Agenda – TPC2024 Conference

Time	Speaker(s)	Title / Abstract
8:00 AM – 8:20 AM	Check-in	Registration
8:20 AM – 8:30 AM		Welcoming Remarks Opening of the conference
8:30 AM – 9:00 AM	Matthew Becker, Duke University	Resorbable barrier polymers for flexible bioelectronics Resorbable, implantable bioelectronic devices are emerging as powerful tools to reliably monitor critical physiological parameters in real time over extended periods. While degradable magnesium-based electronics have pioneered this effort, relatively short functional lifetimes have slowed clinical translation. Barrier films that are both flexible and resorbable over predictable timelines would enable tunability in device lifetime and expand the viability of these devices. Herein, we present a library of stereocontrolled succinate-based copolyesters which leverage copolymer composition and processing method to afford tunability over thermomechanical, crystalline, and barrier properties.
9:00 AM – 9:30 AM	Adrianne Rosales, The University of Texas at Austin	Effect of Polymer Architecture on the Flow of Dynamic Covalent Gels Dynamic covalent interactions have generated intense interest as bonding motifs for reprocessable networks and injectable gels due to their ability to impart bulk viscoelasticity, stress relaxation, and self-healing behavior. While many injectable or printable dynamic covalent gels have been developed, there remains a need to understand how polymer architecture affects the nonlinear rheology and flow properties of these materials. In this context, we have developed dynamic covalent hydrogels using both linear and star polymers. Additionally, we varied bond exchange kinetics using distinct dynamic crosslinking chemistries. We will discuss the influence of these molecular parameters on the nonlinear rheology of gels as measured using bulk rheology and absorbance under shear. Specifically, we will detail how the developed gels exhibit shear thickening behavior and describe how polymer architecture impacts chain stretching under shear. Overall, these results provide insight to the molecular characteristics that govern dynamic covalent hydrogel mechanics and flow, as applicable to shear-dependent uses.
9:30 AM – 10:00 AM	Anna Balazs, University of Pittsburgh	Integrating chemistry, fluid flow and mechanics to drive spontaneous formation of 3D patterns in anchored microstructures Enzymatic reactions in solution drive the convection of confined fluids throughout the enclosing chambers and thereby couple the processes of reaction and convection. In these systems, the energy released from the chemical reactions generates a force, which propels the fluids’ spontaneous motion. Here, we use theoretical and computational modeling to determine how reaction-convection can be harnessed to tailor and control the dynamic behavior of soft matter immersed in solution. Our model system encompasses an array of surface-anchored, flexible posts in a millimeter-sized, fluid-filled chamber. Selected posts are coated with enzymes, which react with dissolved chemicals to produce buoyancy-driven fluid flows. We show that these chemically generated flows exert a force on both the coated (active) and passive posts and thus produce regular, self-organized patterns. Due to the specificity of enzymatic reactions, the posts display controllable kaleidoscopic behavior where one regular pattern is smoothly morphed into another with the addition of certain reactants. These spatiotemporal patterns also form “fingerprints” that distinctly characterize the system, reflecting the type of enzymes used, placement of the enzyme-coated posts, height of the chamber, and bending modulus of the elastic posts. The results reveal how reaction-convection provides concepts for designing soft matter that readily switches among multiple morphologies. This behavior enables microfluidic devices to be spontaneously reconfigured for specific applications without construction of new chambers and the fabrication of standalone sensors that operate without extraneous power sources.
10:00 AM – 10:30 AM	Break
10:30 AM – 11:00 AM	Sarah Perry, University of Massachusetts Amherst	Designing Polyelectrolyte Complex Materials The formulation of functional polymers, like adhesives and coatings, is particularly challenging due to the interplay between performance and processability requirements. Complex coacervation is an entropically driven, associative liquid-liquid phase separation that results in a polymer-rich coacervate, and a polymer-poor supernatant dissolved in an aqueous solution. Salt-driven plasticization allows for the use of complex coacervation as a processing strategy to create solid polyelectrolyte complexes (PECs). However, it is not clear whether many of the design rules associated with traditional polymers will still hold for materials based on polyelectrolyte complexation. To understand this design space, we tested a library of PECs made from oppositely-charged methacrylate copolymers of varying charge density and hydrophobicity. We characterized the resulting liquid coacervates and solid PEC materials using phase diagrams, dynamic mechanical analysis, and tensile testing. Our data shows that copolymer chemistry can be used to tune the phase behavior and subsequent viscoelasticity. Furthermore, the solid-state mechanics, which range from brittle to ductile, are intrinsically tied to PEC water content. We also highlight the effect of temperature, humidity, and salt concentration on the glass transitions of these materials to show how we can use these parameters to process PEC materials and achieve different mechanical responses.
