Prof Rein Ulijn PhD Msc FRSC FRSE

Rein Ulijn's research group is developing bio-inspired nanotechnology. The fundamental research question that drives his work is how the molecular building blocks and processes of life can be repurposed, combined and simplified to produce functional materials with designed properties and functions that cannot be achieved using existing design approaches. The resulting materials can be produced from sustainable sources and are finding wide-ranging applications ranging from energy harvesting, to sustainable plastics, personal care, sensing, biomedicine. He is founding Director of the Nanoscience Initiative at the Advanced Science Research Center (ASRC) at CUNY, New York. Prof. Ulijn has held several personal fellowships and has won a number of awards, including the Vannevar Bush Faculty Fellowship, RSC Norman Heatley Medal, Royal Society Merit Award, and was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. He is also the Einstein Professor of Chemistry at Hunter College of CUNY.

Present appointments:
2022-present: Director of the NSF Research Training Grant (NRT) Nanoscience Connected to Life, Graduate Center, City University of New York (CUNY).
2019-present: Director of the ASRC Sensor CAT (Center for Advanced Technology), Advanced Science Research Center, City University of New York (CUNY).
2014-present: Director of the Nanoscience Initiative, Advanced Science Research Center, CUNY.
2014-present: Albert Einstein Professor of Chemistry, Hunter College, CUNY.

Previous employment:
2008-2017: Professor of Chemistry, Department of Chemistry, WestCHEM, University of Strathclyde, UK.
2012-2014: Vice Dean Research (Science), University of Strathclyde.
2006-2008: Associate Professor and EPSRC Advanced Research Fellow, School of Materials & Interdisciplinary Biocentre (MIB), University of Manchester, UK.
2003- 2006: Assistant Professor in Biomedical Materials, School of Materials, UMIST/University of Manchester.
2001-2003: Postdoctoral research associate, School of Chemistry, University of Edinburgh, UK. Advisor: Prof. Sabine Flitsch.

Education:
1998- 2001: PhD Physical Chemistry, University of Strathclyde, UK. Advisor: Prof. Peter J. Halling and Dr. Barry D. Moore.
1993-1998: MSc Biotechnology, University of Wageningen, NL.

Memberships:
American Academy for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
American Chemical Society (ACS)
Materials Research Society (MRS)
Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) (Fellow since 2008)
Royal Society of Edinburgh (RSE) (Fellow since 2014)

Fellowships and Awards:
2021: Vannevar Bush Faculty Fellowship
2020: World Science University Faculty
2020: Batsheva de Rothschild Fellowship
2014: Fellowship of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (FRSE)
2014: Royal Society Wolfson Merit Award
2014: RSC Emerging Technologies Award
2013: RSC Norman Heatley Prize
2010: ERC Consolidator Grant
2009: NW Biomedical Awards for Innovation
2008: Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry (FRSC)
2007: Macro Group UK Young Researchers Medal
2007: Leverhulme Trust Leadership Award
2006: EPSRC Advanced Research Fellowship

Dr Jiye Son

Jiye is the Associate Director for the Nanoscience Initiative and the ASRC Sensor CAT. She oversees the daily operation of the Initiative and provides support for faculty, staff, postdocs, and students. As one of the first Ph.D. candidates to complete her dissertation at the ASRC, she continues to actively engage with scientists at ASRC and innovative start-ups in NYC to foster multi-disciplinary research. Her research focuses on the investigation and application of enzyme responsive peptide nanomaterials, which she developed during her Ph.D. under the co-supervision of Prof. Ulijn and Prof. Maria Contel of Brooklyn College. Prior to starting graduate school, Jiye received her B.Sc. in chemistry from Stony Brook University and was an employee of the Product Safety and Toxicology Department of The Estee Lauder Companies in Melville, NY.

