Filbert Totsingan

Lecturer

Dr. Totsingan received his M.S. in Industrial Chemistry and his Ph.D. in Organic and Bioorganic Chemistry with honors from the University of Parma (Italy) working with Prof. Rosangela Marchelli and Prof. Roberto Corradini in designing new biosensors (fluorescent peptide nucleic acids, PNAs) for nucleic acids detection. After a year postdoctoral research working on the amplification of chirality in peptide nucleic acids (PNAs) with Prof. Mark Green (Professor Emeritus, NYU School of Engineering), he then moved to NYU Chemistry Department where he spent five years with Prof. Neville Kallenbach (Professor Emeritus) on the design, synthesis and antimicrobial activity testing of short linear and dendrimeric antimicrobial peptides, as well as amphiphilic unimolecular peptide nanoparticles that mimic the structure of host defense peptides (HDPs), but have higher/similar antimicrobial activity and lower cytotoxicity. Dr. Totsingan joined Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) in 2014 working with Prof. Richard Gross on the use of enzymes such as proteases, lipases and cutinases as catalysts for the preparation/selective modification of biologically active polymers (e.g. peptides) and small molecules (e.g. glycolipids) and their use as potential candidates for materials, biomedical and health-related applications. His research interest also involves the preparation of new generation of unimolecular polymer nanoparticles for medical imaging, drug/gene delivery, tissue engineering, antimicrobials and adhesives.