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A deep passion for learning, and the strength of the William A. Brookshire Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering Department, are some of the key reasons why Lawrence “Larry” Dooling made the trip across the country to join the faculty as an assistant professor at the Cullen College of Engineering.

“I was impressed by the breadth and depth of research and the collaborative environment,” he said. “I sensed that I would have very supportive colleagues who were interested in what I could bring to the department and invested in helping me build a successful career.”

He added, “I was also drawn by the ambition and momentum to grow the College and UH as a top-tier public university in both research and education. I was excited for the chance to be part of this. Houston is a fantastic place for biomedical research. We have the Texas Medical Center and strong support for research, which will provide many opportunities for us.”

Dooling noted it wasn’t a linear path for him to get where he is now, but his desire for learning and knowledge is what has driven him in his career as a researcher and an engineer.

“I have the opportunity not only to keep acquiring new knowledge every day but also to create knowledge and use it in impactful ways,” he said.

His lab works in two intersecting areas of study — cellular and molecular immunoengineering (especially with macrophages); and molecularly engineered materials.

“The questions and problems we are tackling are intellectually stimulating and unique enough that we’ll be able to carve out our own space. For our immunoengineering research, the potential impacts are very broad because macrophages are found in every tissue and organ in the body, and they are key players in many disease states,” he said. “In our biomaterials research, we are developing an experimental toolbox that will allow us to interrogate how cells sense and respond to certain mechanical properties of their surroundings, which is also broadly applicable.”

Dooling earned his B.S.E. from the University of Pennsylvania, and completed his doctorate with David Tirrell, the Ross McCollum-William H. Corcoran Professor of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering at the California Institute of Technology. After Caltech, he continued with postdoctoral studies with Dennis Discher, the director of the National Cancer Institute Physical Sciences Oncology Center at Penn.

He identified Tirrell and Discher as both being positive role models for what he’d like to accomplish as a professor, and in his development academically and professionally.

“I’m at a different stage in my career than they were when I was in their groups, but there is still a lot that I learned from my time working with them,” Dooling said. “They also each had a very different style of running a successful research group, and I’m trying to incorporate aspects of both as I forge my own path.”

He added, “My colleagues in the ChBE Department have been very generous in offering their guidance and resources to help me get started at UH. I really appreciate how welcome they’ve made me feel here. Likewise, our staff has been great in helping my start at UH go as smoothly as possible.”

Although Dooling’s lab is new, he’s already landed prominent funding that takes advantage of the robust research environment of the Houston metro area. “Macrophage Engineering Informed by Tumor-Associated Macrophage Polarity and Mechanobiology” is a pilot grant from the UH–MD Anderson Consortium for Immune Cell Engineering.

“It is part of our broader efforts to engineer macrophages (‘large eaters’), which are a type of immune cell named for their primary function, phagocytosis (‘cell eating’),” he said, explaining. “Our project will study how groups of macrophages can work together to ‘eat’ tumor cells, which could help improve cancer therapy.”

He added, “It is a fantastic opportunity for me to connect with researchers working on immune cell engineering in Houston.”

Dooling also wanted to thank his initial graduate students at Cullen.

“I am grateful to the graduate students — Afra Azim, Johncarlo Ruvalcaba and Tasnim Ahmed — who were courageous enough to join a new lab,” he said. “I’m excited for what we will accomplish together.”