Dr Vignesh Athiyarath

Vignesh obtained B.Sc. degree in Chemistry from S.N.G.S. College Pattambi, (Kerala, India). He joined as a first Integrated MS-PhD student at IISER Thiruvananthapuram, in School of Chemistry. He completed PhD in 2020, working with Prof. Kana M. Sureshan. During PhD he worked on the synthesis of peptido- and carbohydrate-mimetics. He used topochemical polymerization strategy for the synthesis of peptidomimetics, and conventional multi-step synthetic organic chemistry approach for the synthesis of carbohydrate-mimics. He also elucidated properties of these synthesized novel biomimetics in a material-chemistry and biological point of view. In 2021, he joined ASRC, CUNY (New York, USA) as a joined postdoctoral research associate with Prof. Rein Ulijn and Prof. Xi Chen. His work is focussed on development of chemo-mechanical peptide actuators by induced fit concept.

Dr Avishek Dey

Avishek obtained his B.Sc. and M.Sc. from the Midnapore College and Vidyasagar University, India. He received his Ph.D. in 2018 from Department of Chemistry, Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur, India, under the guidance of Prof. Kumar Biradha. His research focused on the self-assembled functional materials using supramolecular approach. Subsequently, he joined Prof. Niveen Khashab group at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), Saudi Arabia as a Postdoctoral Fellow in the same year where his research focused on self-assembly of organic materials such as cages, macrocycles, energy intensive separations and bioimaging. He has been also awarded JSPS fellowship, Japan in 2022. Then, he joined as a Postdoctoral Research Associate in the Prof. Eric Bloch group at University of Delaware, USA to investigate the self-assembly of the porous cages. Avishek joined Prof. Rein Ulijn's group at Advance Science Research Center, CUNY (New York, USA) in 2023 as a Research Associate to work on the functional organic materials such as systems and flow chemistry, adaptive peptide assembly using machine learning techniques.

Dr Maeva Coste

Maeva obtained a BSc and MSc in organic chemistry and chemistry of biomolecules at the University of Montpellier, France. Then, she pursued and received her Ph.D. in Chemistry, Biomolecular Engineering from the University of Montpellier. Her Ph.D. was conducted under the supervision of Dr. Sebastien Ulrich in the Institut des Biomolecules Max Mousseron (IBMM). Her thesis projects were focused on the design, synthesis and characterization of programmed and DNA-templated self-assemblies aromatic-peptide conjugates. She joined Prof. Rein Ulijn's group in 2022 as a Postdoctoral Research Associate to investigate peptide self-assemblies and their properties.

Dr Soeun Gim

Soeun obtained her BSc and MSc in Chemical and Biomolecular engineering in Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST). After working in industry, she moved to Germany to pursue her PhD at Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces under the supervision of Dr. Martina Delbianco and Prof. Dr. Peter. H. Seeberger. Her research focused on synthetic carbohydrate-based materials as models to describe natural carbohydrate assemblies. In 2022, she joined Prof. Rein Ulijn's group as a postdoctoral research associate to explore programmable peptide assemblies with stimuli responsiveness and their properties.

Dr Salma Kassem

Salma obtained her BSc and MSc from the University of Geneva. Her Master's thesis was conducted under the supervision of Prof. Stephen Hanessian at the University of Montreal. After working for a year as a Medicinal Chemistry Intern at Hoffmann-La Roche in Basel, she joined Prof. David A. Leigh's group at the University of Manchester as a PhD student. Her research focused on the development of molecular machines for the transport and synthesis of small-molecules. After graduating, she stayed on as a Postdoctoral Research Associate in the Leigh group to investigate new designs of molecular pumps and their application in the unidirectional transport of molecular cargoes. Salma joined Prof. Rein Ulijn's group in 2019 as a Research Associate to work on the discovery of new properties of self-assembling structures using dynamic peptide libraries.