11:00 AM – 11:30 AM	Nathan Gianneschi, Northwestern University	Heterobifunctional proteomimetic polymers for targeted protein degradation Targeted protein degradation (TPD) is being developed for modulating the activity of previously undruggable proteins of interest. To date, TPD has been dominated by small molecules containing separate linked domains for protein engagement and recruitment of cellular degradation machinery. The process of identifying active compounds has required tedious optimization and has been successful largely against a limited set of targets with well-defined, suitable docking pockets. Here we present a polymer chemistry approach termed the HYbrid DegRAding Copolymer (HYDRAC) to overcome standing challenges associated with the development of TPD. These copolymers densely display either peptide-based or small molecule-derived degradation inducers and target-binding peptide sequences for the selective degradation of disease-associated proteins. HYDRACs are synthesized in a facile manner, are modular in design, and are highly selective. Using the intrinsically disordered transcription factor MYC as an initial proof-of-concept, difficult to drug protein target, HYDRACs containing a MYC-inhibitory peptide copolymerized with a validated degron, showed robust and selective degradation of the target protein. Treatment of tumor-bearing mice with MYC-targeted HYDRACs showed decreased cell proliferation and increased tumor apoptosis, leading to significantly suppressed tumor growth in vivo. The versatility of the platform was demonstrated by substituting the degron for recruiters of three different E3 ligases (VHL, KEAP1, and CRBN), which all maintained MYC degradation. To demonstrate generalizability, HYDRACs were further designed against a second elusive target of clinical interest, KRAS, by employing a consensus RAS binding motif. RAS-targeted HYDRACs showed degradation in two cell lines harboring separate KRAS alleles, suggesting potential pan-KRAS activity. We envision the HYDRAC platform as a generalizable approach to developing degraders of proteins of interest, greatly expanding the therapeutic armamentarium for TPD.
11:30 AM – 12:00 PM	Brent Sumerlin, University of Florida	Polymer Science Meets Mucosal Medicine: UHMW Synthetic Alternatives Aberrant mucin production is associated with various biological phenomena, including cancer, inflammation, and infection. However, recent developments in the synthesis of water-soluble polymers have shown promise for developing synthetic macromolecules as mucin replacements to tune the complex biological barrier properties of mucous and other mucin networks. Most of these reports rely on the design of mucin-mimetic copolymers that resemble the intricate biomolecular structure of these heavily glycosylated ultra-high molecular weight (UHMW) proteins. We have instead developed polymers that differ significantly from mucins in their structure but behave similarly by a careful balance of UHMW and mucoadhesive functionality and have begun their evaluation for the treatment of a variety of diseases, including gut mucosal deficiencies. We first utilized photoiniferter techniques to synthesize a library of water-soluble polymers of UHMW (106-107 g/mol). A low density of mucoadhesive functionalities was also incorporated for weak, reversible binding to mucus-linings in the digestive tract. Additionally, we considered the effect of varied polymeric architectures on mucoadhesion.
12:00 PM – 1:30 PM	Lunch
1:30 PM – 2:00 PM	Susannah Scott, University of California, Santa Barbara	Valorization of polyolefins via catalytic upcycling, from monomers to higher value molecules The use of polyolefins to make small molecules, not limited to monomers which can be repolymerized, is an intriguing approach to recycle carbon and thereby keep plastic out of the natural environment. While catalytic hydrogenolysis leads to lower value alkanes, hydrogen redistribution in the absence of added H2 can achieve tandem hydrogenolysis and dehydrocycloaromatization, resulting in higher value alkylaromatics at moderate reaction temperatures. The coupled reactions are greatly accelerated by the use of bifunctional hydrocracking catalysts whose acidity can be used to tune the selectivity towards surfactant-range alkylbenzenes. The key rate-determining and selectivity-controlling steps involve Brønsted acid catalysis. Unexpectedly, the presence of low pressure H2 in the reactor enhances rather than suppresses alkyl benzene formation, while suppressing undesired polyaromatic formation and accelerating the desired reduction in molecular weight. The number of alkyl substituents on the aromatic rings can be optimized via catalytic transalkylation. Other tandem processes, including the selective conversion of polyethylene to monomers under mild reaction conditions, can be designed to achieve alternative desired reaction outcomes.
