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The Lin Group

The Lin Group works on a variety of interdisciplinary research projects that are relevant to important societal issues like the environment and sustainability, alternative energy sources, and human health. We design metal-organic frameworks from metal ions with well-defined geometry and organic bridging ligands. These porous hybrid materials can be used for gas storage and enantioselective heterogeneous catalysis.

We also develop new hybrid nanomaterials for biological and biomedical applications. These include contrast agents for magnetic resonance, optical, and computed tomography imaging, for early diagnosis of disease, as well as targeted delivery of drugs for cancer therapy. Nanoparticles are tunable and can be surface-modified for controlled release or functionalized with affinity molecules for target-specific delivery of a high payload of a diagnostic or therapeutic agent.

The Ashby Group

One focus in the Ashby Group is the synthesis of functionalized dienes with groups ranging from ethers to amines. We have recently reported the use of tertiary amine functionalized poly(isoprene) materials as efficient gene transfection agents at low concentrations and current work is focused on developing guidelines for material design. Group members are also investigating new methods for fabricating poly(thiophene) based organic solar cells, and have developed a method for enhanced processing of poly(thiophene) by functionalizing the aromatic ring to maintain solubility after polymer formation. Films are then able to be solvent cast followed by thermolysis of the functional group to form insoluble films.