Current Group

Our lab strives to provide an environment where everyone feels welcomed, valued, and respected.

Research Associates

Matt Thompson: Senior Research Associate

Hometown: Upper LaHave, Nova Scotia, Canada
Undergraduate Education: Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada
Graduate Education: Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada
Graduate Advisor: Robert P. Lemieux
Favorite Movie: Die Hard, Happy Gilmore
Favorite TV Show: LOST
Favorite Music: Anything really, but favourite: Blue Rodeo
Favorite Molecule: (S)-(+)-9-{[4-(dodecyloxy)benzoyl]oxy}-1,11-dimethyl-5,7-dihydrodibenzo[c,e]thiepin-3-yl 4-(dodecyloxy)benzoate

Postdoctoral Scholars

Yu Chen: Postdoctoral Scholar

Hometown: Ningbo, China
Undergraduate Education: Dalian University of Technology, China
Graduate Education: Nankai University, China
Graduate Advisor: Meiting Ju
Postdoctoral Advisor: Ehud Gazit, Tel Aviv University
Favorite Movie: Interstellar
Favorite TV Show: Better Call Saul
Favorite Molecule: Carnosine

Project: Development of liquid phase transmission electron microscopy for the study of biomaterials

Amit Fischer: Postdoctoral Scholar

International Institute for Nanotechnology (IIN) Postdoctoral Fellowship

Hometown: Kfar-Hess, Israel
Undergraduate Education: The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Graduate Education: The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Graduate Advisor: Itamar Willner
Favorite Music: Cold play, Travis
Favorite Molecule: kryptofix [2.2.2]

Project: Targeting tailorable peptide-based materials in drug delivery and development

Julia Oktawiec: Postdoctoral Scholar

NIH NRSA Postdoctoral Scholar

Hometown: New York City, NY
Undergraduate Education: Columbia University, NY
Graduate Education: University of California, Berkeley
Graduate Advisor: Jeffrey R. Long
Favorite Movie: The Big Lebowski, Interstellar, Spirited Away
Favorite TV Show: Last Week Tonight
Favorite Music: Radiohead, Grizzly Bear, Soccer Mommy
Favorite Molecule: Cobalamin

Project: Proteomimetic polymers with defined structure and artificial folds – exploring structure in artificial, polymer-based proteins

Graduate Students

Sofia Aman: 3rd Year Graduate Student

Hometown: Rawalpindi, Pakistan
Undergraduate Education: National University of Sciences and Technology, Islamabad, Pakistan
Favorite Movie: Godfather, Pirates of the Caribbean
Favorite TV Show: Dr. Who, ATLA
Favorite Music: Anything from Punjabi blues to pop rock
Favorite Molecule: H2O

Project: Fundamental study of natural and synthetic allomelanin for engineering various applications.  

Kendal Carrow: 4th year Graduate Student (MSTP) 

NIH NRSA Fellow (F30)

Hometown: Corpus Christi, TX
Undergraduate Education: Texas A&M University, College Station, TX
Favorite Movie: Legally Blonde, Miss Congeniality, Apollo 13
Favorite TV Show: Grey’s Anatomy, Friends
Favorite Music: Of Monsters and Men, Maggie Rogers
Favorite Molecule: 1,3,7-trimethylxanthine

Project: Design and application of proteomimetic polymers capable of targeting intracellular protein-protein-interactions for diseases of oxidative stress

Mary Cassidy: 6th Year Graduate Student

Hometown: Fox River Grove, Illinois 
Undergraduate Education: University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Favorite Movie: Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part II
Favorite TV Show: Westworld, The Office
Favorite Music: Ariana Grande, Twenty One Pilots, anything I can sing along to!
Favorite Molecule: Serotonin

Project: Enzyme responsive protein-like-polymers for targeting myocardial infarction: biomarker discovery and materials design

Omar Ebrahim: 5th Year Graduate Student

NSF Graduate Research Fellow

Hometown: San Diego, California
Undergraduate Education: UCLA
Favorite Movie: Lilo & Stitch
Favorite TV Show: Spongebob Squarepants
Favorite Music: Elevator Music
Favorite Molecule: Maleimide-Anthracene

