Fischell Institute Womxn History Month Spotlight: Futoon Aljirafi

Futoon Aljirafi (B.S.’19 and M.S.’21) is a fourth-year chemical and biomolecular engineering (CHBE) Ph.D. student in Fischell Institute Director Bill Bentley’s Biomolecular and Metabolic Engineering lab.

Aljirafi comes from a family of scientists. Her mother is a biochemist, and her father is an industrial engineer. They instilled in her a love for science from a young age. She always knew she would end up following a similar path, but it wasn’t until later in her undergraduate career that she realized she wanted to pursue engineering.

“I liked the fact that I could use science to find a tangible solution to real-world problems,” Aljirafi said. “The application side of engineering drew me to it, and the fact that I can potentially help people with the work that I am doing.”

Aljirafi is working on an electronically interactive material that can autonomously generate signals for two-way molecular exchanges with biology. To do this, she is combining polymer science with electronics to bridge the communication gap between biology and the abiotic world.

“Biology and the abiotic world speak different languages, but in our lab, we use redox chemistry to bridge this gap,” Aljirafi said. “My work focuses on developing an interactive hydrogel capable of autonomously generating signals to guide cellular redox activity, ultimately facilitating the coordination of microbial consortia in environmental and agricultural contexts.”

Aljirafi and her lab mates can precisely control the material’s properties both electrochemically and through its surrounding environment. What makes this hydrogel truly unique is its ability to leverage its own redox properties to communicate with its surroundings. These signals can be transduced by cells to produce desired products, such as proteins, while the gel simultaneously receives and translates cellular signals in return.

“I find this work fascinating because it enables interactions between systems that would otherwise have no natural way to communicate,” Aljirafi said. “Working for Dr. Bentley has been absolutely amazing—I could not ask for a better principal investigator. He has created a very open and nurturing lab environment that is conducive to creative research and collaboration.”

Aljirafi said her proudest accomplishment at the university was serving as a graduate teaching assistant and helping students.

“What made the experience even more rewarding was knowing I had a meaningful impact on many of them,” she said. “Thanks to their end-of-semester reviews and positive feedback from the professors I worked with, I was honored to be recognized as the CHBE Department’s TA of the Year.”

Aljirafi’s goal is to help people. That mission led her to make her doctoral research more biology-centric. While she is not directly doing biomedical research, she said this path gives her the skills necessary to do work that can positively influence people’s lives.

Outside of the lab, Aljirafi enjoys baking, reading, and running. She also comes from a soccer family and is a huge fan of the sport.

Published March 13, 2025