Northwestern Scientists Publish Guiding Principles for COVID-19 Vaccine Development

McCormick School of Engineering, News & Events
by Daniel Allar
July 21, 2020

Four takeaways from research could help scientists working to develop safe and effective vaccine.

A team from Northwestern including Northwestern Engineering’s Michael Jewettand Samuel Stupp has created guidelines to assist in developing a safe and effective vaccine for COVID-19.

Published July 21 in ACS Central Science, the principles were gleaned from early research on COVID-19 and data from the 2003 SARS outbreak, caused by SARS-CoV, a very similar virus to SARS-CoV-2, which causes COVID-19. More

Northwestern, MIT Researchers Develop Novel Materials for Energy and Sensing

McCormick School of Engineering, News & Events
by Daniel Allar
July 6, 2020

Strategically varying composition of organic layers can "tune" color of light absorbed by perovskites.

A team of researchers from Northwestern University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) has demonstrated the ability to fine-tune the electronic properties of hybrid perovskite materials, which have drawn enormous interest as potential next-generation optoelectronic materials for devices such as solar cells and light sources.
 
The materials are classified as “hybrid” because they contain inorganic components like metals as well as organic molecules with elements like carbon and nitrogen, organized into nanoscale layers. In the paper “Tunable exciton binding energy in 2D hybrid layered perovskites through donor–acceptor interactions within the organic layer,” published July 6 in the journal Nature Chemistry, the researchers showed that by strategically varying the composition of the organic layers, they could tune the color of light absorbed by the perovskite and also the wavelength at which the material emitted light. Importantly, they accomplished this without substantially changing the inorganic component. More

Synthetic materials mimic living creatures

Northwestern University, News Center
by Amanda Morris
June 22, 2020

Robotic soft matter’ bends, rotates and crawls when hit with light.

Northwestern University researchers have developed a family of soft materials that imitates living creatures.

When hit with light, the film-thin materials come alive — bending, rotating and even crawling on surfaces.

Called “robotic soft matter" by the Northwestern team, the materials move without complex hardware, hydraulics or electricity. The researchers believe the lifelike materials could carry out many tasks, with potential applications in energy, environmental remediation and advanced medicine. More

“Tunable Exciton Binding Energy in Two-Dimensional Hybrid Layered Perovskites Through Organic-Layer Donor–Acceptor Interactions”

Nature Chemistry 12, (2020) 672-682.
Passarelli et al.

“Oriented Multiwalled Organic-Co(OH)2 Nanotubes for Energy Storage”



Advanced Functional Materials 28(3), (2018) e1702320. 
Lau et al.

"Supramolecular Assembly of Peptide Amphiphiles"

Accounts of Chemical Research 50(10), (2017) 2440-2448.
Hendricks et al.

“Sulfated Glycopeptide Nanostructures for Multipotent Protein Activation”

Nature Nanotechnology 12, (2017) 821-829.
Lee et al.

"Simultaneous Covalent and Non-Covalent Hybrid Polymerizations"

Science 351(6272), (2016) 497-502.
Yu et al.

“Energy Landscapes and Function of Supramolecular Systems”

Nature Materials 15(4), (2016) 469-476.
Tantakitti et al.

“Supramolecular Packing Controls H2 Photocatalysis in Chromophore Amphiphile Hydrogels”
ACS EDITORS’ CHOICE ARTICLE 

J. Am. Chem. Soc. 137(48), (2015) 15241- 15246.
Weingarten et al.

Group Meetings

Fri 9/25/20 from 4-6pm =  Selected Individuals
Fri 10/9/20 from 4-6pm = TBD
Fri 10/23/20 from 4-6pm = TBD
Fri 11/6/20 from 4-6pm = TBD
Fri 11/20/20 from 4-6pm = TBD
Fri 12/11/20 from 4-6pm = TBD

* Note * to new interested students:

Please contact Laura Fields for Zoom information & provide your department affiliation.

Weekly Subgroup Meetings
*currently via Zoom - please see below for contact information*

Subgroup - Biomaterials:
Mondays, 1:00p.m., SQI Conference Rm 11-247, Chicago Campus (Lurie)
Contact: Cara Smith
carasmith2022@u.northwestern.edu

* There will be NO subgroup on 9/28 *

Combined Subgroup - Self-Assembly & Energy Materials:
Thursdays, 3:00p.m., Cook 3024
Contact: Eric Bruckner
ericbruckner2016@u.northwestern.edu

The Stupp Group 2018

The Stupp Laboratory
Cook Hall 1127
2220 Campus Drive
Evanston, IL 60208-3108

(847) 491-3002 phone
(847) 491-3010 facsimile

Samuel I. Stupp
Board of Trustees Professor of
Materials Science, Chemistry, Medicine, & Biomedical Engineering
Director, Simpson Querrey Insitute for BioNanotechnology

Laura Fields
Program Coordinator
Evanston Campus

Maura Walsh
Executive Coordinator
Chicago Campus

* Note *
Inquiries for undergraduate research opportunities should be directed to Prof. Liam Palmer: liam-palmer@northwestern.edu

“Supramolecular Self-Assembling Peptides to Deliver Bone Morphogenetic Proteins for Skeletal Regeneration”
Chen, C. H.; Hsu, E. L.; Stupp, S. I. BONE 141, (2020) 115565.

“Principles Learned from the International Race to Develop a Safe and Effective COVID-19 Vaccine”
Thames, A.; Wolniak, K.; Stupp, S. I.; Jewett, M. ACS Central Science 6(8), (2020) 1341-1347.

”Proapoptotic Peptide Brush Polymer Nanoparticles via Photoinitiated Polymerization-Induced Self-Assembly"
Sun, H.; Cao, W.; Zang, N.; Clemons, T. D.; Scheutz, G. M.; Hu, Z.; Thompson, M. P.; Liang, Y.; Vratsanos, M.; Zhou, X.; Choi, W.; Sumerlin, B. S.; Stupp, S. I.; Gianneschi, N. C. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. (2020) in press https://doi.org/10.1002/anie.202006385

“Transforming Growth Factor β-1 Binding by Peptide Amphiphile Hydrogels”
Lewis, J. A.; Freeman, R.; Carrow, J. K.; Clemons, T. D.; Palmer, L. C.; Stupp, S. I. ACS Biomaterials Science and Engineering 6(8), (2020) 4551-4560.

“Supramolecular Exchange Among Assemblies of Opposite Charge Leads to Hierarchical Structures”
Wester, J. R.; Lewis, J. A.; Freeman, R.; Sai, H.; Palmer, L. C.; Henrich, S. E.; Stupp, S. I. J. Amer. Chem. Soc. 142(28), (2020) 12216-12225.

“Tunable Exciton Binding Energy in Two-Dimensional Hybrid Layered Perovskites Through Organic-Layer Donor–Acceptor Interactions”
Passarelli, J. V.; Mauck, C. M.; Winslow, S. W.; Perkinson, C. F.; Bard, J. C.; Sai, H.; Williams, K. W.; Narayanan, A.; Fairfield, D.J.; Hendricks, M. P.; Tisdale, W. A.; Stupp, S. I. Nature Chemistry 12, (2020) 672-682.

“Supramolecular-Covalent Hybrid Polymers for Light-Activated Mechanical Actuation”
Li, C.; Iscen, A; Sai, H.; Sato, K.; Sather, N. A.; Chin, S.; Àlvarez, Z.; Palmer, L. C.; Schatz, G. C; Stupp, S. I. Nature Materials 19, (2020) 900-909.