Whitney Blocher McTigue works to utilize polyelectrolyte complexes for a variety of different applications and real-world problems, particularly in the field of biomedicine. She received her PhD from the University of Massachusetts Amherst in Chemical Engineering and completed her postdoctoral work at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Ana is investigating the use of solution blow spinning as a processing method to transform polymer coacervates into smart, biodegradable fibers. By leveraging the unique properties of coacervates, her work aims to create materials capable of sensing environmental cues such as pH. This approach has the potential to enable a range of applications, from biomedical uses like responsive bandages to broader sustainable material solutions.

Maggie is studying to obtain a master's in bioengineering. She is investigating how coacervate materials interact with cells in a collaboration with Prof. Gonzalez-Fernandez.

Past research focused on investigating the phase space of heteroprotein coacervates. Instead of utilizing synthetic polymers or peptides, she used only proteins to make polyelectrolyte complexes. Her work charted out the formulation space where we see complexation or a single phase, and whether the complexes formed are coacervates or precipitates.

Chaeyoung is working toward understanding how architecture influences complex coacervates, particularly how dismantling the polymer(s) used affects phase separation. Her work will help set the foundation for applications such as dual drug delivery and degradable bandages.

Kimia is investigating how different nucleic acids interact with polyelectrolytes to determine if and how complex coacervation can thermally stabilize these nucleic acids for biomedical applications. 

https://www.linkedin.com/in/kimiasadat-mirlohi/

Kavya is joining us through the Rossin Research Scholars program and will be working under Kimia to elucidate how chirality affects phase separation and cargo stability.

Sarah is joining the lab as a sophomore in chemical engineering. She is working under Kimia investigating the effect of salt concentration and type of salt on peptide/peptoid polyelectrolyte complex systems.

Matt is a chemical and biomoelcular engineering undergraduate who will be working with Alli to form fibers via an airbrush system with complex coacervates. His work will focus on adding a syringe pump to our airbrushing setup to better understand how controlling the rate of mixing between the polymer complex and air changes the morphology of the sample.