CHEN lab

Research Interests

Charged polymers are ubiquitous, spanning synthetic polyelectrolytes to cellular proteins and DNAs. In aqueous environment, these charged polymers can assemble into a wide range of complex materials, such as polyelectrolyte coacervates, membranes, and protein complexes, which have significant potentials for various sustainability and bioengineering applications. The significant challenge – and potential – of pursuing these polymer complex systems is that the properties are governed by the interaction of multiple components in bulk and interface across a range of time and length scales, from nanoscale ion correlation, to mesoscale polymer association, to macroscopic material response to external fields. As such, computational and theoretical modelling are indispensable for advancing our fundamental understanding of aqueous polymer systems and accelerating their design for read-world applications.

• Our group focus on using multiscale simulations,

  theory, and machine learning to characterize, understand and guide the design of novel aqueous polymer systems for sustainability and bioengineering applications, such as underwater adhesion, antifouling materials, soft robotics and bioelectronics, drug design, and protein engineering.

• Current research directions include but not limited to:

  polyelectrolyte complex coacervates (structure, thermodynamics, and dynamics) and biocondensates (aging, rheology, and responsiveness), charging dynamics in electrolyte/polyelectrolyte solutions, interfacial behavior of polymer complexes, machine learning in protein design and drug delivery, etc.