People
Jake Brenner, MD, PhD
Assistant Professor and Attending Physician
Pulmonary, Allergy, & Critical Care Division, and
Systems Pharmacology & Translational Therapeutics Department
University of Pennsylvania
I spend 20% of my time attending in the ICU, and 80% developing medical technologies.


Laura Ferguson, MD, MS
Pulm / Critical Care Fellow
Laura is a pulmonologist with a background in bioengineering. In lab she works on next-generation RBC-hitchhiking of nanocarriers, ex vivo human lung studies of nanocarriers, and development of nanomedicine for interstitital lung disease, her clinical sub-specialty.

Kate Rubey, MD
Neonatology Attending and Clinical Instructor
Kate is a neonatology fellow at CHOP, working in the neonatal ICU (NICU), taking care of critically ill infants. In lab she works on nanomedicine for severe infections, especially pneumonia, and the mechanisms by which neutrophils recognize nanoparticles.

Mike Zaleski
PhD Student, Penn Pharmacology
Mike leads on project in collaboration with Insmed Corp to create a nanomedicine-based therapeutic for ARDS (acute respiratory distress syndrome).

Marco Zamora
PhD student, Drexel Bioengineering
Marco is working on two projects. The first is the development of a nanomedicine-based therapeutic for ARDS, in collaboration with Insmed Corp. The second project involves how the innate immune system interacts with nanocarriers.

Jichuan Wu, MD, PhD
Chief Operating Officer (COO) of the lab
Jichuan trained in China as a neonatologist (critical care for infants), then worked at Temple University for 15+ years on animal models of acute critical illnesses (ACIs), focused mostly on ARDS and traumatic brain injury. He joined the Brenner Bioengineering Lab in the summer of 2019, and directs animal experiments on ACIs.