 

Project: Stereochemical consequences and control on the bioactivity of proteomimetic polymers

Mara Fattah: 5th Year Graduate Student

NIH NRSA Fellow (F31)
Ryan Fellow

Hometown: Carmel, Indiana
Undergraduate Education: Purdue University
Favorite Movie: Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, Grand Budapest Hotel
Favorite TV Show: Parks and Recreation, Jeopardy, Great British Baking Show
Favorite Music: The 1975, Broadway musicals, Imagine Dragons
Favorite Molecule: Dopamine

Project: Unveiling dynamic materials properties of protein-like polymers for targeting neurodegenerative disease

Brayley Gattis: 5th Year Graduate Student

NSF Graduate Research Fellow

Hometown: Fort Smith, Arkansas
Undergraduate Education: University of Arkansas
Favorite Movie: Warm Bodies, The Princess Bride, The Lego Movie
Favorite TV Show: How I Met Your Mother, Scrubs, Silicon Valley
Favorite Music: Mumford and Sons, Walk the Moon, Of Monsters and Men
Favorite Molecule: Sulfuric Acid

Project: Development of protein-like polymers for the treatment of autoimmune disease

 

 

Madeline Hopps: 3rd Year Graduate Student

Hometown: Winnetka, Illinois
Undergraduate Education: Trinity University
Favorite Movie: Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, Harry Potter, Top Gun
Favorite TV Show: New Girl
Favorite Music: Quinn XCII, Rex Orange County, Caamp, Mt. Joy
Favorite Molecule: Anthracene

Project: Synthesis and design of novel proteomimetic polymers for optimized target binding, cell penetration, and performance

 

Lauren Irie: 4th Year Graduate Student

NSF Graduate Research Fellow

Hometown: Torrance, California
Undergraduate Education: UC Berkeley
Favorite Movie: Kiki’s Delivery Service, Harry Potter
Favorite TV Show: BoJack Horseman, Avatar: The Last Airbender
Favorite Music: Olivia Rodrigo, Taylor Swift
Favorite Molecule: DNA

Project: Synthesis and fabrication of allomelanin nanoparticle-polymer composites

Jessica Marks: 2nd Year Graduate Student

Hometown: Wilmington, North Carolina
Undergraduate Education: Duke University
Favorite Movie: Pride and Prejudice, The Sixth Sense
Favorite TV Show: Gilmore Girls
Favorite Music: Imagine Dragons, Taylor Swift
Favorite Molecule: Benzene

Project: Development of new polymer scaffolds for protein-like polymers for anti-inflammatory applications

Ashley Nensel: 4th Year Graduate Student

National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate (NDSEG) Fellow

Hometown: Wauconda, IL
Undergraduate Education: UC Berkeley
Favorite Movie: Ferris Bueller, Monsters University
Favorite TV Show: Doctor Who, Shameless, Last Week Tonight
Favorite Music: The Lumineers, Chance the Rapper
Favorite Molecule: isoBeRST-HaloTag

Project: Design, synthesis, and biological activity of anti-inflammatory proteomimetic materials

Hannah Palomino: 1st Year Graduate Student

NSF Graduate Research Fellow

Hometown:  Troy, Michigan 
Undergraduate Education: University of Michigan 
Favorite Movie: a beautiful mind 
Favorite TV Show: La Niña 
Favorite Music: alternative pop
Favorite Molecule: allicin 
 

Project: Designing Biocatalytic Peptide and Protein-like Polymer Mimetics

Navjit Paul: 4th Year Graduate Student

Hometown: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Undergraduate Education: University of Toronto
Favorite Movie: Howl’s Moving Castle, Spirited Away
Favorite TV Show: Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Haunting of Hill House
Favorite Music: Marianas Trench, Bastille
Favorite Molecule: glycerol, caffeine

Project: Biological applications of synthetic melanins

Nathan Rosenmann: 4th Year Graduate Student

Hometown: Naperville, Illinois
Undergraduate Education: University of Illinois at Chicago
Favorite Movie: IP Man, Hercules
Favorite TV Show: Naruto Shippuden
Favorite Music: The Weeknd, Bryson Tiller, Ariana Grande
Favorite Molecule: Caffeine

