Letteri Polymer (Bio)materials Lab

We are designing materials that synergistically combine synthetic polymers and peptides to unlock new capabilities for the next generation of materials.  Our specific interests include understanding and exploiting stereochemistry-driven interactions and stimuli-responsive motifs to control materials properties, and using polymers to present and encapsulate peptides in ways that maximize their function.

Interested in joining our awesome community at UVa for a Ph.D. in chemical engineering?  Learn more here!

Recent Letteri Lab News

• Israt successfully defends her thesis entitled: Engineering Peptide Biomaterials with Tunable Mechanics and Proteolytic Stability! 

• Mark successfully defends his thesis entitled: Molecular Design Implications of Esterified Therapeutic Peptides and Their Delivery Vehicles!

• Vince successfully defends his thesis entitled: Tailoring biomaterials by tuning specific peptide interactions via stereochemistry-directed interactions and polymer-peptide conjugation!

• Zixian successfully defends her thesis entitled: Engineering Molecular Architectures of Antimicrobial Peptide (AMP)-Polymer Conjugates!

• Anthony Akins, an undergraduate chemical engineering student at Hampton University, joins us for the summer to develop polymer hydrogels cross-linked with peptide stereocomplexes! 

• Congratulations to Zixian on her paper, Antimicrobial Peptide–Poly (ethylene glycol) Conjugates: Connecting Molecular Architecture, Solution Properties, and Functional Performance, published in ACS Polymers Au!

• We excitedly welcome Mobina Alimadad and Hadley Mosby to the lab as our newest Ph.D. students! 

• Rachel, Vince, Mark, Zixian, Janine, and Clare attend the AICHE meeting in Orlando. Mark and Zixian present in the Meet the Postdoc Candidates session, Zixian gives a talk in the Biomaterials for Drug Delivery Session, Mark gives a poster in the Biomaterials session, Janine and Clare give posters in the Undergraduate Poster Competition, and Rachel gives a talk in the 8A Plenary Session, Emerging Areas in Polymer Science and Engineering! We also very much enjoyed encouraging undergraduates to join us at UVA for the Ph.D. at our recruiting booth and Taco Night!

• Congratulations to Janine on her 2nd place poster award in the Food, Pharma, and Biotech III division of the undergraduate poster session at AICHE!

• Congratulations to Clare on her 3rd place poster award in the Computing and Process Control III division of the undergraduate poster session at AICHE!

• Congratulations to Mara and Keelin on their paper, Elucidating the Effect of Amine Charge State on Poly(β-amino ester) Degradation Using Permanently Charged Analogs, published in ACS Macro Lett. this week! They show that installing permanent quaternary ammonium counter ions onto poly(amino ester)s not only imparts cationic character at high pH, but also slows degradation. 

• Rachel visits Clemson University for a seminar and enjoys visiting Jess Larsen's lab and meeting with awesome bioengineering and chemical engineering students and faculty!

• Tremendous congratulations to Jerwin, Aditi, and Darren, who all passed their qualifying exams with flying colors!  We are so happy for your and even more happy to have you in the group!

• Rachel visits Lehigh University for a seminar and enjoys visiting Whitney Blocher McTigue's awesome new lab!

• Mark attends the NextProf Nexus workshop at the University of Michigan!

• Congratulations to Israt and Vince on their paper on peptide stereocomplexes with the Lampe lab published in JACS! In this paper, entitled 'Peptide stereocomplexation orchestrates assembly of hydrogel biomaterials', we highlight how peptide stereocomplexation transforms biomaterial morphology, mechanics, and proteolytic stability. This work raises exciting new questions on the role of peptide sequence in determining the materials properties resulting from stereocomplexation that we're excited to explore!

• Rachel shares our lab's work at the International Symposium on Polyelectrolytes, in Prague and visits the Hofmeister Series plaque!