Self-assembled Peptide-p-electron Supramolular Polymers:Workforce Training, Outreach, and Data Sharing

Workforce training. PhD graduates Dr. Rachael Mansbach and Dr. Bryce Thurston, trained under this award, secured postdoctoral positions at Los Alamos and Sandia National Labs.

J. Tovar, H. Katz (Johns Hopkins U.) A. Ferguson (U. Chicago)

Workforce training.  PhD  graduates  Dr.  Rachael  Mansbach  and  Dr. Bryce  Thurston,   trained   under   this   award,   secured   postdoctoral positions at Los Alamos and Sandia National Labs.  

 

Outreach to the general science community. Mr. Sayak Panda had the  opportunity  to  author  a  comprehensive  review  about  solid-state electrical applications of peptide and protein materials

 

Broadening  participation.  Ferguson  worked  with  the  After  School Matters  program  to  recruit Isabella Moughal,  a  rising  senior  from  a local  Chicago  high  school,  for  a  Summer  2019  research  opportunity performing  first  principles  simulations  of  oligopeptide  aggregates. Freshman  Molecular  Engineering  undergraduate Olivia  Dunne is currently performing coarse-grained simulations of peptide assembly.  Tovar    continues    to    mentor Clara  Troyano-Valls on    peptide nanomaterial  synthesis.    She  will  be  applying  for  graduate  programs this fall.

 

Data  sharing.  Codes  developed  to  perform  graphical  analyses  of peptide   assembly,   backmapping   from   coarse-grained   to   all-atom representations, ultra-coarse grained patchy particle simulations, and data-driven high throughput screening have all been shared for open-source  free  public  download  on  GitHub  and  we  are  working  with  the Materials Data Facility to host our molecular trajectories.

Designing Materials to Revolutionize and Engineer our Future (DMREF)