Category Archives: Research

Well, maybe that is overstating it.  However, PLPs, as we call them, are pretty cool.  This massive collaborative effort between Ashley Brown, Sarah Stabenfeldt, Tom Barker, Wilbur Lam, Nina Guzzetta, Alexander Alexeev, and yours truly was recently published online in Nature Materials.  I won’t rehash the whole paper here – you should go read it for yourself.Continue reading “platelet-like particles will cure what ails you”

Updates have been challenging with all of the cross-country move activities.  However, I finally found a few minutes to at least post on the newest papers from the group.  First comes a collaboration with the Fernandez-Nieves group and Urs Gasser at PSI that we published in JCP entitled “Form factor of pNIPAM microgels in overpacked states“. Actually,Continue reading “catching up”

Shalini and Caroline recently collaborated to write an Accounts of Chemical Research article on “Microgel Mechanics in Biomaterial Design“.  The work is a review of some of our efforts in at the microgel/bio interface, with the highlights being depicted in the artwork to the right (drawn by Prof. Lyon in ArtStudio on an iPad).  InContinue reading “new Accounts article”

I guess I should have just waited a few days to include this in the last post.  Anyway, the manuscript “Microgel Film Dynamics Modulate Cell Adhesion Behavior” was published on line this week in the journal Soft Matter.  This is another collaboration between my group and the Garcia group, with Shalini, Mark, Jeff, and HiroContinue reading “another new paper”

In the last few weeks we have seen three new papers show up online.  First, we have “Host response to microgel coatings on neural electrodes implanted in the brain” published in Journal of Biomedical Materials Research Part A.  Stacy Gutowski from the Garcia group did all the heavy lifting here, wherein she implanted neural electrodes inContinue reading “a few new papers”

A new themed issue of Polymer Chemistry came out today, including an article from the group that I have already written about. Note that we also got a little artwork on the back cover, thanks to artist Jesse Larson. Check it out – the issue is well edited and covers a broad range of approachesContinue reading “new issue of polymer chemistry”

Just a quick post to note that a new review article from the group, “Colloid-matrix assemblies in regenerative medicine”, appeared online today in Current Opinion in Colloid and Interface Science.  The paper is essentially a short discussion of the extracellular matrix, its properties, and how one might recapitulate its function by using colloidal particles as modifiers.Continue reading “some thoughts on the ECM”

A new paper from the group came out today in ACS Macro Letters entitled “Packed Colloidal Phases Mediate the Synthesis of Raspberry-Structured Microgel Heteroaggregates“. The paper basically describes how you can take advantage of the “self-healing” properties of packed microgel assemblies to decorate other colloidal particles with microgels. Basically, a “hard” particle like a poly(styrene)Continue reading “makin’ raspberries”

A new issue of Colloid and Polymer Science (volume 291, issue 1) hit the newsstands this week, and this issue is noteworthy for its focus on Functional Polymeric Microspheres. The issue was guest-edited by Haruma Kawaguchi and Masayoshi Okubo, and they did a great job of getting people from a wide span of areas to contribute.Continue reading “new issue of Colloid and Polymer Science”

The latest Accounts of Chemical Research is a special issue on Gene Silencing and Delivery. We were fortunate to have been invited to contribute to the volume, while also having the issue adorned with cover art developed by our very own Mike Smith. Click the image for a higher resolution version. We should also thankContinue reading “a future in graphic design?”