Graduate Student
UCLA Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry
607 Charles E. Young Dr East, Box 951569
Los Angeles, CA 90095-1569
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Phone: (310)794-6618

Research Interest: Studying self-assembly and encapsulation of non-native materials into biological confined cages using semiconducting polyelectrolytes.

The interface between biology, chemistry, and materials science offers novel methods for nanomaterial assembly. Biological templates such as protein cages, viral capsids, and DNA have been used in the formation of new composite nanoparticles and microstructures. My research investigates the incorporation of semiconducting polyelectrolytes into viral capsids and ribonucleoprotein vaults. Current studies use an icosahedral plant virus, cowpea chlorotic mottle virus (CCMV) and vaults, to encapsulate poly(2-methoxy-5-propyloxy sulfonate phenylene vinylene) MPS-PPV. Both of these systems are hollow structures with their own RNA polyelectrolytes which are attracted to the positively charged inner surface. Access to the virus interior can be achieved during self-assembly in-vitro or by pH-induced swelling of assembled particles. However, the gating mechanism for the vaults interior remains unknown. By replacing these native polyelectrolytes with semiconducting polymers, fundamental self-assembly and biophysical phenomena for self-assembled protein micro-structures can potentially be explored because the polymers photophysics are dependent on the surrounding environment. Changes in polymer conformation in these confined systems compared to those in solution provide a unique method of studying both the polymer and these self-assembled systems. This work has potential applications including bio-sensing, bio-marking and drug delivery.