Abstract: SWEETs are membrane sugar transporters that play critical roles in plant physiology and crop yields. In this talk, I will describe our lab’s effort to design of a biosensor consisting of a plant SWEET and a conformation-sensitive fluorescent protein that translates sugar binding to the transporter into a fluorescence response. We named this biosensor…

Abstract: The population statistics, physical dimension, and relaxation dynamics of polymer clusters formed by random crosslinking are highly susceptible to the degree of gelation, which are normally characterized by a set of power-law exponents. Away from the gel point, the mean-field exponents predicted by the Flory-Stockmayer theory are expected to apply. In the close vicinity…

Abstract: A bottlebrush polymer consists of a long linear backbone densely grafted with many relatively short side chains. Unlike classical linear polymers, mechanical, physical, and biochemical complexities can be independently encoded into the molecular architecture of bottlebrush polymers. This feature enables bottlebrush polymers to emerge as a platform for soft (bio)materials design and innovation. In…

Abstract: DNA and proteins naturally fold into intricate three-dimensional structures, enabling a wide range of essential biological functions. Mimicking these natural structuring principles in engineered materials offers immense potential, especially in medical technologies. Our lab leverages the distinctive characteristics of soft and nanomaterials to create advanced electronic systems with bioinspired architectures, capable of seamlessly integrating…

Abstract: Controlling the arrangement of inorganic nanocrystals in assemblies allows realization of materials whose properties depend both on the distinctive characteristics of their nanoscale building blocks and on their organization. We assemble superlattices and gel networks from colloidal nanocrystals that absorb infrared light due to their composition-tunable plasmonic resonance. Control and modulation of infrared optical…