Perry Research Group

Welcome to the Perry Lab

Perry Research Group

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.

News and Announcements

June 11th, 2025
Diwakaran Rathinam Palaniswamy

Diwakaran Rathinam Palaniswamy gave an oral presentation on our collaborative work on Automated Microfluidic Platform for Transcriptional Site-Specific Labelling of RNA at the 2025 AGTD Annual Meeting.

June 10th, 2025
Dr. Abhik Manna

Dr. Abhik Manna and Diwakaran Rathinam Palaniswamy presented a poster on our collaborative work on Automated Microfluidic Platform for Transcriptional Site-Specific Labelling of RNA at the 2025 AGTD Annual Meeting.

June 3rd, 2025
2025 Zajac MDSE Cover Art

Congratulations to our DMREF collaborators on the publication of our new paper, including being highlighted on the journal cover!!!

"Towards Stable Biologics: Understanding Co-Excipient Effects on Hydrophobic Interactions and Solvent Network Integrity," J.W.P. Zajac, P. Muralikrishnan, C.L. Heldt, S.L. Perry, S. Sarupria, Mol. Syst. Des. Eng. (2025), 10, 432-446. [PDF]

June 2nd, 2025
Perry Balisa

Welcome to Perry Balisa, a rising junior from Smith College who is joining us to work on X-ray compatible microfluidics!

June 1st, 2025
Josh McGee

Congratulations to now Dr. Joshua McGee! He recently defended his dissertation in Biomedical Engineering from Boston University and is now the CSO of his startup company Keylicon Biosciences, working on self-amplifying RNA to unlock new vaccines and therapies.

May 13th, 2025
Adhithi Varadarajan

Congrats to Adhithi Varadarajan, who will be working this summer as an intern at the PM Group doing process design!

May 11th, 2025
Hannah Bannish

Welcome to Hannah Bannish, a rising junior who will be joining us in the fall to investigate the matereial and electrochemical properties of bio-derived complex coacervates!

May 11th, 2025
Rayyan Khan

Welcome to Rayyan Khan, a rising senior who will be joining us this summer to investigate the matereial and electrochemical properties of complex coacervates!

May 9th, 2025
Jussara Alves Penido

Congratulations to Jussara Alves Penido on the publication of her paper on phase behavior in surfactant-polymer complex coacervates!

"Miscibility and Phase Behavior in Bulk and Micellar Systems of Surfactant-Polymer Coacervate Mixtures," J. Alves Penido, W. Loh, Journal of Colloid and Interface Science, (2025) - ASAP. [PDF]

May 5th, 2025
Xianci Zeng

Congratulations to Xianci Zeng and Alex Lawton on the publication of their paper on excipient effects on complex coacervation!

"Exploring the Effects of Excipients on Complex Coacervation," X. Zeng, P.U. Joshi, A. Lawton, L. Manchester, C.L. Heldt, S.L. Perry, Journal of Colloid and Interface Science, (2025), 695, 137808. [PDF]

April 23rd, 2025
Dr. Sonu Kizhakkepura

Congratulations to Dr. Sonu Kizhakkepura, who is starting a new position as an R&D Scientist at Dr. Reddy's Laboratories, a multi-national pharmaceutical company headquartered in India!

April 22nd, 2025
Hansen Tjo

Congratulations to group alumnus Hansen Tjo, who was just awarded a Tau Beta Pi fellowship in support of his PhD studies at Princeton!

April 14th, 2025
Arvind Sathyavageeswaran

Congratulations to Arvind Sathyavageeswaran on having been awarded a travel grant to help support his attendance at the International Symposium on Polyelectrolytes this summer in Campinas, Brazil!

April 7th, 2025
Khiem Le

Congratulations to Khiem Le on having accepted an offer to join the automation company Keynce after graduation!

April 7th, 2025
Ethan Rivers

Congratulations to Ethan Rivers on having accepted an offer to join the PhD program in Chemical Engineering at the University of Florida next year!

Aoril 7th, 2025
Yaozu Chen

Check out this awesome news highlight celebrating Yaozu Chen on being named a 2025 UMass Amherst Rising Researcher!

March 27th, 2025
Prof. Charles Sing

Congratulations to our wonderful collaborator Prof. Charles Sing on having been awarded the AIChE Owens Corning Early Career Award!

March 27th, 2025
Emily Ng

Congratulations to Emily Ng on having accepted an offer to join the PhD program in Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering at the University of Delaware next year!

March 26th, 2025
Khiem Le

Congratulations to Khiem Le on having passed his thesis proposal!

March 21st, 2025
Júlia Bonesso Sabadini

Júlia Bonesso Sabadini presented her research on Protein Encapsulation in Nanometric Domains: Insights from the Continuous Phase at the APS Global Physics Summit.

March 19th, 2025
Prof. Sarah Perry

Prof. Perry presented on Affinity Controls Polyelectrolyte Pair Strength in Complex Coacervate: A Titration Calorimetry Investigation at the APS Global Physics Summit.

March 18th, 2025
Isaac Ramírez Marrero

Isaac Ramírez Marrero presented his research on Design Rules and Mechanical Properties of Polyelectrolyte Complex Materials at the APS Global Physics Summit.

March 17th, 2025
Xianci Zeng

Xianci Zeng presented her research on Understanding the Role of Excipients in the Stability of Biological Macromolecules at the APS Global Physics Summit.

March 13th, 2025
Yaozu Chen

Congratulations to Yaozu Chen on being named a 2025 UMass Amherst Rising Researcher!

March 10th, 2025
Isaac Ramírez Marrero

Congratulations to Isaac Ramírez Marrero on the publication of his "homopolymer stretchies" paper!