Dr Deborah Sementa

Deborah received her Ph.D. in Pharmaceutical Sciences from University of Naples - Federico II with a thesis on the construction of multifunctional molecular tools with improved efficacy, pharmacokinetic properties and targeted delivery. As part of her Ph.D. studies, she has been a visiting scholar at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, working in the field of flow-based peptide/protein synthesis and Chemical Biology. Then, she joined RCSI as a Marie Curie Post-doctoral Research Fellow, where she gained expertise in design and synthesis of new Phase Transfer Catalysts. Her research focuses on the combination of solid-phase and solution-phase methods for the generation of valuable chemical devices.

Kenny Barriales

Kenny graduated Hunter College with a Bachelors degree in Chemistry. Kenny joined the Ulijn Lab as a PhD student and his research focuses on the use of melanin like peptide materials. Before obtaining a research position, Kenny has done volunteer work at Pfizer where he learned greater in-depth detail of advancements in chemical technology. Apart from research, Kenny likes to spend his time playing sports and going to the gym.

Naxhije (Gia) Berisha

Naxhije received her BA in Biochemistry at Hunter College. In her first two years as a Nanotechnology graduate student at the Graduate Center, she worked with Dr. Charles M. Drain and collaborated with Dr. Moritz F. Kircher at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer center in a project using silicated gold nanoparticles for applications in precision imaging of tumors. She also previously worked on porphyrin conjugates for applications in imaging and PDT. She has, since, branched out and is currently in Prof. Rein Ulijn's lab working on peptide nanoparticles. She is interested in nanotechnology, imaging, bio-engineering and cancer research.

Paola Colon

Paola graduated with a B.S in Industrial Chemistry from the University of Puerto Rico in Humacao. She worked with understanding the ligand interactions and molecular modeling of 1-benzazepine analogues to find out which ones better fit into the binding site of the nicotinic acetylcholinesterase receptor (nAChR) of the 2PH9 protein using computational chemistry. She joined the Ph.D. program in Chemistry at the CUNY Graduate Center in 2021. Then Paola decided to join Ulijn Lab in 2022 at the Advanced Science Research Center (ASRC). His research interests include peptide self-assembly, nanotechnology, peptide synthesis, surfactant capacity. In addition to doing research Paola enjoys listening to music, traveling and reading.

Dhwanit Dave

Dhwanit was born and raised in Mumbai, India where he completed his undergraduate studies in chemistry at St. Xavier's College and his Masters in Chemistry at the Institute of Chemical Technology (ICT). In the Fall of 2018, he joined the Doctoral program in chemistry at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York and is currently a Doctoral Candidate in Chemistry working with Professor Rein Ulijn at the Advanced Science Research Center. He manages the computational capabilities of the Ulijn lab and his research interests are in understanding biomolecular materials design using multiscale molecular dynamics simulations. Outside the lab, Dhwanit likes biking, playing tennis, listening to classical music and opera.

Anna Geissmann

Anna was born in Paris, France and moved to the US in 2017. Anna joined the Ulijn Lab in 2020 as part of her undergraduate research, where she worked on self-assembling peptides and subsequently joined the group as a PhD candidate.

Elma Naranjo Estepa

Elma obtained her B.S. and MSc. in chemical engineering from Universidad Nacional of Colombia. Her master's thesis was conducted under the supervision of Professor Jairo Perilla. In 2021 she joined CCNY's Ph.D. program. She is currently working on the pre-organization and induced fit in chemo-mechanical peptide materials under the supervision of Professor Xi Chen and Professor Rein Ulijn at the ASRC. Besides research, Elma enjoys hiking, traveling, and playing basketball.

Maithreyi Ramakrishnan

Maithreyi graduated with a Masters degree from Centre for Excellence in Basic Sciences, Mumbai, India. Over the course of her degree, she was selected to work on a funded project for her Masters dissertation under Prof. David Smith at the University of York, UK, on two component supramolecular gels. She has also worked on the effect of curcumin in modifying the pathway of HEWL aggregation. In her undergraduate years, she was selected for National Initiative on Undergraduate Science, which provides undergraduate students with research opportunities. During this, she worked on synthesizing nanomaterials which have potential applications in effluent purification. Her research interests include enzyme responsive materials, and self-assembly.

