccines to elicit high-affinity B cell responses to peptide antigens without inflammation. Biomaterials. 2013 Nov;34(34):8776–85.
• Tian YF, Hudalla GA, Han H, Collier JH. Controllably degradable β-sheet nanofibers and gels from self-assembling depsipeptides. Biomaterials science. 2013 Oct;1(10).
• Hudalla GA, Modica JA, Tian YF, Rudra JS, Chong AS, Sun T, et al. A self-adjuvanting supramolecular vaccine carrying a folded protein antigen. Advanced healthcare materials. 2013 Aug;2(8):1114–9.
• Collier JH. Tangled up in nanofibers. Science Translational Medicine. 2013 Feb 6;5(171).
• Collier JH. Inspired by Porcupines. Science Translational Medicine. 2013 Jan 9;5(167).
• Collier JH. Driving a wedge into acute allergic responses. Science Translational Medicine. 2012 Dec 5;4(163).
• Collier JH. Taking a bite out of pain. Science Translational Medicine. 2012 Nov 7;4(159).
• Collier JH. There's node place like home. Science Translational Medicine. 2012 Oct 10;4(155).
• Collier JH. Merging electronics and engineered tissues. Science Translational Medicine. 2012 Sep 12;4(151).
• Rudra JS, Mishra S, Chong AS, Mitchell RA, Nardin EH, Nussenzweig V, et al. Self-assembled peptide nanofibers raising durable antibody responses against a malaria epitope. Biomaterials. 2012 Sep;33(27):6476–84.
• Collier JH. A sweet way to construct vascular networks. Science Translational Medicine. 2012 Aug 22;4(148).
• Collier JH. Diminishing returns. Science Translational Medicine. 2012 Jul 18;4(143).
• Collier JH. A steps toward a universal flu vaccine. Science Translational Medicine. 2012 Jun 20;4(139).
• Collier JH. Abandonment complexes. Science Translational Medicine. 2012 May 23;4(135).
• Collier JH. Carrier and therapeutic in one. Science Translational Medicine. 2012 Apr 25;4(131).
• Collier JH. Nanomedicine: Nanoscale mimics of mast cell messengers. Science Translational Medicine. 2012 Mar 28;4(127).
• Collier JH. Some disassembly required. Science Translational Medicine. 2012 Feb 29;4(123).
• Rudra JS, Sun T, Bird KC, Daniels MD, Gasiorowski JZ, Chong AS, et al. Modulating adaptive immune responses to peptide self-assemblies. ACS nano. 2012 Feb;6(2):1557–64.
• Cho H, Balaji S, Sheikh AQ, Hurley JR, Tian YF, Collier JH, et al. Regulation of endothelial cell activation and angiogenesis by injectable peptide nanofibers. Acta biomaterialia. 2012 Jan;8(1):154–64.
• Rudra JS, Collier JH. Self-assembling biomaterials. In: Comprehensive Biomaterials. 2011. p. 77–94.
• Gasiorowski JZ, Collier JH. Directed intermixing in multicomponent self-assembling biomaterials. Biomacromolecules. 2011 Oct;12(10):3549–58.
• Jung JP, Moyano JV, Collier JH. Multifactorial optimization of endothelial cell growth using modular synthetic extracellular matrices. Integrative biology : quantitative biosciences from nano to macro. 2011 Mar;3(3):185–96.
• Collier JH, Segura T. Evolving the use of peptides as components of biomaterials. Biomaterials. 2011;32:4198–204.
• Tian YF, Devgun JM, Collier JH. Fibrillized peptide microgels for cell encapsulation and 3D cell culture. Soft matter. 2011 Jan;7(13):6005–11.
• Rudra JS, Tripathi PK, Hildeman DA, Jung JP, Collier JH. Immune responses to coiled coil supramolecular biomaterials. Biomaterials. 2010 Nov;31(32):8475–83.
• Collier JH, Rudra JS, Gasiorowski JZ, Jung JP. Multi-component extracellular matrices based on peptide self-assembly. Chemical Society reviews. 2010 Sep;39(9):3413–24.
