Danielle J. Mai

This research would not be possible without generous support from NSF Award No. 2400010, ACS PRF 66560-DNI7, the Precourt Institute at @stanfordenergy.bsky.social, Arnold and Mabel Beckman Foundation, and NSF GRFP! 🙏

We envision this work will catalyze advances in polymer engineering and photochemical processing pathways to achieve closed-loop, reprocessable materials. ♻️

We supplemented photorheology with time-resolved UV-vis absorbance to draw connections between network mechanics and photochemical conversion. We identified molecular-scale mechanisms that underlie pathways to either network softening or deconstruction. 🛣️

For stiff networks of polymers with many arms, we observed network softening, but no return to a deconstructed polymer liquid. For soft networks of polymers with fewer arms, we observed deconstruction into liquids for a critical time before networks unexpectedly re-constructed.⏲️

We studied how polymer shape—number of arms per multi-arm star polymer—influenced network formation & deconstruction kinetics. Networks formed faster with increasing number of arms (agreeing with Flory–Stockmayer predictions), but networks didn't always deconstruct as expected. ⁉️

We employed a photochemical strategy in which UVA light promotes polymer network formation and UVC light enables network deconstruction. 💡

Mike Burroughs led this effort using in situ photorheology to quantify how we could use light to construct polymeric materials, deconstruct them back to liquid solutions, re-construct, and deconstruct again! 🛠️⚒️🛠️⚒️

Excited to share our latest work in collaboration with @dcongreve.bsky.social—Light-Responsive Star Polymers for Reprocessable Network Formation and Deconstruction—now published in Macromolecules! @pubs.acs.org @acs.org
Read it here: pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/...

Biomolecular Actuators for Soft Robots Biomolecules present promising stimuli-responsive mechanisms to revolutionize soft actuators. Proteins, peptides, and nucleic acids foster specific intermolecular interactions, and their boundless seq...

We envision this resource being useful for budding roboticists and biomolecular engineers to consider unconventional stimuli-responsive mechanisms! Read it here: doi.org/10.1021/acs....

PhD student Michelle Quan's review article on “Biomolecular Actuators for Soft Robots” was selected for the cover of Chemical Reviews! Michelle highlights the history and new frontiers for biomolecules as tools to actuate movement in soft robots. #MyACSCover @acs.org @pubs.acs.org

Last month, Dr. Michael Burroughs won a Best Poster Award from the ACS PMSE Division @acspmse.bsky.social!! Mike’s poster featured his recent work on the hybrid synthesis of bottlebrush DNA polymers for direct visualization at fluid–solid interfaces. Congratulations, Mike!

On to the next meeting! Mike Burroughs and I will share some new results at the @acs.org Spring Meeting in San Diego 🌴 Stop by to learn more! @acspmse.bsky.social @acspoly.bsky.social

Eleanor and I are excited to travel to the American Physical Society @apsphysics.bsky.social Global Summit in Anaheim! Stop by next week to learn about our newest discoveries in polymer physics!

Congratulations Dr. Marina Chang, the 1st PhD student from the Mai Lab to defend her dissertation!! In her defense, Marina shared her work on "Leveraging Sequence Repetition to Engineer Calcium-Responsive Protein Polymers". We are excited to celebrate Marina's contributions & accomplishments!!

In Memory of Andy Acrivos: CEMS Alum and Titan of Chemical Engineering Andreas (Andy) Acrivos passed away on February 17, 2025. Born in Greece in 1928, Prof. Acrivos arrived at Minnesota in 1950 following undergraduate studies at Syracuse University, becoming the  second...

In Memory of Andy Acrivos: University of Minnesota Alumnus and Titan of Chemical Engineering
cse.umn.edu/cems/news/me...

Woohoo! Congratulations, Kōnane!!

I’ve added quite a few new polymer scientists to this starter pack over the last couple days! Check them out! #chemsky #polymersky

Also, always appreciate the help in finding people! Comment/DM to be added and continue to share :)

go.bsky.app/AgjxzFa

Sequence-defined structural transitions by calcium-responsive proteins Biopolymer sequences dictate their functions, and protein-based polymers are a promising platform to establish sequence–function relationships for novel biopolymers. To efficiently explore vast sequen...

1st post in a new space seems like a good spot to feature the 1st project by the lab's 1st PhD student! We set out to engineer calcium-responsive proteins as muscle-mimetic materials and discovered some surprises along the way. Congrats to Marina, Winnie, Gatha, and Kenny!
doi.org/10.1039/D4PY...