2022 Fellow

Carolina Chung

Department of Biomedical Engineering

Dissertation

Carolina Chung is a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Biomedical Engineering and conducts research in the Systems Biology & Drug Discovery Lab, led by Prof. Sriram Chandrasekaran. Her research is focused on applying machine learning methods to optimize combination therapy design against antibiotic resistance. She also applies systems-level computational modeling of microbial metabolism to understand the mechanistic drivers that influence pathogen sensitivity to drug treatments. Her work led to the development of CARAMeL (Condition-specific Antibiotic Regimen Assessment using Mechanistic Learning), the latest algorithm for designing antibiotic combinations that are robust to pathogen metabolic heterogeneity. She continues to apply CARAMeL to design combination therapies effective against a diverse range of bacterial species that grow in clinically relevant metabolic environments.

Beyond her research, Carolina is an enthusiastic advocate for STEM education, especially for underrepresented demographics. Throughout her time at Michigan, she has volunteered in numerous outreach and mentorship programs. These include the U-M Xplore Engineering summer camp, Michigan DNA Day, SEEK (Science Education & Engagement for Kids), and Girls Who Code.