2:00 PM – 2:30 PM	Junpeng Wang, University of Akron	Mechanochemical Degradation of Synthetic Polymers Controlling the degradation of polymers with mechanical force is highly desirable for various applications, including polymer recycling and controlled drug release. This presentation will showcase our design of a new class of polymers, which allows us to use the activation of force-responsive functional groups (i.e., mechanophores) to control polymer degradation. In these polymers, the mechanophore is on the backbone, and degradable moiety on the sidechain forms a ring with the mechanophore. Upon mechanochemical activation, degradable functional groups are brought to the backbone, allowing the polymers to be degraded. For example, a polymer containing a cyclobutane-fused lactone can be mechanically activated to bring the ester group into the backbone. The resulting polyester can be degraded under basic conditions to form small molecules. In another example, an unsaturated polyether bearing cyclobutane-fused tetrahydrofuran is mechanically activated to form a poly(2,5-dihydrofuran), which can be depolymerized into 2,5-dihydrofuran in the presence of a ruthenium catalyst. In contrast to the mechanisms for current degradable polymers, the two-step degradation mechanism allows for polymer deconstruction to proceed in an on-demand fashion and is expected to increase the service lifetime of the materials while maintaining the capability of recycling.
2:30 PM – 3:00 PM	Jia Niu, Boston College	Reactivity-Oriented Design of New Cyclic Monomers for Radical Ring-Opening Polymerization Radical ring-opening polymerization of cyclic monomers represents a promising approach toward degradable polymers. Existing cyclic monomers often suffer from incomplete ring opening and limited reactivity in the copolymerization with vinyl monomers. To pursue cyclic monomers that possess improved reactivities in the radical ring-opening polymerization and copolymerization, we sought inspiration from organic chemistry and carbohydrate chemistry. In this talk, I will present two examples of our efforts toward new cyclic monomers for radical ring-opening polymerization. First, I will discuss the design of cyclic allylic sulfones that can undergo a radical cascade-triggered ring-opening polymerization, making them possess broad reactivities to vinyl monomers and favorable reactivity ratios in the copolymerization. Next, I will introduce a new class of monosaccharide cyclic ketene acetals that have demonstrated quantitative, regiospecific, and stereoselective radical ring-opening polymerization and copolymerization.
3:00 PM – 3:30 PM	Break
3:30 PM – 4:00 PM	Sara Orski, NIST	Relating structural and sequence changes in sustainable polyolefin libraries to solution and processable properties As new, sustainable polyolefins become more synthetically accessible, understanding the impact of structure and sequence on properties across multiple length scales becomes increasingly complex. The integration of bulky, heteroatom chemistries and more complex polymer topologies relative to high density polyethylene will affect chain assembly, long range order, bulk properties, and therefore integration into industrial (re)processing. Ultimately, the ability to tune properties will rely on the accurate translation of local structure and sequence, particularly at low concentrations, to bulk properties. This currently remains a significant measurement challenge. This presentation will highlight efforts to expand our library of systematically varied polyolefins through multiple synthetic routes (ring-opening metathesis polymerization and polyhomologation) to generate telechelic, branched, and/or isotopically labeled polyethylenes (PE) where the addition of dynamic and associative bonds, block-copolymer junctions, and controlled deuterated PE segments at known placements along the chain affect changes in crystallinity, particularly compared to conventional polyolefins. Characterization of the resultant materials by vibrational spectroscopy, including in-situ measurements of melting and crystallization of chain segments near functional groups will be discussed, as well as concurrent mechanical property measurements. Systematically varied polyolefin families additionally have the benefit of allowing us to study trends in dilute solution behavior, which is important to ensure accurate measurement of molar mass and chemical composition distributions within these materials.
