The plastics crisis is real and we need talented researchers to address the current issues. In our group, we research new chemical strategies to enable depolymerization to monomer or useful oligomers.

We are pioneering the future of sustainable materials by designing polymers that can be broken down and rebuilt with precision, viz. like molecular LEGOs! Through smart chemistry (e.g. incorporation of addressable bonds), our team is helping close the loop on plastic waste and enabling tomorrow’s innovations.

We are exploring the exciting world of bottlebrush polymers, viz. molecular structures that look like tiny bristled brushes, and uncovering how they self-assemble in water to form complex, functional materials. This research opens up exciting opportunities for the design of next-generation soft matter systems with tunable properties for biomedical and nanotechnological applications.

Our group is interested in understanding the assembly of amphiphilic triblock copolymers as it pertains to drug-delivery and cell mimicry. We are especially interested in devising new strategies to control the shape as well as the transport in and out of polymer vesicles, a.k.a. polymersomes. Thus, far we have demonstrated the influence of chain structure, reactivity and topology on the assembly and shape transformation of polymersomes, especially through the use of bottlebrushes and triblocks with glassy hydrophobic segments.