About

Aaron Esser-Kahn is a Professor of Molecular Engineering at the University of Chicago's Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering. He grew up in suburban Detroit and studied at the California Institute of Technology and the University of California at Berkeley. He worked as a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign before launching his academic career at the University of Irvine in the Chemistry Department, where he worked from 2011 until 2017. In 2017, he joined the Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering. His primary research focuses on immunoengineering and improving immune responses in vaccination. His group works on enhancing innate immune responses by understanding immune mechanisms and developing methods to manipulate them. His secondary research area involves adaptive materials, where his team develops materials that mimic the human body's ability to respond and adapt to external stimuli, providing force-mediated adaptation. His research interests lie at the intersection of biology, chemistry, and materials science, utilizing tools from each discipline to address complex problems. His current projects include developing microvascular thermal and gaseous exchange units inspired by biological structures, creating materials for reprogramming the immune system through polymer facades designed to rewire immune responses, and working on synthetic tissue scaffolds with site-specific antigen-adjuvant conjugation to enhance antigen presentation and T-cell responses. His work has contributed to advancements in immunoengineering, biomaterials, and bio-inspired adaptive systems.

Research topics

• Materials science
• Organic chemistry
• Nanotechnology
• Biology
• Chemistry
• Biochemistry
• Immunology
• Biotechnology
• Composite material

Selected publications

• Pulmonary neuroendocrine cell–derived exosomes regulate iron homeostasis and oxidative stress in lung neurons

  Science Advances · 2026-04-08

  articleOpen access

  Nicotine, the principal addictive component of cigarettes, is linked to cognitive decline and neurodegenerative alterations, likely through oxidative stress and impaired iron regulation in neurons. Yet, underlying molecular pathways remain unclear. This study examined the role of pulmonary neuroendocrine cells (PNECs) in smoke-induced neural changes. Using human pluripotent stem cells, we generated induced PNECs (iPNECs) to overcome culture limitations and performed mechanistic analyses. We found that nicotine exposure stimulates iPNECs to secrete exosomes enriched with serotransferrin, an iron-binding glycoprotein. Neurons internalizing these exosomes displayed elevated levels of transferrin receptor 1 (TFR1), divalent metal transporter 1, and duodenal cytochrome b, associated with ferritin accumulation, oxidative stress, and adenosine triphosphate depletion. Inhibition of TFR1 alleviated these effects. Furthermore, nicotine-triggered exosomes increased α-synuclein expression in neurons in a manner consistent with stress- and vulnerability-associated signatures observed in human lungs and nicotine-exposed mice, highlighting PNEC-derived exosomal signaling that may contribute to neuronal dysfunction.

  PublisherDOI

• Author response for "Co-delivery of antigen and adjuvant by site-specific conjugation to dendritic cell-targeted Fab fragments potentiates T cell responses"

  2025-04-11

  peer-review
  PublisherDOI

• Bioengineering approaches to trained immunity: Physiologic targets and therapeutic strategies

  eLife · 2025-07-01 · 6 citations

  reviewOpen accessSenior author

  Trained immunity presents a unique target for modulating the immune response against infectious and non-infectious threats to human health. To address the unmet need for training-targeted therapies, we explore bioengineering methods to answer research questions and address clinical applications. Current challenges in trained immunity include self-propagating autoinflammatory disease, a lack of controllable cell and tissue specificity, and the unintentional induction of training by known drugs and diseases. The bioengineering tools discussed in this review (nanotherapeutics, biomechanical modulation, cellular engineering, and machine learning) could address these challenges by providing additional avenues to modulate and interrogate trained immunity. The preferential activation of peripheral or central training has not yet been achieved and could be accessed using nanoparticle systems. Targeted delivery of training stimuli using nanocarriers can enrich the response in various cell and organ systems, while also selectively activating peripheral training in the local tissues or central trained immunity in bone marrow progenitor cells. Beyond chemical- or pathogen-based activation of training, force-based cues, such as interaction with mechanoreceptors, can induce trained phenotypes in many cell types. Mechanotransduction influences immune cell activation, motility, and morphology and could be harnessed as a tool to modulate training states in next-generation therapies. For known genetic and epigenetic mediators of trained immunity, cellular engineering could precisely activate or deactivate programs of training. Genetic engineering could be particularly useful in generating trained cell-based therapies like chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) macrophages. Finally, machine learning models, which are rapidly transforming biomedical research, can be employed to identify signatures of trained immunity in pre-existing datasets. They can also predict protein targets for previously identified inducers of trained immunity by modeling drug-protein or protein-protein interactions in silico. By harnessing the modular techniques of bioengineering for applications in trained immunity, training-based therapies can be more efficiently translated into clinical practice.