4:00 PM – 4:30 PM	Thomas Epps, University of Delaware	Improving Materials Circularity – Linking Polymer Science and Life-Cycle Analysis Approaches that valorize biomass and plastics waste have continued to emerge in recent years. One common strategy is deconstruction/depolymerization, whereby polymers are degraded into smaller molecules by various reaction pathways. The dynamics of these complex systems of molecules, with evolving molecular weights and molecular weight distributions that span the range from monomer up to commodity polymer, are a strong function of process technology. Hence, efficient development of deconstruction technologies and potential application-oriented use cases will benefit from simple and descriptive models that link material characteristics and process parameters to physical properties and product distributions. We have applied these models and learnings to both biobased and petroleum-based macromolecules. As one example, we have recently achieved the chemical recycling and upcycling of laboratory-based and commercial heteroatom-containing, petroleum-based feedstocks demonstrating the ability to chemically depolymerize both thermoplastics and thermosets back to monomers that can be repolymerized to generate new or upgraded polymeric materials. Additionally, we have begun to identify the impact of additives and impurities on the effectiveness and longevity of catalysts employed in deconstructing plastics waste to develop robust strategies for feedstock purification and catalyst regeneration. Overall, this work in biobased and petrochemical macromolecules offers new pathways to ‘closing the loop’ on the life cycle for higher-performance polymer systems.
4:30 PM – 5:00 PM	Break
5:00 PM – 6:30 PM	Posters
6:30 PM – 7:00 PM	Dinner	Travel to Whiskey Kitchen restaurant

Time	Speaker(s)	Title / Abstract
8:30 AM – 9:00 AM	Stuart Rowan, University of Chicago	Dynamic Networks as a Route to Access Pluripotent Materials The concept of a pluripotent material is best explained by analogy to stem cells, which are pluripotent as they can give rise to different cell types. Thus, a “stem plastic” has the capability of being converted into different classes of plastic material. If a wide range of materials can access from one stem plastic, then this could offer a different way to think about plastic sustainability. Furthermore, a pluripotent plastic could play a critical role in resource-scarce areas (at sea, in space, on the battlefield), where operational tasks often require a wide range of distinct materials properties for specific applications, but there is limited access to materials. Thus, the concept of pluripotent plastics that can be converted into very different materials depending on need, is an attractive one. The question, therefore, is “how can we design pluripotent materials?” We have been investigating dynamic covalent networks combined with tempering or training procedures as one route to such materials.
9:00 AM – 9:30 AM	Helen Tran, University of Toronto	Macromolecular Bioelectronics Next-generation electronics will autonomously respond to local stimuli and be seamlessly integrated with the human body, opening the doors for opportunities in environmental monitoring, advanced consumer products, and health diagnostics for personalized therapy. For example, biodegradable electronics promise to accelerate the integration of electronics with health care by obviating the need for costly device-recovery surgeries that increase infection risk. Moreover, the environmentally critical problem of discarded electronic waste would be relieved. The underpinning of such next-generation electronics is the development of new materials with a wide suite of functional properties beyond our current toolkit. Organic polymers are a natural bridge between electronics and soft matter, where the vast chemical design space allows tunability of electronic, mechanical, and transient properties. Our research group leverages the rich palette of polymer chemistry to design new materials encoded with information for self-assembly, degradability, and electronic transport. In this talk, I will share an overview of projects underway in our group.
9:30 AM – 10:00 AM	Sarah Heilshorn, Stanford University	Viscoelastic Biomaterials to Enable Personalized Tissue Mimics Each individual is unique, yet pharmaceutical companies design the same therapies for all of us using lab mice. In the future, the biofabrication of personalized tissue mimics offers the exciting possibility of individualized therapies. However, current biofabrication methods are greatly hampered by a lack of materials that are simultaneously biofunctional and reproducible. A cell’s behavior is directly influenced by its surrounding microenvironment; thus, ideally each cell type would be cultured in its own customizable biomaterial. To fulfill this need, my lab designs bespoke biomaterials that can be tailored to fit a range of applications. In one demonstration, I present a family of biomaterials that support the growth of patient-derived organoids, i.e. three-dimensional cell aggregates that demonstrate emergent, tissue-like behavior. While organoid cultures have the potential to revolutionize our understanding of human biology, current protocols rely on the use of Matrigel, a complex, heterogeneous material with large batch-to-batch variations. In contrast, our double-network hydrogels are formulated with recombinant biopolymers that can be fine-tuned to display reproducible properties including printability. Using simple polymer physics models coupled to reaction-diffusion constitutive equations allows for the accurate prediction of viscoelastic properties for these hydrogels, which in turn are found to dramatically alter cell behavior. Taken together, my talk will demonstrate how a polymer science skill set can offer important advances to the field of personalized tissue modeling.
