Rutgers logo
Department of Chemical and Biochemical Engineering
Rutgers logo
Department of Chemical and Biochemical Engineering
Rutgers logo
Department of Chemical and Biochemical Engineering
Rutgers logo
Department of Chemical and Biochemical Engineering
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Soft Matter and Advanced Materials

RESEARCH CLUSTERS

  • Nanomaterials
  • Biomolecular Materials
  • Molecular Discovery and Design

CAMPUS OPPORTUNITIES

Computational Hybrid Soft Materials Laboratory

Computational methodologies enable the design, conception and prediction of novel materials with controllable kinetics and thermodynamics to guide the design of experimental systems for applications in drug delivery, medicine, sensing, sustainability and energy.

REU in Advanced Materials

Undergraduates conduct research on materials for diverse applications such as wound treatment, optical waveguides, catalysis, tissue engineering, polymer solar cells, biological nanoparticles, and wind turbine blades. Housing and support are provided to participants during this immersive, 10-week experience.

Research Collaboratory for Structural Bioinformatics (RCSB Protein Data Bank)

Open access is available to the accumulating knowledge of 3D structure, function, and evolution of biological macromolecules that are expanding the frontiers of fundamental biology, biomedicine, and biotechnology.

Overview

Rutgers CBE researchers work on a wide range of advanced materials and soft matter, designing new materials at the molecular level that offer needed capabilities for applications spanning from biomedicine and biotechnology, alternative and renewable energy, sustainability, nanoelectronics, sensing, and imaging, to personal care, pharmaceuticals and biosafety.

Faculty

Tewodros (Teddy) Asefa, Fuat Celik, Shishir Chundawat, Gregory Dignon, Meenakshi Dutt, Ashley Guo, Alexander Neimark, Benjamin Schuster, Nina Shapley, Silvina Tomassone

Research Topics

·    Nanostructured and nanoporous materials
·    Organic-inorganic hybrid materials
·    Nanobiomaterials
·    Bio-inspired materials
·    Hierarchical protein assemblies
·    Intrinsically disordered proteins
·    Membraneless organelles
·    Biomolecular phase separation
·    Nanophase equilibria and transitions

Research Clusters

Nanomaterials

We design, synthesize, and characterize novel nanoporous and nanostructured materials, self-assembling organic and soft matter systems, bio-inspired composite systems, and nanoparticulates that enable targeted delivery of cancer drugs, development of highly efficient solar cells, catalysis of biopharmaceutical and clean energy reactions, protection from chemical and biological terrorism, and aid in understanding viral infection risks and therapies.

Faculty: Asefa, Neimark, Shapley, Tomassone

Biomolecular Materials

Faculty: Asefa, Chundawat, Dignon, Dutt, Guo, Schuster

We use complementary experimental and computational approaches to discover, design, and manipulate the structure and function of biomolecular materials for application in healthcare, personal care, biocatalysis, biomanufacturing, and biopharmaceuticals. CBE faculty work on materials ranging from nanostructured biomaterials to mesoscale self-organizing protein and-lipid based soft materials.

Molecular Discovery and Design

Faculty: Dignon, Dutt, Guo, Neimark

The discovery and design of materials is greatly accelerated by information gained from computational studies at the molecular level, along with high-throughput screening techniques, enhanced sampling, deep learning, and data-driven methods. We use these to explore new materials to meet therapeutic, electronic, environmental, and biopharmaceutical needs.

Additional Research Areas