• Led research programs in barnacle adhesive biochemistry, bioinspired materials for performing catalysis in extreme environments, and new polymer designs for underwater adhesives.• Developed several successful programs resulting in $4.5M attributable funding from 2016-present.

• Developed synthetic materials inspired by the unique backbone structure of barnacle cement to understand their interfacial interactions and properties, awarded grant to develop underwater adhesives from ONR Code 34

• Defined the molecular basis for barnacle adhesive chemistry through proteomic sequencing and bioinformatic analysis• in situ microscopy and spectroscopy techniques to understand protein/peptide molecular adhesion mechanisms• Impact of displayed chemistries on the structure, distribution and orientation of protein adsorption by plane-polarized attenuated total reflectance FTIR and AFM• Established recombinant protein expression in E. Coli and purification facilities and… Show more • Defined the molecular basis for barnacle adhesive chemistry through proteomic sequencing and bioinformatic analysis• in situ microscopy and spectroscopy techniques to understand protein/peptide molecular adhesion mechanisms• Impact of displayed chemistries on the structure, distribution and orientation of protein adsorption by plane-polarized attenuated total reflectance FTIR and AFM• Established recombinant protein expression in E. Coli and purification facilities and techniques• Molecular underpinnings of barnacle cement proteins on marine relevant surfaces Show less

•Established cryo-based ex situ and in situ atomic force microscopy techniques to observe peptide nanostructure growth on various solid surfaces•Developed solid phase peptide synthesis and purification methods•Quantitative affinity and modeling of complex adsorption by surface plasmon resonance (SPR), underlying mechanism resolved by AFM•AFM observations of peptide growth on gold modelled by deposition, diffusion and aggregation (DDA) coarse-grained kinetic Monte Carlo approach:… Show more •Established cryo-based ex situ and in situ atomic force microscopy techniques to observe peptide nanostructure growth on various solid surfaces•Developed solid phase peptide synthesis and purification methods•Quantitative affinity and modeling of complex adsorption by surface plasmon resonance (SPR), underlying mechanism resolved by AFM•AFM observations of peptide growth on gold modelled by deposition, diffusion and aggregation (DDA) coarse-grained kinetic Monte Carlo approach: correlated to AFM by using Minkowski morphometric measures. Show less

•Mounted and sharpened carbon nanotubes to AFM cantilevers for high aspect ratio molecular imaging•Density functional theory of hydrogenated carbon nanotubes as hydrogen storage materials•Simulation of vibrational modes for Amine-functionalized carbon nanotubes•Simulation of carbon nanotube interaction with surface chlorine and hydrogen atoms