"Brittle-to-Ductile Transitions of Polyelectrolyte Complexes: Humidity, Temperature, and Salt," I.A. Ramírez Marrero, N. Kaiser, B. von Vacano, R. Konradi, A.J. Crosby, S.L. Perry, Macromolecules, (2025), 58(6), 2925-2938. [PDF]

March 9th, 2025
Xianci Zeng

Congratulations to Xianci Zeng and our DMREF collaborators on the publication of our new paper!

"Flipping Out: Role of Arginine in Hydrophobic Interactions and Biological Formulation Design," J.W.P. Zajac, P. Muralikrishnan, I. Tohidan, X. Zeng, C.L. Heldt, S.L. Perry, S. Sarupria, Chemical Science (2025), 16, 6780-6792. [PDF]

March 7th, 2025
Prof. Sarah Perry

Prof. Perry gave an invited talk on Polyelectrolyte Complex Materials at the New England Complex Fluids Meeting hosted by Yimin Luo at Yale University.

March 3rd, 2025
Prof. Sarah Perry

Prof. Perry gave a seminar on Polyelectrolyte Complex Materials in the Department of Chemical Engineering at Missouri S&T.

February 17th, 2025
Júlia Bonesso Sabadini

Congratulations to Júlia Bonesso Sabadini on winning a travel award to attend the DPOLY Short Course on The Physics of Charged and Ion-Containing Polymers!

February 9th, 2025
Dr. Abhik Manna

Welcome to Dr. Abhik Manna, who is joining us to work on microfluidic platforms for mRNA manufacture!

February 5th, 2025
Dr. Pankaj Kumar Pandey

Congratulations to our collaborators in the Schiffman Lab, along with Dr. Pankaj Pandey on the publication of their new paper!

"Electrospinning of Self-Assembling Oligopeptides into Nanofiber Mats: Impacts of Peptide Composition and End-groups," P. Rathore, B. Montz, S.H. Hung, P.K. Pandey, S.L. Perry, T. Emrick, J.D. Schiffman, Biomacromolecules (2025), 26(3), 1604-1613. [PDF]

January 17th, 2025
Prof. Sarah Perry

Prof. Perry will be giving a seminar on Polyelectrolyte Complex Materials in the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering at Colorado School of Mines.

January 16th, 2025
Dr. Isaac Ramírez Marrero

Best wishes to Dr. Isaac Ramírez Marrero as he ends his time with us in the Perry lab and starts his new journey as a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign working with Prof. Antonia Statt and Prof. Simon Rogers!

January 14th, 2025
NextFlex WISE

Check out this video put together by the NextFlex Women in STEM Education program!

January 3rd, 2025
2025 AFD-X Chips

Congratulations to Dr. Sarthak Saha and Yaozu Chen on the publication of their new paper!

"Scalable Fabrication of Array-Type Fixed-Target Device for Automated Room Temperature X-ray Protein Crystallography," S. Saha, Y. Chen, S. Russi, D. Marchany-Rivera, A.E. Cohen, S.L. Perry, Scientific Reports, (2025), 15, 334. [PDF]

January 1st, 2025
Dr. Sarthak Saha

Best wishes to Dr. Sarthak Saha as he ends his time here in the Perry lab and starts his new journey as a postdoctoral researcher the lab of Dr. Avanish Mishra at Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital!

December 20th, 2024
2025 Carbon Dot Coacervates

Congratulations to Dr. Pankaj Pandey, Arvind Sathyavageeswaran, and Nick Holmlund on the publication of their new paper!

"Polyelectrolyte-Carbon Dot Complex Coacervation," P.K. Pandey, A. Sathyavageeswaran, N. Holmlund, S.L. Perry, ACS Macro Letters, (2025), 14(1), 43-50. [PDF]

December 6th, 2024
Isaac Ramírez Marrero Dissertation Art

Congratulations to Dr. Isaac Ramírez Marrero for successfully defending his PhD dissertation on Polyelectrolyte Complex Materials: Design Rules and Applications!!! Dr. Ramírez Marrero is the eighth PhD student to graduate from the Perry lab!

November 26th, 2024
Vaishnavi Mahankal

Welcome to Vaishnavi Mahankal, a first year PhD student who will be us joining to work on microfluidics for time-resolved crystallography!

November 24th, 2024
Jina Lee

Welcome to Jina Lee, a junior in Engineering Sciences at Smith College who will be joining us in the lab over winter break!

November 20th, 2024
Whitney Blocher McTigue

Congratulations to Prof. Whitney Blocher McTigue, who was awarded the Lehigh Early Career Teaching Award for her outstanding impact and dedication to student success!

November 18th, 2024
Yaozu Chen

Check out this UMass Engineering News Story about Yaozu Chen's award for best poster at the 2024 AIChE Annual Meeting!

November 17th, 2024
Dr. Sonu Kizhakkepura

Best wishes to Dr. Sonu Kizhakkepura as he ends his time at UMass and moves on to a bright future!

November 14th, 2024
Dr. Sonu Kizhakkepura

Congratulations to Dr. Sonu Kizhakkepura on winning 1st Place in the poster competition at the 12th International mRNA Health Conference!

November 14th, 2024
Diwakaran Rathinam Palaniswamy

Congratulations to Diwakaran Rathinam Palaniswamy on winning 1st Place in the poster competition at the 12th International mRNA Health Conference!

November 5th, 2024
Baktha Kannadasan

Baktha gave both a talk and a poster on Polymer-based Microfluidic Chips for Time-resolved Serial Crystallography at the 18th International Conference on the Crystallization of Biological Macromolecules (ICCBM).

November 4th, 2024
Prof. Sarah Perry

Prof. Perry presented a keynote lecture on Microfluidics for Structural Biology at the 18th International Conference on the Crystallization of Biological Macromolecules (ICCBM).

See more news from 2024.