Blocher McTigue Lab

Purpose

Research in the Blocher McTigue laboratory focuses on polymer self-assembly to create solid and liquid complexes for real-world challenges in medicine utilizing our expertise in complex coacervation, a liquid-liquid phase separation phenomenon, and knowledge of computational tools. Polyelectrolyte complexes from coacervation have shown intriguing biomimicry such as compartmentalization, crowding, and facilitating interactions between molecules. By applying these characteristics in the solid and liquid states via complex coacervation and depolymerization, several biomedical applications such as biomacromolecule stabilization and delivery to bandages and wound healing can be explored, while gaining fundamental understanding of the polymer physics associated with more complex coacervate systems.