Nick completed his Ph.D. at Rice University, where he examined the antimicrobial activity of bioactive small molecules. He then joined Dr. Travis Moore in the Department of Integrative Biology and Pharmacology to develop expertise in integrin biology and advanced biochemical techniques. He has now partnered with the Wenzel lab, where he will be studying how mechanical forces shape blood cell adhesion, survival, and engraftment, with the goal of translating these mechanisms into strategies that improve hematopoietic stem cell transplantation for treatment of inherited and acquired blood disorders.