Janel Rivera Cancel

Janel obtained her double major B.S. in chemistry and biomedical sciences from the Pontifical Catholic University of Puerto Rico in Ponce. Here she conducted research on the synthesis and characterization of quantum dots for toxic waste treatment. She joined the Chemistry Ph.D. program in 2020 and is currently co-advised by Professor Nicolas Giovambattista, Professor Gustavo Lopez, and Professor Xi Chen. She now does research with supramolecular water responsive materials and isotope effects on their mechanical properties.

Fahmeed Sheehan

After graduating from the Macaulay Honors College at Hunter College with a B.A. in Chemistry, Sheehan has remained in CUNY to earn a Ph.D. in Chemistry. As an undergraduate, he worked on designing a system using di-phenylalanine gels to trap small molecules in solution. Currently, he is involved in the structural analysis of short-peptide supramolecular structures using Cryo-TEM.

Mark Bubnovich

Mark is a junior at Hunter College majoring in Biochemistry and minoring in Economics and Math on the Pre-Medical track. Mark joined the lab in the Summer of 2022 and is currently working on the chymotrypsin activity in different solvents. Aside from academics, Mark enjoys reading and going out with my friends and family.

Leana Figueroa

Leana is a senior in the Macaulay Honors College at Hunter College. She is a biochemistry major with a sociology minor on the Pre-Medical track. Leana joined the Ulijn Lab in the Fall of 2020 and is working on the liquid-liquid phase separation of peptides. Her previous research focused on the effect of herbal medicine in cancer patients as well as biomedical research at Columbia University Medical Center as part of the SPURS program. She hopes to attend medical school in the future and become a family practice physician. Aside from academics, Leana loves to dance, read, and also works as a waitress at her local bar and restaurant.

Shadman Khandaker

Shadman is a rising senior in the Macaulay Honors College at Hunter College, majoring in Biochemistry while pursuing the pre-medical track. My research interests include melanin like peptide materials and their composites with carbon nanotubes. Some of my hobbies are running and playing the guitar.

Cooper Moran

Cooper is an undergraduate student at the Macaulay Honors College at Hunter College. He is majoring in biochemistry with a minor in music on the pre-med track. He will be starting research the summer of 2021, working alongside Fahmeed Sheehan. Cooper also is a setter on the Hunter College Volleyball team.

Sadiyah Parveen

Sadiyah was born and raised in Brooklyn, NY. She is currently pursuing a major in biomedical engineering, and a minor in art at the City College of New York. She is a research assistant at the Eisele Group at CDI, and is working on a project pertaining to the synthesis of plexcitonic particles using gold and silver nanoparticles. Sadiyah joined the Ulijn Lab as part of the CUNY Summer Undergraduate Research Program, and is working with her mentors on designing self-assembling peptides for imaging in ovarian cancer. Apart from research, Sadiyah has a passion for art and fitness.

Rodolphe Sossou Tchatcha

Rodolphe was born and raised in Benin Republic, West Africa, where he completed his High School Diploma. He moved to the US in 2018 and grappled with a new culture, and a new language. Six months later, he passed the CUNY Assessment Test at Hostos Community College and majored in Liberal Arts and Science harbouring a desire to transfer into Biological Sciences program. Over the summer 2020, he received an internship to the CUNY Advanced Science Research Center (ASRC) through CUNY Science Undergraduate Research Program (CSURP). There, he joined Prof. Ulijn's lab and, under the mentorship of Fahmeed Sheehan, he conducted research on the design of short peptides mimicking the function of antifreeze proteins, and their application in the treatment of frostbite and in cryomedicine. Outside research, he enjoys playing soccer and biking.

Jonathan Pae

Jonathan was born and raised in Manhattan. He has had an interest in biology for some time and is particularly interested in the biological applications of nanoparticles. He is a Junior at Collegiate High School. As part of the Collegiate Science and Engineering Research Program, he is studying nanomolecules using molecular dynamics simulations