Alican received his Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering, with a specialization in Biomechanical and Biomedicine Engineering, from the University of Texas at Austin. His doctoral research focused on modeling the hepatic tumor microenvironment and investigating the role of metabolic enzymes in the efficacy of therapeutics delivered via transarterial embolization using Organ Chips.
As a Technology Development Fellow, he is currently working on the discovery of fibroblast-targeting therapeutics for inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) to mitigate intestinal fibrosis, inflammation, and immune cell infiltration. His research utilizes Organ Chip technology and droplet microfluidic based high-throughput screening. Additionally, he is exploring the discovery of small molecules as radiation countermeasures using intestinal organoids.