Research in the Perry laboratory utilizes self-assembly, molecular design, and microfluidic technologies to generate biomimetic microenvironments to study and enable the implementation of biomolecules to address real-world challenges. Individually, microfluidics represents an enabling technology for high throughput analyses such as the time-resolved structural analysis of enzyme dynamics, while control over molecular interactions in self-assembling polyelectrolyte systems can be used to examine the interplay between biomolecules and the environment. Together, these capabilities can be coupled to generate artificial organelles for use in applications ranging from biochemistry to bioenergetics, biocatalysis, and biomedicine. Furthermore, this work has tremendous pedagogical potential to inspire students to work at the intersection of chemistry, biology, and engineering.
Congratulations to Emily Ng, who will be interning this summer at Cabot Corporation!
Welcome to Mazin Hussein, a sophomore in Chemical Engineering who will be working on droplet microfluidics to study complex coacervate phase behavior.
Isaac presented his work on Sustainable Polymeric Coatings: Polyelectrolyte Complex Materials at the BASF NORA Spring Review Meeting.
Arvind presented his research on Designing Sequence-defined Complex Coacervates for Protein and Virus Encapsulation at the APS March Meeting!
Jussara presented her research on Nano and Micro Domains of Complex Coacervates in Organic Solvents to Encapsulate Enzymes at the APS March Meeting!
Isaac presented his work on Identifying The Glass Transitions and Material Properties of Polyelectrolyte Complex Materials at the APS March Meeting.
Sarthak presented a poster on Microfluidic Platforms for Counter-Diffusive Protein Crystallization and Room Temperature Crystallography at the BioXFEL Meeting.
Baktha presented his very first microfluidics poster on Polymer-Based Microfluidic Chips for Time-Resolved Serial Crystallography at the BioXFEL Meeting.
The session honoring our amazing collaborator Prof. Charles Sing for having been awarded the 2024 John H. Dillon Medal at the APS March Meeting was fantastic!
Prof. Perry gave an invited talk on Designing Peptide-based Complex Coacervates for Protein and Virus Encapsulation as part of the Dillon Medal Symposium at the APS March Meeting.
The session honoring Prof. Zhen-Gang Wang for having been awarded the 2024 Polymer Physics Prize at the APS March Meeting was amazing!
Prof. Perry gave an invited talk on Decoupling the Effects of Charge Density and Hydrophobicity on the Phase Behavior and Viscoelasticity of Complex Coacervates as part of the Polymer Physics Prize Symposium at the APS March Meeting.
Congratulations to group alumnus Pankaj Kumar Pandey, who just accepted an offer for a postdoctoral research position at the University of Naples Federico II!
Congratulations to Arvind, who will be participating in an internship at Nestlé later this year!
Check out this UMass Amherst News Story highlighting the recent three-year, $936,000 NIH R01 grant that we received to deveop next-generation platforms for time-resolved crystallography!
Welcome to Elena Kim, a sophomore in Biomedical Engineering who will be working on microfluidics for mRNA manufacturing.
Congratulations to Habeeba, who will be joining the MS program at KAUST University this fall!
Yaozu has accepted an offer to participate in an internship at the Advanced Photon Source at Argonne National Laboratory in Chicagoland this summer!
Congratulations to Arvind on being awarded the Eldridge Teaching Assistant Award for Fall 2023!
Congratulations to Júlia on the puplication of her very first first-author paper!
"Assessing the Structure and Equilibrium Conditions of Complex Coacervate Core Micelles by Varying Their Shell Composition and Medium Ionic Strength," J. Bonesso Sabadini, C.L.P. Oliveira, W. Loh, Langmuir, (2024) (in press). [PDF]
Congratulations to Faviola Villariny-Rosado, who just accepted an offer to participate in an internship program at florrent Inc. this spring!
Arvind gave a fabulous G.R.A.S.S. talk today on the Molecular Design of Peptide-based Complex Coacervates!
Welcome to Faviola Villariny-Rosado, who is joining our lab as a 3rd year PhD student to work on complex coacervate materials!
Congratulations to Isaac Ramírez Marrero on having been awarded a Carl Storm Underrepresented Minority Fellowship to support his participation in the 2024 GRC on Bioinspired Materials!
Congratulations to Arvind and Xianci on the puplication of their first paper, an awesome collaborative effort with the Heldt lab at Michigan Tech!
"Design Rules for the Sequestration of Viruses into Polypeptide Complex Coacervates," P.U. Joshi, C. Decker, X. Zeng, A. Sathyavageeswaran, S.L. Perry, C.L. Heldt, Biomacromolecules, (2024), 25(2), 741-753. [PDF]
Welcome to Kai Musick, a first year undergraduate who is joining the group to study the structures that form when coacervate droplets evaporate.
Congratulations to Taras Nagornyy on having been awarded the UMass Amherst Rising Researcher Award!
Prof. Perry gave a seminar on Polyelectrolyte Complex Materials in the Department of Chemistry at Brandeis University.
Prof. Perry gave a seminar on Polyelectrolyte Complex Materials in the Department of Chemical Engineering at Penn State.
Welcome to Bakthavachalam Kannadasan, a new PhD student who is joining the group to work on microfluidic platforms for time-resolved protein crystallography!
Prof. Perry was honored to give a student-invited seminar on Polyelectrolyte Complex Materials in the Department of Macromolecular Science & Engineering at Case Western Reserve University.
Super congratulations to our amazing collaborator Prof. Charles Sing on having been awarded the 2024 John H. Dillon Medal!
Welcome to Ethan Eroh, a junior who will be joining the lab to develop microfluidic methods to make mRNA!
Prof. Perry gave a talk on Identifying the Glass Transitions and Material Properties of Polyelectrolyte Complex Materials at the AIChE Annual Meeting.
Amy Lim presented a poster on Effects of Copolymer Chemistry on the Formation of Multiphase Complex Coacervates at the AIChE Annual Meeting.
Yaozu Chen presented a poster on Polymer Chemistry Effects on the Mechanics of Polyelectrolyte Complexes at the AIChE Annual Meeting.
Taras Nagornyy presented a poster on Radical Polymerization of Methacrylate-Based Covalent Adaptable Network with Chain Transfer, work that he did during his summer REU at Delaware at the AIChE Annual Meeting, and was awarded 3rd place!
Welcome to Khiem Le, a MS student who is joining the lab to work on microfluidic methods for mRNA manufacturing!
See more news from 2023.