Lu Li received her bachelor of engineering in polymer science and engineering from the Zhejiang University. Lu is currently a second-year PhD student in the Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering and is advised by Professor Matthew Tirrell. During her undergraduate study, she worked with Professor Jian Ji in the National Student Research Training Program to use zwitterionic ligand of carboxybetaine lipoic acid to stabilize gold nanorods, which could serve as a tool to transfer hear under near infrared light to kill tumor cells. With the help of Professor Zhengke Wang, her bachelor's thesis was about developing bio-inspired hollow layered chitosan conduits regulated by iron ions to get better biological and mechanical performances.
Lu's research is going to be mainly directed toward experimental as well as theoretical determination of phase behavior of mixtures of solutions of oppositely charged polyelectrolytes. She is currently using simple polyelectrolytes as model materials and trying to figure out the exact ratio of salt distribution in polyelectrolyte complex and supernatant phase.
Ion Specificity Influences on the Structure of Zwitterionic Brushes
Macromolecules 2023, 56, 5, 1945–1953
Sequence-Controlled Secondary Structures and Stimuli Responsiveness of Bioinspired Polyampholytes
Biomacromolecules 2022, 23, 9, 3798–3809
Harnessing the therapeutic potential of biomacromolecules through intracellular delivery of nucleic acids, peptides and proteins
Yu Tian, Matthew V. Tirrell, James L. LaBelle. "Harnessing the therapeutic potential of biomacromolecules through intracellular delivery of nucleic acids, peptides and proteins". Advanced Healthcare Materials, 2022.
Targeted polyelectrolyte complex micelles treat vascular complications in vivo
Zhengjie Zhou, Chih-Fan Yeh, Michael Mellas, Myung-Jin Oh, Jiayu Zhu, Jin Li, Ru-Ting Huang, Devin L Harrison, Tzu-Pin Shentu, David Wu, Michael Lueckheide, Lauryn Carver, Eun Ji Chung, Lorraine Leon, Kai-Chien Yang, Matthew V Tirrell, Yun Fang. "Targeted polyelectrolyte complex micelles treat vascular complications in vivo", PNAS.
Protein primary structure correlates with calcium oxalate stone matrix preference
Yu Tian, Matthew Tirrell, Carley Davis, Jeffrey A Wesson. "Protein primary structure correlates with calcium oxalate stone matrix preference". Plos One, 2021, e0257515.
Polyampholyte physics: Liquid–liquid phase separation and biological condensates
Dinic, Jelena, Amanda B. Marciel, and Matthew V. Tirrell. "Polyampholyte physics: Liquid–liquid phase separation and biological condensates." Current opinion in colloid & interface science 54 (2021): 101457.
Polymersomes Decorated with the SARS-CoV-2 Spike Protein Receptor-Binding Domain Elicit Robust Humoral and Cellular Immunity
"Polymersomes Decorated with the SARS-CoV-2 Spike Protein Receptor-Binding Domain Elicit Robust Humoral and Cellular Immunity". ACS Cent. Sci. 2021, 7, 8, 1368-1380.
Advances in the Structural Design of Polyelectrolyte Complex Micelles
Alexander E. Marras, Jeffrey M. Ting, Kaden C. Stevens, and Matthew V. Tirrell. "Advances in the Structural Design of Polyelectrolyte Complex Micelles". J. Phys. Chem. B, 2021, 125, 26, 7076-7089.
Physical Property Scaling Relationships for Polyelectrolyte Complex Micelles
Alexander E. Marras, Trinity R. Campagna, Jeffrey R. Vieregg, and Matthew V. Tirrell. "Physical Property Scaling Relationships for Polyelectrolyte Complex Micelles". Macromolecules, 2021, 54, 13, 6585-6594.
Effect of Solvent Quality on the Phase Behavior of Polyelectrolyte Complexes
Lu Li, Artem M Rumyantsev, Samanvaya Srivastava, Siqi Meng, Juan J de Pablo, Matthew V Tirrell. "Effect of Solvent Quality on the Phase Behavior of Polyelectrolyte Complexes", Macromolecules, 2020.