UTA research teams have recently created a new type of pH-sensitive peptide material that includes artificial amino acids with different chemical structures in their side chains. By varying the hydrophobic and ionic properties of these amino acids, these materials can be engineered to leverage pH variations across different bodily environments, spanning organ, tissue, and cellular levels. By harnessing these pH gradients, the pH-responsive peptides are expected to efficiently deliver therapeutic agents to specific tissues or even cellular compartments.

The PREM team at the University of Texas Arlington recently created a special layered material that uses different quantum states to control how electrons move. By stopping the flow of high-energy (hot) electrons and only letting low-energy (cold) electrons pass through, they achieved an electron flow with a temperature as low as 0.8 K (-272 °C). This ultra-cold electron flow can help develop new, energy-saving transistors. More details are available in the paper, "Sub-1K Cold-Electron Switching at Room Temperature," published in Nano Letters.

The PREM PEAQS center recently published a paper, “Real-time optical thickness determination for producing ultra-thin silicon membranes using anisotropic potassium hydroxide etching” in MRS Advances.

At the ongoing 2024 PREM Scholars Summit, Karen Lozano, keynote speaker at the event discussed her work as PREM PI at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley.

Science and networking bring materials science students from across the nation to the UChicago Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering

Tania Betancourt, Director of PREM CIMA, has been selected as one of AIMBE’s 17 Inaugural Emerging Leaders for her exceptional contributions to medical and biological engineering. This recognition by the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE) highlights Betancourt’s remarkable contributions to biomedical engineering and her dedication to innovation and mentorship.

Exciting research presented at the UT Fall Undergraduate Research Symposium (FURS)! We’re thrilled to announce that Dillon Gee and Brandon Taylor recently shared their innovative research projects in oral presentations.

PREM researchers, Junaid ur Rehman and Scott Barrett, recently presented their innovative research and were awarded the 2024 Department of Energy (DOE) Environmental Management (EM) Scholarship at the DOE-EM Symposium held at Texas State University.

PREM student, Dillon Gee, was recently awarded the Annual Biomedical Research Conference for Minority Students (ABRCMS) Award for his presentation “Leveraging Valence of Star-like PEGs to Tune Rheology and Gelation Pathways of Dynamic Hydrogels,” based on his UT REU research. With over 6,000 attendees at the ABRCMS and 3,000 presentations, only 300 participants received awards—and Gee was one of them.

Three PREM undergraduates—Amelia Scott, Dillon Gee, and Melany Bouyer—were recently awarded $1,000 Undergraduate Research Fellowships (URF) to support their innovative projects in materials science.