10:00 AM – 10:30 AM	Break
10:30 AM – 11:00 AM	Stephen Craig, Duke University	What Single Molecule Reactivity Can Tell Us About Polymer Material Behavior (and how to change it) When and where soft polymeric materials mechanically break down has an impact that is felt individually (biomedical implants) and globally (the environmental impact of tire wear). The mechanical limits of polymers are often considered through the lens of continuum mechanics, but buried under the continuum behavior is the collective contribution of many molecular constituents. This talk will describe how the behavior of individual polymer strands as they stretch to their limiting length and eventually break can be controlled by embedding chemical reactivity, characterized at the single molecule level, and used to establish quantitative structure-activity relationships that are typically hidden in the statistical complexity of polymer networks. The principles uncovered through these investigations inspire new mechanochemical reaction strategies to access previously unattainable combinations of properties.
11:00 AM – 11:30 AM	Yara Yingling, North Carolina State University	All-atom simulations of peptide aggregation: understanding and predicting biopolymeric morphologies The self-assembly and aggregation of partly or completely disordered peptides have emerged as crucial areas of research with broad implications in therapeutics, supramolecular assembly, and functional biomaterials. Understanding the intricate processes underlying the self-assembly and aggregation of these proteins is essential for harnessing their functional properties and expanding their applications. Simulations can be used to isolate the importance of the interplay between aggregate morphology and secondary structure formation. However, most of the simulation studies investigate either a single peptide in solution or several short peptide analogs. We used large-scale all-atom MD simulations to investigate the structure of hydrated peptide aggregates in detail. Two example systems were investigated, reflectin and elastin-like peptides (ELP). Reflectin proteins, found in cephalopods, play a pivotal role in dynamic coloration for camouflage and communication. On the other hand, ELP proteins possess unique thermoresponsive properties, making them attractive for drug delivery systems, tissue engineering, and biomaterial design. We found significant differences between the structure of a single polypeptide in water and the structure of a peptide within the aggregate. Overall, the aggregation process is driven by the formation of peptide–peptide interactions whereas the average hydration of peptides remains almost the same between dissolved and aggregated states. Even though the aggregation is driven by hydrophobic interactions, aggregate has no hydrophobic core and contains many water molecules. Overall, our findings provide insight into the sequence-dependent structure of aggregates and the molecular behavior of individual peptides during aggregation.
11:30 AM – 12:00 PM	Michael Dickey, NC State University	Ultratough Ionogels Ionogels are compelling materials for energy storage devices, ionotronics, and actuators due to their excellent ionic conductivity, thermal and electrochemical stability and nonvolatility. However, most existing ionogels suffer from low strength and toughness. Here, we report a simple one-step method to achieve ultra-tough and stretchable ionogels by randomly copolymerizing two common monomers in ionic liquid. Copolymerization leads to a single covalent network with controllable polymer- and solvent-rich phases that form in situ due to the phase behavior of the polymer in ionic liquid. The polymer-rich phase forms hydrogen bonds that dissipate energy and thereby toughen the ionogel during extension, while the solvent-rich phase remains elastic to enable large strain. The copolymer ionogels composed of acrylamide and acrylic acid exhibit extraordinary mechanical properties (see photograph below), including fracture strength (12.6 MPa), fracture energy (~24 kJ m-2), and Young’s modulus (46.5 MPa), setting new records among reported ionogels. The tough ionogels are highly stretchable (~600% strain) and possess good self-recovery, as well as excellent self-healing and shape-memory properties. This concept extends to other monomers and ionic liquids, which offers a promising and general way to tune microstructure in situ during one-step polymerization that solves the longstanding mechanical challenges in ionogels.
12:00 PM – 1:30 PM	Lunch
1:30 PM – 2:00 PM	Eva Harth, University of Houston	Synthesis and Application of Polyolefin -based Hybrid Materials Polyolefin hybrid materials are developed to merge properties of polyolefins with acrylics and polyesters. In a time in which higher value applications of polyolefins are sought after, synthetic methods which allow a combination with other polymer families are being investigated. The objectives are to develop polymer architectures such as block copolymers, bottlebrushes containing polyolefin segments. Enabling self- assembly behavior, interface interaction and postfunctionalization will form hybrid structures to be studied. The key in this development are organometallic complexes which allow the installment of functional groups which can either place initiating groups at the chain ends to form either single functionalized polyolefins or telechelics. In this lecture, the development of suitable Pd(II) and Ni(II) complexes and one step methods, enabling single chain end functionalization and polyolefins with controlled branching and branching density will be presented. The work will showcase synthetic procedures to form novel architectures containing polyolefins which have not been accessible due to the lack of suitable precursors.
