Engineering Interfaces.
Research in the group will focus on interfacial soft matter, where we apply fundamental principles to understand and engineer interfacial processes central to biology and colloid science. We employ a suite of experimental techniques such as fluorescence microscopy, microfluidics, high-speed imaging and electrophysiology based approaches combined with fundamental insights from thermodynamics, fluid mechanics and transport phenomena to interpret results. Our research has been funded by the NSF, ACS Petroleum Research Fund, Army Research Lab (National Center for Manufacturing Sciences), American Lightweight Materials Manufacturing Innovation Instititute (ALMMII-LIFT), and the UMass ADVANCE program.
Interfacial assembly
Colloidal particles at interfaces can not only be used to stabilize emulsions and foams in the personal care, food, and petroleum industries, but can also be manipulated into two-dimensional microstructures with novel properties. In this arena, we aim to fabricate advanced functional materials by manipulating the interactions between particles at liquid interfaces. Specific projects are focused on 1) synthesizing polymer ellipsoids with controlled surface roughness and surface porosity in order to understand how surface topography impacts the interaction energy and ultimate interfacial assembly of anisotropic colloids and 2) synthesizing hybrid field-responsive colloids in order to dynamically create reconfigurable interfacial assemblies via external fields.
Membrane dynamics and organization
The cell membrane is a complex two-dimensional fluid that organizes spatially and temporally to orchestrate processes such as cell division and protein signaling. Our goal is to develop model systems that are faithful to their in vivo counterparts in order to understand the interplay between the lipid microenvironment and function. Specific projects are focused on 1) understanding the impact of asymmetry in either aqueous solution conditions or phospholipid composition on membrane physicochemical properties and 2) examining the dynamics of “crowded” membranes which possess controlled quantities of model inclusions.
Biomimetic Materials
We aim to understand how information is transported across biological interfaces, whether by membrane fusion or particle translocation. This will not only provide fundamental insight into complex biological processes, but will also enable the reverse-engineering and manipulation of these processes in drug delivery applications. Specific projects highlight the 1) electrostatic interactions between phospholipid headgroups as they come into contact and 2) the impact of membrane properties on calcium triggered membrane fusion.