• Rudra JS, Tian YF, Jung JP, Collier JH. A self-assembling peptide acting as an immune adjuvant. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 2010 Jan;107(2):622–7.
• Jung JP, Gasiorowski JZ, Collier JH. Fibrillar peptide gels in biotechnology and biomedicine. Biopolymers. 2010 Jan;94(1):49–59.
• Jing P, Jung JP, Collier JH. Nanostructured materials constructed from polypeptides. In: NanoScience in Biomedicine. 2009. p. 96–127.
• Jung JP, Nagaraj AK, Fox EK, Rudra JS, Devgun JM, Collier JH. Co-assembling peptides as defined matrices for endothelial cells. Biomaterials. 2009 Apr;30(12):2400–10.
• Li HC, Collier JH, Shawki A, Rudra JS, Li EY, Mackenzie B, et al. Sequence- or position-specific mutations in the carboxyl-terminal FL motif of the kidney sodium bicarbonate cotransporter (NBC1) disrupt its basolateral targeting and alpha-helical structure. The Journal of membrane biology. 2009 Mar;228(2):111–24.
• Jung JP, Jones JL, Collier JH. Chemoselective stiffening of self-assembled matrices via native chemical ligation. In: 8th World Biomaterials Congress 2008. 2008. p. 625.
• Kopechek JA, Abruzzo TM, Wang B, Chrzanowski SM, Smith DAB, Kee PH, et al. Ultrasound-mediated release of hydrophilic and lipophilic agents from echogenic liposomes. Journal of ultrasound in medicine : official journal of the American Institute of Ultrasound in Medicine. 2008 Nov;27(11):1597–606.
• Jing P, Rudra JS, Herr AB, Collier JH. Self-assembling peptide-polymer hydrogels designed from the coiled coil region of fibrin. Biomacromolecules. 2008 Sep;9(9):2438–46.
• Jung JP, Jones JL, Cronier SA, Collier JH. Modulating the mechanical properties of self-assembled peptide hydrogels via native chemical ligation. Biomaterials. 2008 May;29(13):2143–51.
• Collier JH. Modular self-assembling biomaterials for directing cellular responses. Soft matter. 2008 Jan;4(12):2310–5.
• Rimmer S, Johnson C, Zhao B, Collier J, Gilmore L, Sabnis S, et al. Epithelialization of hydrogels achieved by amine functionalization and co-culture with stromal cells. Biomaterials. 2007 Dec;28(35):5319–31.
• Jing P, Collier JH. Self-assembling polymer-peptide conjugates: Toward scaffolds for regenerative medicine. ABSTRACTS OF PAPERS OF THE AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY. 2007 Aug 19;234.
• Schmidt C, Rivers T, Hudson T, Collier J. Modification of electroactive biomaterials for neural engineering applications. ACS Symposium Series. 2002 Jan 1;832:154–65.
• Raine-Fenning N, Campbell B, Collier J, Brincat M, Johnson I. The reproducibility of endometrial volume acquisition and measurement with the VOCAL-imaging program. Ultrasound in obstetrics & gynecology : the official journal of the International Society of Ultrasound in Obstetrics and Gynecology. 2002 Jan;19(1):69–75.
• Thomson RC, Giordano GG, Collier JH, Ishaug SL, Mikos AG, Lahiri-Munhir D, et al. Biodegradable poly(α-hydroxy ester) thin films as temporary substrates for retinal pigment epithelium cell transplantation. In: American Society of Mechanical Engineers, Bioengineering Division (Publication) BED. 1995. p. 93–4.

In The News

• Duke Companies and Faculty Share Ideas with Investors at Triangle Venture Day (Sep 15, 2023 | Duke Today)
• Six New Bass Fellows Honored for Excellence in Research and Outstanding Undergraduate Teaching (Jun 1, 2021 | )
• Joel Collier: Nudging Immunological Responses (Sep 23, 2015 | Pratt School of Engineering)