Dr. Zachary Fralish started his scientific journey right here at Florida Southern College. He worked on a variety of drug delivery projects, culminating in a U.S. patent for a novel drug-eluting biomaterial designed to reduce complications following surgery, such as infection and inflammation. These experiences inspired him to pursue further research with the goal of designing safer medications. At Duke University, he crafted machine learning algorithms to help guide the design of safer versions of medications. He used these tools to design cancer drugs he validated to have reduced platelet toxicity in vivo and antibiotics that spared commensal (“good”) bacteria but maintained efficacy against pathogenic (“bad”) bacteria.
During his PhD, he found what he enjoyed the most was helping others with their projects and sharing what he had learned. Reflecting on how much he appreciated his well-rounded, liberal arts education, he decided he wanted to teach at small liberal arts college. Now, he has returned to FSC to share his passion for scientific inquiry and lifelong learning with the next generation of scientists.