Group News
12/2024: Ayesha, Anuja, Erin, and Samuel presented their work at the 2024 Gulf Coast Polymer Conference, which was also attended by Suliyat and Hilary. Congratulations to Ayesha for winning the meeting's People's Choice poster award!
10/2024: Samuel and Dr. Zhang were invited to present their work at the "Biophysical Origins of Life from the Peptide/RNA Perspective" meeting
08/2024: Samuel, Anuja, Erin and Dr. Zhang attended and presented their work at the 12th Peptoid Summit. Congratulations to Samuel for receiving the outstanding poster award at the Summit!
06/2024: Jackson Smith have joined our lab for summer undergraduate research. Welcome!
06/2024: Zahra Hassani joined our research team. Welcome!
06/2024: The study focused on understanding the temperature-induced structural evolution of ABC polypeptoid hydrogel has been published in Macromolecules. Congratulations to Naisheng, Tianyi, Meng, Bailee and others who have contributed to this work!
04/2024: Congratulations to Meng for receiving the LSU Department of Chemistry Outstanding Dissertation Award!
04/2024: Erin has been selected as an awardee for the 2024-2025 LSU Dissertation Year Fellowship. Congratulations!
03/2024: Erin was selected to give an oral presentation at the Excellence in Polymer Graduate Research Symposium in 2024 ACS Spring Meeting, New Orleans.
03/2024: Samuel and Anuja attended and gave poster presentations at the 2024 ACS Spring Meeting, New Orleans.
03/2024: Dr. Zhang attended and presented our research at the 2024 ACS Spring meeting in New Orleans. Thanks to Prof. Scott Grayson and Prof. Dan Savin for the invite to speak at the Polymer that are Non-linear Symposium, Prof. Chris Evans for the invite to speak at the Adaptive Materials from Dynamic Polymer Networks and Composites Symposium, and Dr. Davide Simone for the invite to speak at the Advances in Polymer Materials for Biotechnology symposium!
01/2024: Lutfun Hilary and Suliyat Olayiwola joined our research team. Welcome!
12/2023: Erin gave a poster presentation at the 18th Pacific Polymer Conference in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico.
12/2023: Dr. Zhang attended and gave at talk on our reserach at the 9th International Conference on Bioinspiration in Nice, France. Thanks to Prof. Frederic Guittard for the invite to speak!
11/2023: Congratulations to Bailee for successfully defending her PhD thesis! All the best for her academic journey at the Milwaukee School of Engineering as a faculty member.
11/2023: Samuel, Anuja and Erin gave their poster presentation at the Gulf Coast Polymer Conference in Baton Rouge.
11/2023: Gulf Coast Polymer Conference was held at LSU. Congratulations to all the student leaders Erin Tsai, Brecklyn Groce, Torri Rittell, Alex Aucoin, and Titilayo Oluwole who made the conference a great success!
10/2023: Congratulations to Meng for successfully defending her PhD thesis! All the best for her postdoc journey at LBNL.
09/2023: Samuel gave an oral presentation at the NOBCChE Annual Meeting in New Orleans.
08/2023: Meng and Dr. Zhang attended and presented our research at the 2023 ACS Fall meeting in San Francisco. Thanks to Prof. Carmen Scholz for the invite to speak at the Biorelated Polymer Symposium at ACS meeting.
07/2023: The study focused on understanding how to modulate intra-micellar polymer and water distribution of sequence-defined ionic peptoid block copolymers by ionic monomer position has been published in Macromolecules. Congratulations to Bailee, Chi-Huan Tung, Dr. Wei-Ren Chen and others who have contributed to this work!
07/2023: The study focused on understanding the pH-dependent solution micellar structure of amphoteric polypeptoid block copolymers with positionally controlled ionizable sites has been published in Biomacromolecules. Congratulations to Meng and others who contributed to this work!
07/2023: Meng recieved the Neutron Scattering Society of America's Student Travel Prize to attend the Colloids, Surfactants and Interfaces symposium in the 2023 Fall ACS Meeting. Congratulations!
05/2023: Congratulations to Erin for receiving the LSU Coates Reserach Scholar Award! The award will support Erin to travel to conferences and national labs to conduct experiments.
06/2023: Ayesha Weerakoon, Deztiny Clemons, and Regina Raemsch have joined our lab for summer undergraduate research. Welcome!
05/2023: The study on uncovering the solution charactericstis of PEGL, a water-soluble, non-Ionic, helical polypeptide, has been published in Macromolecules. Congratulations to Dr. Wayne Huberty (currently at MSU) and others who contributed to this work!
02/2023: The study focused on uncovering the optimal molecular characteristics ofhydrophobe-containing polypeptoids to induce liposome or cell membrane fragmentation has been published in Biomacromolecules. Congratulations to Tianyi, Marzhana, Meng, and others who contributed to this work!
01/2023: Andrea and Gavin have joined our group for undergraduate research. Welcome!
08/2022: The study focused on understanding the effect of alkyl side chain brancing on the multiscale crystalline structure of confined polypeptoid films has been published in ACS Macro Letters. Congratulations to Dr. Jiang (currently at USTB), Meng, Albert, and others who had contributed to this work!
06/2022: The study focused on using molecular dynamics simulations to understand the self-assembly of ionic sequence-defined peptoid oligomers in aqueous solution has been published in Macromolecules. Congratulations to Erin, Keshani, Dr. Kumar, Dr. Zhang, and others who have contributed to this work!
