I received my PhD degree in Polymer Physics at the ETH, in Zürich, under the supervision of Prof. Hans Christian Oettinger. As a PhD student, I worked on various aspects of complex fluids involving the interplay between mesoscale structure and dynamics. I designed a novel experiment, in which a lubricated cross-slot channel was employed to deform polymeric molecules in a complex flow geometry, thereby producing some of the most precise data on the rheology of polymer melts in a mixed shear and extensional flow. In addition, I developed a finite-element based data analysis technique to reconstruct accurate field kinematics from experimental data to examine the performance of rheological models using numerical simulations. As a postdoctoral fellow in Prof. Fredberg’s lab at Harvard, I extended the rheology of polymers to biological systems and developed an assay to study dynamics of living cells under geometrical confinement and designed a new device to explore intercellular shear deformation. In my current postdoctoral position at the University of Chicago, I work on structural organization and potential applications of liquid crystalline materials under the supervision of Prof. Juan de Pablo. I have shown that liquid crystal-aqueous interface is capable of reporting aggregation of polypeptides at early stages and reducing water activity by adding salts to the aqueous phase can initiate transport of dissolved water in the liquid crystal phase. These results provide fundamental principles for designing biological sensors, drug delivery systems, and molecular machines. Furthermore, working with scientists at the Argonne National Laboratory, we have obtained structural information of liquid crystal molecules at the interfaces using synchrotron X-ray reflectivity and Grazing-incidence small-angle scattering measurements. As a new faculty member, my future research will include exploring structure-rheology-property relationships of polymeric materials and lyotropic liquid crystalline mesophases, focusing on linking molecular to micron scale phenomena and finding new routes to engineer new functional materials with tunable properties for drug delivery, biomedical and photonics applications. Moreover, building on my background in polymer physics and harnessing my expertise in characterization techniques, I have a particular interest in understanding the rheological and processing aspects of additive manufacturing to develop strategies for materials optimization.

Complex fluids and anisotropic liquids for intelligent molecular engineering and material design: Structure-rheology-property relationships

254th National Meeting (2017)

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