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 or the continuous manufacture of RNA. At the same time, 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.
Welcome to Allison Barrett, a first year undergraduate in Chemical Engineering who is joining us to study the effect of complex coacervation on enzyme activity!
Congratulations to Jussara and Adhithi on the publication of their new paper on using complex coacervates to stabilize enzymes for use in organic solvent!
"Complex Coacervate Emulsions as a Strategy to Stabilize Enzymes for Catalysis in Organic Solvents," J.A. Penido, S.P. Le, A. Varadarajan, S. Thayumanavan, S.L. Perry, W. Loh, ACS Macro Letters (2025) (ASAP). [PDF]
Congratulations to Dr. Jussara Alves Penido on successfully defending her PhD dissertation on Expanding the Domain of Polymer Coacervates: Multiphase Systems and Coacervates in Organic Solvents!
Prof. Perry gave an invited talk on Design Rules for Immobilizing Enzymes in Complex Coacervate Droplets for Catalysis in Organic Solvents at the MRS Meeting.
Congratulations to Ethan Rivers, on joining the lab of Prof. Piyush Jain in Chemical Engineering at the University of Florida for his PhD research!
Dr. Alaleh Vaghef-Koodehi presented a poster on Electrokinetic Microfluidic Platform for RNA Purification as part of the Center for Bioactive Delivery Research Symposium.
Dr. Abhik Manna presented a poster on Microfluidic System for Site-specific Labelling of RNA as part of the Center for Bioactive Delivery Research Symposium.
Xianci Zeng presented a poster on Exploring the Mutual Effects of Excipient and Proteins in Complex Coacervation as part of the Center for Bioactive Delivery Research Symposium.
Check out this UMass Engineering News Story about Faviola Villariny-Rosado's WIC Travel Award to attend the AIChE Annual Meeting.
Check out this paper summary by the American Peptide Society on our recent work on sequence and hydrophobicity in complex coacervates!
Check out this UMass Engineering News Story about Vaishnavi Mahankal's best poster award from the Pittsburgh Diffraction Conference.
Congratulations to Diwakaran Rathinam Palaniswamy on having been awarded the Eldridge Teaching Assistant Award for his work in CHEM-ENG 535 Microfluidics and Microscale Analysis in Materials and Biology!
Faviola Villariny-Rosado gave both a poster and a talk on Exploring the Electrochemical Properties of Polyelectrolyte Complexes at the AIChE Annual Meeting.
Welcome to Anna Clara Drumond Vilas Boas, a PhD student from PSE who is joining the group to investigate the effect of polymer sequence on polymer-surfactant complex coacervates.
Welcome to Luana Marques Ferreira, a PhD student from PSE who is joining the group to investigate the effect of polymer sequence on polymer-lipid polyelectrolyte complexes for use in separation membranes.
Welcome to Nikhil Mathew Koshy, who is joining the group to investigate the immunogenicity of peptide-based complex coacervates in collaboration with Prof. Ashish Kulkarni.
Prof. Perry gave an invited talk on Thermodynamics and Molecular Engineering of Complex Coacervates at the AIChE Annual Meeting.
Prof. Perry presented on Engineering Peptide-Protein Complex Coacervates: The Interplay Between Sequence, Chemistry, and Encapsulation at the AIChE Annual Meeting.
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