  PublisherDOI

• Design and Implementation of a CO₂ Capture Device Utilizing Photothermal Effect

  Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research · 2025-09-02

  articleSenior authorCorresponding

  Current aqueous-amine carbon capture methods have been limited by the lack of available energy sources and the energy-intensive process of separating CO2 from capture solutions. This process requires substantial energy inputs to heat the solution and regenerate the solvent. Previous research has demonstrated that photothermal excitation of nanoparticles can initiate the release of CO2 using less energy than that required for heating the bulk solution. This phenomenon has the potential to significantly reduce the overall energy cost of carbon capture methods by increasing the CO2 release efficiency using localized photothermal heating and solar energy. Here, we propose using a photothermal effect in a device for passive extraction of CO2 from point sources and continuous regeneration of the solvent through solar energy. We demonstrate a bench-scale device for continuous, passive extraction that uses suspended carbon-black nanoparticles in a capture solution as a layer between a porous membrane and a transparent window. While the device can run continuously, we suggest that day to night cycling of the light source may optimize CO2 loading and release. Through localized photothermal heating and solar energy, this device has the potential to enhance the CO2 release efficiency and reduce energy costs for carbon capture.

  PublisherDOI

• Electric-Field-Controlled Chemical Reaction via Piezo-Chemistry Creates Programmable Material Stiffness

  ArXiv.org · 2025-04-08

  preprintOpen accessSenior author

  The spatial and temporal control of material properties at a distance has yielded many unique innovations including photo-patterning, 3D-printing, and architected material design. To date, most of these innovations have relied on light, heat, sound, or electric current as stimuli for controlling the material properties. Here, we demonstrate that an electric field can induce chemical reactions and subsequent polymerization in composites via piezoelectrically-mediated transduction. The response to an electric field rather than through direct contact with an electrode is mediated by a nanoparticle transducer, i.e., piezoelectric ZnO, which mediates reactions between thiol and alkene monomers, resulting in tunable moduli as a function of voltage, time, and the frequency of the applied AC power. The reactivity of the mixture and the modulus of a naïve material containing these elements can be programmed based on the distribution of the electric field strength. This programmability results in multi-stiffness gels. Additionally, the system can be adjusted for the formation of an electro-adhesive. This simple and generalizable design opens new avenues for facile application in adaptive damping and variable-rigidity materials, adhesive, soft robotics, and potentially tissue engineering.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• BPS2025 - Spatial mapping of the cellular redox environment by magnetically manipulated quantum sensors

  Biophysical Journal · 2025-02-01

  articleOpen access
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• β-glucan induced trained immunity enhances antibody levels in a vaccination model in mice

  PLoS ONE · 2025-05-22 · 6 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior authorCorresponding

  Trained immunity improves disease resistance by strengthening our first line of defense, the innate immune system. Innate immune cells, predominantly macrophages, are epigenetically and metabolically rewired by β-glucan, a fungal cell wall component, to induce trained immunity. These trained macrophages exhibit increased co-stimulatory marker expression and altered cytokine production. Signaling changes from antigen-presenting cells, including macrophages, polarize T-cell responses. Recent work has shown that trained immunity can generally enhance protection against infection, and some work has shown increased protection with specific vaccines. It has been hypothesized that the trained cells themselves potentially modulate adaptive immunity in the context of vaccines. However, the mechanistic link between trained immunity and subsequent vaccinations to enhance antibody levels has not yet been identified. We report that trained immunity induced by a single dose of β-glucan increased antigen presentation in bone-marrow-derived macrophages (BMDMs) and CD4+ T cell proliferation in-vitro. Mice trained with a single dose of β-glucan a week before vaccination elicited higher antigen-specific antibody levels than untrained mice. Further experiments validate that macrophages mediate this increase. This effect persisted even after vaccinations with 100 times less antigen in trained mice. We report β-glucan training as a novel prophylactic method to enhance the effect of subsequent vaccines.

