Principal Investigator
Tonya Kuhl
Principal Investigator
Department of Chemical Engineering , Department Chair
Biomedical Engineering
Office: 3112 Bainer Hall
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Research InterestsDirect Measurements of Biological Membrane – Membrane Interactions, Ligand-Receptor Interactions, Polymer Thin-Films, and Small Angle Scattering Studies of Interfacial Films
EducationB.S. Chemical Engineering, University of Arizona
Ph.D. Chemical Engineering, University of California, Santa Barbara
Postdoctoral Fellow, Materials Research Laboratory, University of California, Santa Barbara
Graduate Students
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Group Cartoon!
Courtesy of Zhongrui Liu
Undergraduate Students
Skye Frank (Chemical Engineering) 2021-
Nicholas Chan (Chemical Engineering) 2022-
Alumni
Visitng Scholars
Prof. Keishi Suga, Ph.D. 2015,2020
Former Postdoctoral Researchers
Charles F. Laub, 2005-2007 (Staff member, Nanomaterials in the Environment, Agriculture, and Technology, University of California, Davis)
Chad E. Miller, 2005-2009 (California Polytechnic San Luis Obispo, Physics Department)
Nathan W. Moore, 2007-2008 (Staff member Sandia National Laboratory)
Simon Castroph, 2011-2013 (Siemens Healthcare, Frankfurt, Germany)
Dennis Mulder, 2011-2012 (self-employed)
Former Graduate Students
2003 Stephanie Nichols-Smith (Chemical Engineering), Thesis: "An Investigation of the Themodynamic, Mechanical, and Electrostatic Properties of Model Mitochondrial Membranes."(Genentech, Vacaville, California)
2005 Chad E. Miller (Biophysics), Dissertation: "High-Resolution Characterization of Model Lipid Membranes and their Interaction with Cholera Toxin”.(SSRL, then C California Polytechnic San Luis Obispo, Physics Department).
2006 Nathan W. Moore (Chemical Engineering), Dissertation: "Tuning Adhesion Using Tethered Ligand-Receptor Interactions”. (Sandia National Laboratory, Albuquerque, NM)
2008 Suzanne Barber (Materials Science), Dissertation: "Membranes and Colloids:How Polymer Decoration Impacts Adhesion between Complementary Surfaces and Membrane Fusion”. (Scientific Staff, Max Bergmann Center of Biomaterials and Leibniz-Institut für Polymerforschung, Dresden, Germany)
2011 Erik B. Watkins (Biophysics), Dissertation: "Neutron and X-ray Scattering Studies of Model Membranes" (Staff Researcher Los Alamos National Laboratory)
2011 Dennis J. Mulder (Chemical Engineering), Dissertation: "Polymer Brushes in Restricted Geometries: Structure and Lubricity" (self-employed)
2011 Caroline Kim (Chemical Engineering), Thesis: "Lipid Membrane Thermodynamics on pH Responsive Polymer Cushions". (PhD candidate UCLA)
2011 Ayano Hirahara (Materials Science), Thesis: Analysis of a Five-Layer Interferometer in the Surface Force Apparatus by Mathematica and C Language Programs (Japan).
2012 Ian Elliott (Chemical Engineering), Dissertation: "Characterization of High Grafting Density Polymer Brushes Using Molecular Dynamics Simulations and Experimental Methods" (Chevron Research, Richmond CA)
2012 Wei-Po Liao (Materials Science), Dissertation: "Interfacial Interactions of Polymer Brushes in Restricted Geometries" (Samsung, Houston, Texas)
2012 Raquel Orozco-Alcaraz (Chemical Engineering) Dissertation: "Membrane Interactions at the Molecular Level Using the Surface Force Apparatus" (Boehringer Ingelheim, Fremont, CA)
2014 Shoalong Liu (Materials Science), Thesis: "Interaction Forces between Phase Separated Membranes." (Health Care, San Francisco, California).
2016 Daniel Kienle (Chemical Engineering) Dissertation: "Measuring Matter in a Tight Spot: A Novel Approach for Characterizing Ultra-Thin Films and Confined Fluids" (Postdoctoral Researcher, University of Colorado at Boulder)
2016 James Kurniawan (Chemical Engineering) Dissertation: "Interaction Forces between Biomembranes: Surface Force Apparatus Studies of Supported Lipid Bilayers" (Intel, Portland, Oregon)
2016 Pei Pang (Materials Science), Thesis: A Review of Interactions of Polycarboxylate Based Superplasticizers in Concrete Applications
2017 Joao Ventrici de Souza (Chemistry) Dissertation: "Development of Advanced Methodologies for Three-Dimensional Nanoprinting" (Intel, Portland, Oregon)
2018 Allison Belliveau (Materials Science), Thesis: A Thermodynamic Study of Pure Olein and Mixed Olein-Lipid Monolayers.
