One of the most important facets of advanced medicine is to be able to administer therapeutics specifically and programmatically. The development of novel drug delivery vehicles equipped with advanced control of drug release is thus an imperative direction to be explored. In our lab, we intend to explore synthetic condensates as a viable drug delivery vehicle with special impetus to anti-cancer drugs. We focus on a myriad of areas including surface functionalization, controlling the internal chemical environment, and ways to regulate drug diffusion. The overarching goal of this project is to introduce aspects of systems chemistry in the micro-chemical environment so as to make the drug delivery vehicle more adaptable to local metabolic changes. This would thus give rise to biomaterials capable of personalized therapeutic control.

Exploring the chemical origins of life is one of the central questions of the scientific endeavor. It is of such importance because as we delve into the rudimentary building blocks of life it also teaches us advanced ways to chemically interact with evolved biological systems. This is of critical significance in developing smarter therapeutics and augmentation devices. In lieu of this, our lab is exploring ways to study communication pathways between condensate-derived protocell populations. Our focus is specifically on modulating the internal reaction network of proto-cells to control their population-level response. This leads to a major aim of our research, which is to develop protocells capable of communicating with biological systems.

An important aspect of self-assembly is the control of chromophore organization, critical to exploring functional aspects such as organic electronics. In our lab, we explore the local environment control of coacervates in conjunction with chromophore arrangement to delve into supramolecular electronics. Leveraging the recently explored local beta sheet order in disordered systems we explore synthetic motifs capable of localized order and in turn regulating their electronic response. Using coacervates to supplement the organization of pi-conjugated systems possesses multiple advantages including the development of highly crowded semi-conducting liquids capable of supporting long-range exciton coupling. It also enables the development of light-harvesting liquids which can seamlessly integrate into device architecture giving rise to increased modularity and prospective efficiency.