Academic Credentials
  • Ph.D., Chemistry, University of Wisconsin, Madison, 2016
  • B.A., Chemistry, Carroll College, 2010
Professional Honors
  • Stanford ChEM-H (Chemical, Engineering & Medicine for Human Health) Interdisciplinary Postdoctoral training Program in Quantitative Mechanobiology Fellowship (2016-2018)
  • Morgridge Wisconsin Distinguished Graduate Fellow (UW-Madison; 2015-2016)
Professional Affiliations
  • American Chemical Society (ACS)

Dr. Kratochvil specializes in polymer synthesis and soft materials fabrication characterization. He has broad experience in the areas of polymers, biomaterials, surface chemistry, drug delivery, liposomes, and biological testing of materials.

A materials chemist by training, Dr. Kratochvil is skilled in materials and polymer characterization using NMR, FTIR, UV-Vis spectroscopy, rheology, contact angle goniometry, as well as chromatography-based techniques such as GC-MS, HPLC, and LC-MS. He also has extensive experience in characterizing nanoparticles via dynamic light scattering, and zeta potential measurements. In addition to his physical science training, Dr. Kratochvil is skilled at both mammalian and bacterial cell biology techniques including tissue culture, protein expression, PCR, flow cytometry, and cell imaging techniques (e.g., fluorescence and confocal microscopy).

Dr. Kratochvil was a postdoctoral researcher at Stanford University with co-appointments in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering and Division of Infectious Diseases where he developed injectable hydrogels for drug delivery and cell transplant, and he investigated the disease-driven changes of the compositional and rheological properties of human tissues and secretions. His research leveraged bacterial protein expression, tissue culture, synthetic chemistry, and polymer characterization techniques to develop advanced therapeutic hydrogels. During his graduate training at University of Wisconsin-Madison, Dr. Kratochvil's research focused on the development biofouling-resistant thin film coatings through the application of extreme surface wetting characteristics and controlled release of anti-biofilm agents designed to interrupt bacterial colonization. Dr. Kratochvil also interned as a Ph.D. student at Procter & Gamble in the Beauty Technology division exploring novel shampoo additives for mineral deposition management.