2:00 PM – 2:30 PM	John Matson, Virginia Tech	Controlling the Synthesis of Poly(olefin sulfones) Poly(olefin sulfone)s (POSs) are alternating copolymers of sulfur dioxide (SO2) and an α-olefin. Dating back to the late 1800s, POSs have low ceiling temperatures and readily depolymerize to regenerate SO2 gas and the original olefin monomer. The synthesis of POSs by free radical polymerization has been well documented, but a lack of control over molecular weight and chain-end fidelity have prevented the expansion of their application to block copolymers. In fact, there are no reports demonstrating control over this polymerization using any type of reversible-deactivation radical polymerization (RDRP). We use light-initiated and light-mediated RDRP techniques to control POS synthesis, relying on kinetics experiments to provide insight into mechanism. These synthetic methods provide greater control over molecular weight and chain-end fidelity than free radical methods, opening up POSs as useful depolymerizable polymers.
2:30 PM – 3:00 PM	Frank Leibfarth, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill	Regioselective and Stereoconvergent Chain-growth Allylic Amination Polymerizations of Vinyl Aziridines Transition-metal catalysis has been an enabling technology for the synthesis of novel polymeric materials by invoking unique organometallic intermediates that offer distinct reactivities compared to traditional radical or ionic mechanisms. However, current methodologies struggle to incorporate heteroatoms such as nitrogen into the backbone of polymers, which offer unique properties compared to all-carbon counterparts. Transition-metal p-allyl complexes are established synthons in small-molecule catalysis for carbon-nitrogen bond formation through allylic amination, but these approaches are understudied in polymer science. In this lecture, I will discuss the development of a chain-growth allylic amination polymerizations that provide novel polyamine structures. To accomplish this, we leverage the amphoteric -allyl complexes derived from vinyl sulfonyl-aziridines using transition metal catalysis. I will describe the effect of metal identity and ligand structure on molecular weight and regioselectivity, which led to competent ligands to form different regio- and stereo-isomers of polymer. Polymer deprotection provided polymers with secondary amines in the backbone. These polyamines are cytotoxic to a broad array of cancer cell lines and had divergent behavior from the canonical polyethylene imine.
3:00 PM – 3:30 PM	Break
3:30 PM – 4:00 PM	Ting Xu, University of California, Berkeley, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory	Controlled Randomness in Heteropolymers to Realize Protein Mimics: Proteins are inherently heterogeneous in molecular chemistry, segmental structure, and component dynamics. Not being designed from scratch, protein sequence-structure-function relationship reflects the evolutionary results under the constraints of protein’s chemistry and immediate surroundings. While proteins leverage unique backbone chemistry and sequence specificity enabled by biomachines to gain function, neither should nor can be directly extrapolated to molecules with different chemistry. In essence, proteins realize functions by presenting multiple side chains with spatial and temporal control and succeed so by synergizing multiple factors. Random heteropolymers (RHPs) consisting of three or more comonomers have been routinely used to synthesize functional materials. With recent advances in polymer chemistry, we can statistically define RHP sequences to occupy significantly reduced sequence spaces and modulate chemical characteristics at the segmental level to match that in proteins. We hypothesize that with RHPs’ segmental sequence control, it is feasible to replicate proteins’ characteristics and functions despite their lack of sequence specificity and atomically defined structures. Specifically, I will discuss our recent studies in (1) how to select RHP chemical composition based on protein sequence analysis; (2) modulate RHP sidechain presentation via a tiered sequence control enabled by quantifying RHP polymerization; and (3) tailor RHP sidechain presentation spatially and temporally to mimic folded proteins. Through these basic studies, we provide unique insights in the similarities and differences between synthetic polymers based on C-C bond backbones and proteins and leveraged the knowledge to engineer arrays of functional materials such as protein protectants, biological fluids stabilizer, catalytically active materials with temperature and solvent robustness etc.
4:00 PM – 4:30 PM	Bob Waymouth, Stanford University	New catalysts and processes for polymer science We have developed new classes of organic catalysts and polymerization processes that have enabled strategies for the efficient living polymerization of lactone and carbonate monomers; these catalysts have been integrated into efficient flow reactors for the programmed synthesis of block copolymer libraries. These new advances have provided new solutions to challenges in sustainable materials and drug and gene delivery agents.
4:30 PM – 5:00 PM	Awardee
5:00 PM – 5:30 PM	End