B.S. Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering, University of Notre Dame, 2010M.S. Polymer Science & Engineering, University of Massachusetts Amherst, 2012Ph.D. Polymer Science & Engineering, University of Massachusetts Amherst, 2016Post-Doc Chemistry, Texas A&M University, 2016-2018
Rachel A. Letteri is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering. After obtaining a B.S. in Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering from the University of Notre Dame, she completed a Ph.D. in Polymer Science & Engineering from the University of Massachusetts Amherst under the direction of Professors Todd Emrick and Ryan Hayward. She then conducted postdoctoral research in the laboratory of Professor Karen Wooley in the Department of Chemistry at Texas A&M University from 2016-2018. Her research interests include materials involving functional polymers, peptides, and interfacial assemblies with applications in medicine and engineering, among others. Rachel also enjoys sharing science and engineering with others through education and outreach.
Lab overview
The Letteri group is engineering materials that feature hierarchical structure and dynamic mechanical properties, and enable productive interactions with living systems. Intertwining the tunability and versatility of synthetic polymers with the sequence-dependent interactions and biological activity of peptides offers tremendous opportunities for the generation of materials well-suited to address central challenges in medicine and engineering.
Awards
Thomas E. Hutchinson Award (Trigon Engineering Society) for outreach to students, enthusiastic lectures, obvious love of teaching, and contributions to the Engineering School2019
Research Interests
Polymer synthesis and characterization
Peptide binding and assembly
Biomaterials
Supramolecular networks
Selected Publications
Forming sticky droplets from slippery polymer zwitterions ABSLetteri, R. A.;* Santa Chalarca, C. F;* Bai, Y.; Hayward, R. C.; Emrick, T. Adv. Mater. 2017, 1702921 (*Equal contributors)
Amphiphilic cross-linked liquid crystalline fluoropolymer-poly(ethylene glycol) coatings for application in challenging conditions: Comparative study between different liquid crystalline comonomers and polymer architectures. ABSZigmond, J. S.; Letteri, R. A.; Wooley, K. L. ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces 2016, 8, 33386-33393
Dispersing zwitterions into comb polymers for nonviral transfection: Experiments and Molecular Simulation ABSGhobadi, A. F.;* Letteri, R.;* Parelkar, S. S.; Zhao, Y.; Chan-Seng, D.; Emrick, T.; Jayaraman, A. Biomacromolecules 2016, 17, 546-557 (*Equal contributors)
Functional sulfobetaine polymers: Synthesis and salt-responsive stabilization of oil-in-water droplets ABSChang, C. C.;* Letteri, R.;* Hayward, R. C.; Emrick, T. Macromolecules 2015, 48, 7843-7850 (*Equal contributors)
Polymer-peptide delivery platofrms: Effect of oligopeptide orientation on polymer-based DNA delivery ABSParelkar, S. S.;* Letteri, R.;* Chan-Seng, D.;* Zolochevska, O.; Ellis, J.; Figueiredo, M.; Emrick, T Biomacromolecules 2014, 15, 1328-1336 (*Equal contributors)
