Polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA) are biodegradable polyesters, with attractive characteristics, promising for replacing conventional petroleum-derived polymers. However, two mechanical limitations greatly restrict their broader applications. This research investigates melt blending and reactive extrusion as strategies to address the two mechanical limitations.

Polysaccharides are versatile bio-based polymers with significant potential in different industries, due to their excellent biocompatibility, biodegradability, natural abundance, low cost, and capacity to regulate molecular transport. This research investigates the use of polysaccharide-based materials in two applications: controlled drug delivery and sustainable packaging.

Biomolecular localization and heterogeneity are factors important for signaling and structure in multicellular organisms. Current understandings of metabolic heterogeneity utilize bulk approaches. However, these approaches lack the ability to retain the spatial distribution of metabolites.

Heterogeneity between and within cell populations plays a vital role in in our understanding of spatial biology and disease. Heterogeneity manifests in phenotypical differences between cells, including distinct lipidomic and metabolomic profiles. Typical metabolomics analyses take a bulk approach that removes analytes from their spatial context. Mass spectrometry imaging (MSI) is a label-free technique enabling the spatial analysis of metabolites in their native environment.