David Punihaole

David Punihaole is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Vermont. His research focuses on developing advanced Raman chemical imaging techniques to study protein folding, neurodegenerative diseases, and polymer-based drug delivery systems. He holds a B.S. in Molecular Biology from the University of Pittsburgh (2009) and a Ph.D. in Molecular Biophysics from the same institution (2016), followed by postdoctoral work at the University of Minnesota (2020).

His lab integrates analytical chemistry, physical chemistry, and biophysics to visualize molecular dynamics in living cells. Key areas include amyloid fibril structures linked to Alzheimer’s disease and optimizing nanoparticle systems for gene therapy. He received the 2018 Ford Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship from the National Academy of Sciences.

Research emphasizes Raman spectroscopy’s chemical specificity combined with advanced microscopy for sub-diffraction imaging. Current projects explore super-resolution Raman techniques, polymer-DNA interactions, and protein aggregation mechanisms. The lab actively recruits graduate students in chemistry and materials science, emphasizing interdisciplinary approaches.