Project: Liquid phase transmission electron microscopy in the characterization of soft matter assemblies to develop updated models and to understand structure-property relationships

Christopher Sharpe: 6th Year Graduate Student

Hometown: Grinnell, Iowa
Undergraduate Education: Grinnell College, Iowa
Favorite Movie: The Princess Bride, The Hitman’s Bodyguard, The Big Sick
Favorite TV Show: Westworld, Last Man Standing
Favorite Music: Musical Soundtracks, Country, 80s
Favorite Molecule: Sucrose

Project: Understanding how spiders spin their silk — microscopy to materials science

Shengyi (Tony) Su: 4th Year Graduate Student
Co-advised by Omar Farha

Hometown: Shanghai, China
Undergraduate Education: Grinnell College
Favorite Movie: Harry Potter, Star Wars
Favorite TV Show: The Big Bang Theory, Grimm, Merlin
Favorite Music: Maroon 5, Radiohead, Cro
Favorite Molecule: Diethyl azodicarboxylate

Project: Porous matter composites and their utility in separations and catalysis

Jozsef Toth: 1st Year Graduate Student

 
Hometown: Neshanic Station, NJ
Undergraduate Education: Raritan Valley Community College, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Favorite Movie: The Dark Knight
Favorite TV Show: Avatar: The Last Airbender, Nathan for You
Favorite Music: Linkin Park, lofi
Favorite Molecule: TiCl4

Han Umana Kossio: 4th Year Graduate Student
Co-advised by Monica Olvera de la Cruz
Fulbright Scholar

Hometown: Hermosillo, Mexico
Undergraduate Education: Universidad de Sonora, Mexico
Favorite Movie: Empire of the Sun, Le Grande Vadrouille, The Meaning of Life
Favorite TV Show: Cowboy Bebop, Band of Brothers, Babylon Berlin
Favorite Music: Jacques Brel, Y. Malmsteen, Nat King Cole
Favorite Molecule: Oxidane

Project: Intracellular tracking and localization of protein-like polymers as targeted therapeutic materials

Brittney Williams: 6th Year Graduate Student

GEM Fellow

Hometown: Cincinnati, Ohio
Undergraduate Education: Ohio University 
Favorite Movie: Maleficent
Favorite Show: Kitchen Nightmares, 90 Day Fiance
Favorite Music: Gucci Mane, Wiz Khalifa, Cardi B
Favorite Molecule: Hate](9Cl)

Project: Supramolecular drug formulation for novel, targeted chemotherapeutics

Visitng Scholars

Undergraduate + Summer Students

JoJo Holm

Hometown: Belleville, IL
Undergraduate Education: Northwestern University
Favorite Movie: Coraline
Favorite TV Show: New Girl, Psych, America’s Next Top Model
Favorite Music: Hozier, Maggie Rodgers, Lawrence
Favorite Molecule: Estrogen

Anni Kuningas

Hometown: Crystal Lake, IL
Undergraduate Education: Northwestern University
Favorite Movie: Up, Wall-E, The Book Thief
Favorite TV Show: Grey’s Anatomy, The Office, How I Met Your Mother
Favorite Music: The Lumineers, Sam Smith, Taylor Swift
Favorite Molecule: Glucose

Serena Lyou

Hometown: Orlando, FL
Undergraduate Education: Northwestern University
Favorite Movie: Everything Everywhere All At Once, Your Name
Favorite TV Show: Grey’s Anatomy
Favorite Music: Daniel Caesar, Joji
Favorite Molecule: Dopamine

Lucius Veiga

Hometown: Ocean Shores, WA
Undergraduate Education: Northwestern University
Favorite Movie: Lord of the Rings, Forrest Gump, Spirited Away
Favorite TV Show: Nathan for You, How To with John Wilson, Breaking Bad
Favorite Music: Billy Joel, Sam Cooke, Paul Simon
Favorite Molecule: Vanillin