Sara Keller, an assistant professor in the Department of Bioengineering, has received $125,000 in research funding from the Donald E. and Delia B. Baxter Foundation. The award will support her research developing new techniques and applications for ultrasound, a technology more commonly known for medical diagnostic imaging, to treat medical device-associated infections.

Established in 1959 by Delia Baxter in memory of her husband, Donald, an accomplished physician and engineer who developed the first commercially prepared intravenous solutions — the Baxter Foundation award supports early-career faculty members with promising research programs and helps them build the momentum needed to pursue ambitious, high-risk work.

Researchers in the Keller Lab focus sound waves at targeted locations in the body to produce therapeutic effects, ranging from targeted drug delivery to bacterial biofilm clearance. Before joining the Knight Campus in early 2026, Keller held a Glasstone Research Fellowship in the Department of Engineering Science at the University of Oxford. She was awarded the 2024 L’Oréal-UNESCO For Women in Science Rising Talent Award in the UK.