Our research primarily focuses on the interface between biomaterials and biophysics, operating at the cellular and protein levels. We have a particular interest in designing and synthesizing bio-inspired, bio-functional, and bio-mimetic soft materials for applications in engineering and biomedicine. In addition to practical materials design, our objectives include gaining a deeper fundamental understanding of the sequence-structure-activity relationship of these materials. We achieve this through a combination of computational and experimental approaches. Currently, our research topics include:

• • Smart and tough hydrogels

  • Biofunctional polymers

  • Functional or disease-related proteins

  • Molecular simulations and machine learning of materials

• News (08/2025): We are excited to begin a new chapter as we join the Department of Biomedical Engineering and Chemical Engineering (BECE) at UTSA.

• Award (05/2025): Dr. Ruth Nussinov was recently elected to the National Academy of Sciences. She served as an advisor to Dr. Jie Zheng at the National Cancer Institute (NCI). All of Dr. Zheng’s Ph.D. students involved in computational projects have completed summer internships in Dr. Nussinov’s lab, and continued there as postdoctoral researchers before advancing to their next positions.