03/2022: The study focused on zwitterionic ring-opening polymerization (ZROP) of sarcosine-derived N-thiocarboxyanhydrides (Me-NNTAs) has been published in Macromolecules. Congratulations to Dr. Siekfer (currenlty at Sorbonne University) and Meng this who contributed to this study.
01/2022: Trina, Maddie, and Khang have joined our group for undergraduate research. Welcome!
12/2021: Erin has presented her research at the online Peptoid Symposium.
11/2021: Congratulations to David for successfully defending his PhD thesis!
10/2021: Congratulations to Erin for passing her general examination!
10/2021: Congratulations to Asmat for passing his master's defense!
09/2021: Dr. Jiang (USTB) and Dr. Zhang published a review article on the solution aggregation of coil-crystalline polypeptoid diblock copolymers in Polymers. Congratulations!
08/2021: Meng and Erin have presented their research at the 2021 Fall ACS meeting in Atlanta. Congratulations to Meng for receiving the ACS Poly Division Graduate Students Travel Award. Congratulations to Erin for recieving Coates Travel Award.
06/2021: Dr. Tianyi Yu is the recipient of the Chemistry Department Coates Dissertation Award. Congratulations!
05/2021: Samuel Owoso, a first year graduate student, has joined our research group. Welcome!
04/2021: Our work focused on understanding the sidechain branching pattern on the solution self-assembly of amphiphilic polypeptoid block copolymers has been published in Journal of American Chemical Society. Congratulations to Naisheng, Albert, Meng and Tianyi who contributed to this study.
01/2021: Bailee and Garrett’s work on the synthesis and characterization of well-defined polypeptoid mimics of poly(glutamic acids) by ring-opening polymerization method has been published in Polymer Chemistry. Congratulations!
12/2020: Anuja Thapa, a first year graduate student, has joined our research group. Welcome!
12/2020: Bailee has received the LSU Coates Research Scholar Award 2020-2022. Congratulations!
12/2020: Dr. Zhang gave an invited talk at the Online Peptoid Symposia 2020/21. Thanks Profs. Aaron Lao, Caroline Proulx, Steven Cobb, Sophie Faure and Jiwon Seo for organizing the virtual symposia!
11/2020: Congratulations to Bailee and Meng for successfully passing the general examination!
11/2020: Dr. Zhang gave a seminar at the Department of Chemistry at the Prairie View A&M University. Thanks Prof. Marco Giles for hosting the virtual seminar!
11/2020: Meng gave an oral presentation of her research on solution self-assembly of ionic polypeptoid multi-block copolymers with defined block sequence at the 8th APTEC Annual Research Symposium.
10/2020: Congratulations to Tianyi Yu for successfully defending her PhD thesis!
08/2020: Caitlin Dieu has joined our group for undergraduate research. Welcome!
08/2020: Naisheng, Tianyi and Albert’s work on cyclic topology enhancing the stability of polypeptoid thin film against thermally induced dewetting has been published in Macromolecules. Congratulations!
01/2020: Madelyn Hopkins has joined our group for undergraduate research. Welcome!
11/2019: Lu and Sam’s work on the AFM characterization of the thermoresponsive response of surface-grafted polypeptoids in aqueous medium has been published in ACS Applied Nano Materials. Congratulations!
11/2019: David gave an oral presentation at a symposium in honor of Prof. Carol Taylor.
11/2019: Tianyi gave an oral presentation at the first student exchange seminar series at Georgia Institute of Technology
11/2019: Tianyi and David gave an oral presentation at the 2019 Applied Polymer Technology Extension Consortium Annual Meeting
08/2019: Tianyi and Dr. Zhang gave research talks at the national ACS meeting in San Diego, CA.
07/2019: Congratulations to Dr. Garrett Sternhagen for successfully defending his Ph.D. thesis!
07/2019: Tianyi's work on the polypeptoid functionalized Halloysites as Pickering emulsifers for oil remediation has been published in ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces. Congratulations!
07/2019: The entire research group has attended the GPC 2019 conference in New Orleans.
05/2019: Garrett received the Timothy S. Evenson Macromolecular Award for his outstanding research in the lab. Congratulations!
01/2019: Dr. Zhang has accepted the editorial advisory board position for the ACS journal Biomacromolecules.
01/2019: Dr. Zhang is on sabbatical this semester as a visiting professor at Eindhoven University of Technology.
01/2019: Three graduate students have joined Dr. Zhang's Group. Welcome to the group Asmat, Bailee, and Meng!
06/2018: Tianyi's proposal was selected for the Coates Research Scholar Award by the Graduate Committee at Louisiana State University. Congratulations!
06/2018: Brian Karl, a REU student, has joined our group for the summer. Welcome!
03/2018: Garret's work on the synthesis and solution self-assembly of sequence-defined ionic peptoid diblock copolymers has been published in J. Am. Chem. Soc. Congratulations!
03/2018: Tianyi's collaborative work on the Halloysites as Pickering emulsifers for oil remediation has been published in Colloids and Surfaces B: Biointerfaces. Congratulations!
03/2018: Garrett, David, Tianyi and Naisheng all attended and gave presentations on their research at the 255th National American Chemical Society Meeting in New Orleans, LA.
03/2018: Dr. Zhang gave a seminar at the Department of Chemistry at the Mississippi State University. Thanks Prof. Colleen Scott for hosting the visit.
02/2018: Tianyi presented her research in the 2018 Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill and Ecosystem Science Conference in New Orleans, LA.
01/2018: Albert received an honorable mention award in the 2018 TRFA Excellence in Thermoset Polymer Research Award for his polyaminal work.
01/2018: Our review article on the topic of polypeptoid polymers has been published in Biopolymers.