Chemistry for addressing the plastic waste crisis

 Plastics have become pervasive materials in the modern world. They find applications in nearly all sectors, including food packaging, medicine, clothing, industry, and infrastructure. Unfortunately, society's addiction to plastics has come at a severe cost: the world is now facing an exponentially worsening global plastic waste crisis. Our group is working sustainability minded redesign of commodity plastics. For example, we are developing methods for to allow rubbers and thermosets to be mechanically recycled. We are also redesigning commodity plastics to be susceptible to environmental degradation and amenable to biochemical recycling. Finally, we are designing alternatives to the harmful plasticizers that are currently used in many commodity to plastics. video

Biomimetic filamentous hydrogels

The extracellular matrix is a network of branching protein nanofibers that acts as a cellular scaffold in biological tissues. The extracellular matrix's filamentous architecture influences cell behavior and imparts tissues with specific mechanical and mass transport properties. Yet, tissue engineering largely relies on synthetic polymer hydrogels that do not mimic the native filamentous architecture of the extracellular matrix. To address this shortcoming, our group designs biomimetic filamentous hydrogels. We are investigating the connection between the structure of these filamentous hydrogels and their mechanical and mass transport properties. We are also using these biomimetic materials for applications in tissue engineering and regenerative medicine.