  PublisherDOI

• Probing cellular activity via charge-sensitive quantum nanoprobes

  ArXiv.org · 2025-03-25 · 1 citations

  preprintOpen access

  Nitrogen-vacancy (NV) based quantum sensors hold great potential for real-time single-cell sensing with far-reaching applications in fundamental biology and medical diagnostics. Although highly sensitive, the mapping of quantum measurements onto cellular physiological states has remained an exceptional challenge. Here we introduce a novel quantum sensing modality capable of detecting changes in cellular activity. Our approach is based on the detection of environment-induced charge depletion within an individual particle that, owing to a previously unaccounted transverse dipole term, induces systematic shifts in the zero-field splitting (ZFS). Importantly, these charge-induced shifts serve as a reliable indicator for lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-mediated inflammatory response in macrophages. Furthermore, we demonstrate that surface modification of our diamond nanoprobes effectively suppresses these environment-induced ZFS shifts, providing an important tool for differentiating electrostatic shifts caused by the environment from other unrelated effects, such as temperature variations. Notably, this surface modification also leads to significant reductions in particle-induced toxicity and inflammation. Our findings shed light on systematic drifts and sensitivity limits of NV spectroscopy in a biological environment with ramification on the critical discussion surrounding single-cell thermogenesis. Notably, this work establishes the foundation for a novel sensing modality capable of probing complex cellular processes through straightforward physical measurements.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Mechano-process triggered synthesis and adaptation of polythiourethane: a two-electron pathway

  ChemRxiv · 2025-10-09

  articleSenior author

  Mechanochemically initiated reactions have attracted increasing interest as an unconventional method for harvesting mechanical energy to generate new forms of reactivity. Previous studies have focused on radical-mediated processes or two-electron processes mediated by a ball-milling mechanism. In this work, we present a novel mechano-mediated reaction using focused ultrasound and mechanical vibration that generates both one-electron and two-electron thiol reactions in the same pot. Interestingly, we find that the final reaction product can be biased depending on the reactive partner. We employ this newly reported two-electron reaction to create the first vibrationally driven polythiourethane (PTU) through a two-electron mechanism and its adaptive polymer composites. This research presents an eco-friendly, vibrationally promoted approach to polymer synthesis.

  PublisherDOI

• Energy-Efficient Preparation of Polymer Composite Materials via Electric-Field-Assisted In Situ Polymerization

  ACS Applied Polymer Materials · 2025-04-08 · 1 citations

  articleSenior authorCorresponding

  Polymer composites combine two or more materials’ properties into a single material with properties superior to their constituents. Currently, the fabrication of polymer composite preparation is energy-demanding and often requires a longer processing time. To address this challenge, polymer composites are prepared via electric-field-assisted room-temperature curing of thiol–ene monomers facilitated by the inverse piezoelectric effect of ZnO particles. The result is composite fabrication at a low AC electric field of ∼0.1–0.6 kV cm–1 in 30 min. The piezoelectric ZnO rods grown/deposited on fiberglass fabric convert thiol into thiyl radicals when activated under an electric field, initiating polymerization and facilitating the polymer composite. The polymer composites are also prepared using commercial ZnO nanoparticles with fiberglass and cotton fabrics. Further, the method’s potential to prepare polymer composites for direct practical applications is demonstrated by preparing corrugated, laminated, and large-area fiberglass fabric composites. Thus, the scalable electric field-assisted polymer composite preparation method could be used with various substrates to prepare a variety of polymer composites with meager energy demands. With an energy consumption of 70.8 nJ cm–3, this is among the least energy-intensive methods of rapid composite preparation. This energy- and time-efficient polymer composite preparation method could improve sustainability and has potential for technological adaptation.

  PublisherDOI

Recent grants

• Determining the Mechanism of Activation of Linked Agonists Synergies

  NIH · $2.4M · 2016–2021

• Directing The Immune System Via Polymeric Combinations of Molecular Signals

  NIH · $2.3M · 2017–2018

• Mechanically Controlled Polymerization via Piezo-reduction of Copper

  NSF · $450k · 2017–2020

• Determining the Mechanism of Activation of Linked Agonists Synergies

  NIH · $248k · 2016–2021

• Determining the Mechanism of Activation of Linked Agonists Synergies

  NIH · $500k · 2016–2021

Frequent coauthors

• Matthew B. Francis

  University of California, Berkeley

  40 shared

• Saikat Manna

  GreenLight Biosciences (United States)

  27 shared

• Rachel C. Steinhardt

  University of Chicago

  23 shared

• Rebecca A. Scheck

  Tufts University

  20 shared

• Du T. Nguyen

  19 shared

• Brittany A. Moser

  University of Chicago

  18 shared

• Joshua M. Gilmore

  Stowers Institute for Medical Research

  16 shared

• Neel Joshi

  Northeastern University

  16 shared

Labs

• Esser-Kahn GroupPI