2019 Amanda Dang (Materials Science) Dissertation: "Applications of Supported Lipid Bilayers and Nanolipoprotein Particles" (Gilead, San Francisco, California)
2020 Ryan Edmonds (Chemical Engineering), Thesis: "Friction Measurements of Model Saliva-Wine Solutions between Polydimethylsiloxane Surface" (Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, Bremerton, Washington)
2021 Evan Haning (Chemical Engineering), Thesis: "Design and Processing of Functionalized Epoxy Thin Films for Black Lipid Membrane Support and Testing" (Ultima Genomics, Newark, California)
2021 Deepshika Gilbile (Chemical Engineering), Dissertation: "Innovations in Fixed-Target Serial X-ray Crystallography" (BioMarin, San Rafael, California)
2023 Tanner Finney (Chemical Engineering), Dissertation: "Mechanically Sensitive Polydiacetylene Langmuir Films: Structure, Properties and Applications" (Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM)
Former Undergraduate Students
Shia-Yen Teh (Biosystems Engineering, 2003), 2001-2003
Trevor Crabtrey (Chemical Engineering, 2003), 2001-2003
Jeffrey Chomyn (Chemical Engineering, 2003), 2003
Momena Shenshu (Chemical Engineering, 2004), 2004
Melissa Takahashi (Biochemical Engineering, 2004), 2004
Emily Conley
Yelena Semenov
Kaki Cheung (Electrical and Computer Engineering, 2005), 2004-2005
Anthony De La Cruz (Chemical Engineering, 2005), 2004-2005
Bertha Kuo (Biomedical Engineering, 2005), 2004-2005
Melodi King
Saranya Benjauthrit (Chemical Engineering, 2006), 2005-2006
Danny Nou (Mechanical Engineering, 2006), 2005-2006
Yanto Yanto (Chemical Engineering, 2006), 2005-2006
Yan Xu (Chemical Engineering, 2006), 2005-2006
Sean Moore (Chemical Engineering, 2007), 2006-2007
Rosa Parks (Chemical Engineering, 2007), 2007
Laura Judson (Biomedical Engineering, 2008), 2007-2008
Brian Seaby (Chemical Engineering, 2009), 2007-2009
Paul Bulkley-Logston (Chemical Engineering, 2009), 2007-2009
Ta’Sheema Taylor (Biological Systems Engineering, 2011), 2008-2010
Lizabeth Gomez (Bioengineering), summer 2008
Shilpa Banik (Chemical Engineering, 2010) 2009-2010
Shari Williams (Chemical Engineering, 2011) 2010-2011
Eric Cheung (Chemical Engineering, 2012) 2011-2012
Easton Groves (Chemical Engineering, 2013) 2012-2013
William Chan (Chemical Engineering, 2013) 2012-2013
Alessandra Coronas-Wohl (Chemical Engineering, 2013) 2012-2013
Kaylee Thatcher (Chemical Engineering, 2014) 2012
Matthew Stebban (Chemical Engineering, 2014) 2012-2013
Christy Turcios (Chemical Engineering) 2013-2015
Hillary Chan (Chemical Engineering) 2013-2015
Tony Li (Chemical Engineering) 2013-2015
Miguel Angel Turcios (Chemical Engineering) 2013-2014
Daniela Ivey (Chemical Engineering) 2014-present
Araceli Munaier Almeida (2014)
Joe Chen (Chemical Engineering) 2014-2015
Greg Kittleson (Chemical Engineering) 2014-2016
Shawn Mattathil (Chemical Engineering) 2014-2016
Doniko Kingi (Chemical Engineering) 2014-2016
Yeeun Kim (Chemistry) 2014-2015
Stephney Racy (Chemistry) 2014-2016
Robert Wu (Chemical Engineering) 2015-2016
Diego Docto (Chemical Engineering) 2016-2018
Denise Monahan (Chemical Engineering) 2016-2017
Ashley Templeton (Chemical Engineering) 2016-2017
Alexander Tang (Chemical Engineering) 2017-2020
Clara Dresselhaus (Computer Science) 2018-2020
Ellie Ridgway (Chemical Engineering) 2018-2020
Abigail Weiler (Chemical Engineering) 2018-2020
Christopher Dixon (Chemical Engineering) 2019-2021
Uyioenwongo Udoh (Chemical Engineering) 2021-2022
Quinn Spooner (Chemical Engineering) 2021-2022
Patrick Ama (Chemical Engineering) 2021-2022
Dat Dang (Chemical Engineering) 2021-2023