Akerman Laboratories

OUR SERVICES

SERVICES

Biomedical Research

Our work is led by an active NIH funded Principal Investigator and departmental director of research with NIH reviewer experience, ensuring guidance reflects real study section expectations—not generic grant editing.

Research

Our research program develops accessible, data-driven diagnostics and non-surgical therapeutic strategies for many complex cardiovascular disease, with a primary focus on aortic aneurysm.

Instrumentation

All experimental work is conducted in the Akerman Laboratory at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (Medical Biomolecular Research Building), a fully integrated space.

Akerman Laboratory

Is dedicated to developing rigorous, reproducible, and scalable solutions to some of the most consequential challenges in human health, particularly diseases that are silent, complex, or diagnosed too late.

Our work is driven by a simple principle: scientific success is measured not by whom we exclude, but by whom we empower. Led by Adam Akerman, PhD, the laboratory integrates fundamental biology, translational science, and datadriven analytics to design diagnostics and therapeutic strategies that are clinically relevant, accessible, and equitable.

Our research focuses on understanding disease mechanisms at their core and translating those insights into tools that improve detection, guide intervention, and ultimately reduce preventable morbidity and mortality.

We are committed to creating an environment where trainees and staff are intellectually challenged, professionally supported, and empowered to develop independence. Mentorship extends beyond technical training to include grant writing, project management, budgeting, and career development.

ABOUT

PROJECTS

LEAD TEAM MEMBERS

Laboratory Director and Principal Investigator

Adam Akerman, PhD, is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Surgery and Director of Research for the Department of Surgery at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he also serves as Director and Principal Investigator of the UNC Cardiovascular Research Laboratory. He leads an internally and externally funded translational research program focused on the diagnosis and treatment of complex, asymptomatic cardiovascular diseases, with particular emphasis on aortic aneurysm pathology.

Dr. Akerman has extensive expertise in aortic biology, extracellular matrix remodeling, and nucleic acid–based diagnostics and therapeutics. He has established a fully integrated research infrastructure encompassing advanced biochemical and molecular laboratories, a compliant small animal surgical operatory, and a large, deeply annotated clinical tissue and plasma biorepository supporting both discovery and translational studies.

As Principal Investigator, Dr. Akerman conducts, coordinates, and oversees all aspects of the research program. He directs experimental design, ensures methodological rigor and quality control, supervises laboratory personnel and equipment, and leads data acquisition, analysis, and interpretation. He is responsible for the preparation of all results for abstracts, manuscripts, and presentations, and for aligning scientific outputs with regulatory, funding, and translational objectives.

Dr. Akerman serves in senior research administration roles within the Department of Surgery, where he guides investigators in research strategy, budgeting, regulatory compliance, and funding development. He has a strong record of NIH funding and active service on NIH and foundation review panels, ensuring continuous alignment with evolving scientific, regulatory, and translational priorities. Through an integrated approach that combines mechanistic biology, data-driven diagnostics, and targeted therapeutic development, Dr. Akerman’s work aims to reduce diagnostic error, expand access to high-quality care, and translate rigorous science into measurable clinical impact.

Director, Research Operations (Scientific Writing and Institutional Compliance)

Kyle C. Alexander serves as Director of Research Operations, providing end-to-end oversight of study execution, regulatory compliance, and data integration across the research program. He monitors studies from initiation through dissemination, serving as the primary liaison for IRB and IACUC activities, protocol management, regulatory reporting, and compliance documentation. Kyle oversees data capture, curation, and quality control, ensuring version control, reproducibility, and readiness for analysis, publication, and data sharing.

With extensive expertise in academic and scientific writing, information science, and machine learning, he prepares datasets, figures, and text for abstracts, manuscripts, and presentations. He continuously monitors the scientific and clinical literature, conducting targeted systematic searches and maintaining shared bibliographic resources to ensure the team remains aligned with emerging methods, standards, and findings.

Kyle facilitates cross-disciplinary collaboration among Surgery, laboratory science, Pathology, Biostatistics, and Library Science partners, coordinating closely with research administration and core facilities. He ensures efficient resource and data sharing in accordance with FAIR principles and the NIH Data Management and Sharing Plan.. He implements machine learning workflows to process experimental data, generate interpretable models, and produce reproducible analyses.

To support project management and accountability, he develops interim dashboards for milestone tracking, organizes team meetings, manages timelines and deliverables, and mentors trainees in research rigor, data stewardship, and scientific communication. Kyle’s role integrates expert editing, regulatory oversight, collaborative coordination, and advanced analytics, providing the operational backbone required to keep complex, multidisciplinary projects on schedule while maximizing scientific rigor and impact.

Laboratory Manager and Senior Research Specialist

Elizabeth Collins serves as Laboratory Manager and Senior Research Specialist, providing technical, operational, and regulatory leadership across the research program. She is responsible for quality assurance, safety compliance, and day-to-day laboratory operations and is designated as both the laboratory animal coordinator and safety compliance officer. In these roles, Elizabeth ensures adherence to IACUC, institutional, and federal requirements, while maintaining a safe, organized, and audit-ready research environment.

Elizabeth performs and oversees complex in vivo procedures, including animal surgery and targeted electroporation, and manages the laboratory animal colony, ensuring proper husbandry and experimental integrity. She conducts and supports a broad range of experimental workflows, including flow cytometry, tissue harvesting and preparation for microscopy, biochemical analyses, cellular isolation, and biorepository inventory management.

She is highly experienced in advanced biochemical and analytical platforms, including droplet digital PCR, capillary electrophoresis, multiplex suspension arrays, size-exclusion chromatography, and tunable resistive pulse sensing. Elizabeth also maintains cell lines and performs in vitro transfection experiments using electroporation-based delivery systems. In addition to her experimental expertise, Elizabeth applies machine learning–based analytical approaches using SAS and Python to support comprehensive data analysis, quality control, and interpretation.

She is responsible for laboratory equipment maintenance, supply management, and technical training, ensuring that all instrumentation and workflows operate efficiently and reproducibly. Through her combined strengths in operations, compliance, advanced experimentation, and data analysis, Elizabeth plays a central role in maintaining the rigor, safety, and productivity of the laboratory while enabling high-quality, translational research.

TEAM

CONTACT

Inquiries

For any inquiries, questions or commendations, please call: 803-528-8095 or fill out the following form

Head Office

111 Mason Farm Road, MBRB room 6332

adam_akerman@med.unc.ed

803-528-8095

CONTACT