Gupta

ChBE faculty earn Air Force Young Investigator Award

Susan Glairon — Thu, 27 Mar 2025 21:52:51 +0000

ChBE faculty earn Air Force Young Investigator Award Susan Glairon Thu, 03/27/2025 - 15:52

Susan Glairon

Assistant Professors Kōnane Bay and Ankur Gupta from ��ý�Ļ��Ʒ’s Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering have been honored with the 2025 Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR) Young Investigator Program Award.

Each received a $450,000, three-year grant to advance research relevant to the Air Force. The program, offered by the Air Force Research Laboratory, supports early-career scientists and engineers with “exceptional ability and promise for conducting basic research,” according to the AFOSR.

“This is among the most prestigious awards given to junior faculty, and to have both Ankur and Kōnane receive it in the same year is a remarkable testimony to their impressive achievements and very high potential for making future advances,” said Professor Ryan Hayward, chair of the department.

Kōnane Bay, self-healing, innovative materials

Bay says the next generation of polymer materials—materials with long chains of molecules like plastics, rubber and proteins—will need advanced features, such as the ability to repair themselves. While engineering synthetic polymers with these properties is challenging, biofilm-forming bacteria are promising as they use internal material factories to produce polymers on demand to survive changes in the surroundings.

“I am grateful to receive this award which will allow our lab to harness nature to create novel engineered living materials,” Bay said.

The award will support Bay and her team at the Huli Materials Lab in using biofilm-forming bacteria to develop new polymeric materials. The project combines 3D printing with bacteria’s natural movement to control the mechanical properties of biofilm-based synthetic polymers. The findings could lead to self-healing materials that can change shape, with applications in aerospace, soft robotics, and protective coatings.

Bay recently also received a prestigious CAREER Award, a $675,000, five-year grant from the National Science Foundation. The funding will advance her work in characterization of polymer thin film.

Ankur Gupta, more precise chemical sensors

Imagine being able to organize tiny particles as small as one-twentieth the thickness of a human hair.

Gupta’s research aims to do just that. He and his team in the Laboratory of Interfaces, Flow and Electrokinetics (LIFE) study how these tiny particles form patterns through chemical reactions and diffusion. The researchers aim to control this process to develop materials that detect microscopic changes in the air, paving the way for advanced chemical sensors that identify subtle chemical shifts and improve safety.

“It’s an honor for us to receive this award, especially given its prestige and selectivity,” Gupta said. “This recognition is a testament to the hard work of my current and past group members, and I am grateful for the opportunity to work with them.”

The $450,000 three-year grant will support a graduate student and cover travel expenses.

In 2024, Gupta was honored with the Johannes Lyklema Early Career Award in electrokinetics. He was also selected for the prestigious “35 Under 35” award from the American Institute of Chemical Engineers in 2023.

That same year Gupta also received a $517,000, five-year National Science Foundation CAREER Award, to study how ions move through porous materials. His research will help design improved porous materials for more efficient desalination and renewable energy storage.

Assistant Professors Kōnane Bay and Ankur Gupta from ��ý�Ļ��Ʒ’s Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering each received a $450,000, three-year grant to advance research relevant to the Air Force.

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How the tiger really got his stripes

Susan Glairon — Thu, 06 Feb 2025 15:53:35 +0000

How the tiger really got his stripes Susan Glairon Thu, 02/06/2025 - 08:53

Assistant Professor Ankur Gupta’s research on diffusiophoresis, where smaller particles move through a fluid, dragging larger particles with them, helps explain how this process may create clear biological patterns in nature, such as those seen on fish or a tiger's stripes.

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Ankur Gupta wins inaugural Johannes Lyklema Early Career Award in electrokinetics

Anonymous — Thu, 25 Jul 2024 19:33:05 +0000

Ankur Gupta wins inaugural Johannes Lyklema Early Career Award in electrokinetics Anonymous (not verified) Thu, 07/25/2024 - 13:33

Assistant Professor Ankur Gupta has been selected as the winner of the inaugural Johannes Lyklema Early Career Award in Electrokinetics, given by the International Electrokinetics Society.

Electrokinetics, which focuses on the study of the movement of particles, ions, or fluids under the influence of an electric field or chemical gradients, has applications in energy storage, environmental technologies and microfluidic devices.

Gupta was given the award for his contribution towards "new insights in diffusiophoresis, including links to Turing patterns, and charge transport in porous energy systems."

"I am honored to receive this award," Gupta said. "It is heartening to be recognized by the electrokinetics community. I would like to thank all the students and postdocs in the group for their hard work, which made this award possible, and extend my gratitude to the mentors and colleagues who nominated me for the award."

The award will be presented on Sept. 18 at the ELKIN meeting in Sevilla, Spain, and as part of that honor, Gupta will give a lecture. In addition to the honorary talk, Gupta will deliver a lecture about the research developed by his ��ý�Ļ��Ʒ group, the Laboratory of Interfaces, Flow and Electrokinectics.

Johannes Lyklema, the award's namesake, was a passionate supporter of young scientists in the electrokinetics field.

Assistant Professor Ankur Gupta has been selected as the winner of the inaugural Johannes Lyklema Early Career Award in Electrokinetics, given by the International Electrokinetics Society.

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Popular Mechanics: Supercapacitors Are About To Blow Past Batteries as the Kings of Power

Anonymous — Mon, 10 Jun 2024 19:26:03 +0000

Popular Mechanics: Supercapacitors Are About To Blow Past Batteries as the Kings of Power Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 06/10/2024 - 13:26

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Chemical & Engineering News: The rules of the road for ions

Anonymous — Mon, 03 Jun 2024 19:22:26 +0000

Chemical & Engineering News: The rules of the road for ions Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 06/03/2024 - 13:22

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The Conversation: Understanding how ions flow in, out of tiniest pores promises better energy storage devices

Anonymous — Thu, 30 May 2024 17:13:15 +0000

The Conversation: Understanding how ions flow in, out of tiniest pores promises better energy storage devices Anonymous (not verified) Thu, 05/30/2024 - 11:13

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Charge your laptop in a minute or your EV in 10? Supercapacitors can help; new research offers clues

Anonymous — Thu, 23 May 2024 19:58:39 +0000

Charge your laptop in a minute or your EV in 10? Supercapacitors can help; new research offers clues Anonymous (not verified) Thu, 05/23/2024 - 13:58

Susan Glairon

Modified Kirchhoff's law; how the rules have been changed at the intersections.

Ankur Gupta

Imagine if your dead laptop or phone could charge in a minute or if an electric car could be fully powered in 10 minutes.

While not possible yet, new research by a team of ��ý�Ļ��Ʒ scientists could potentially lead to such advances.

Published today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, researchers in Ankur Gupta’s lab discovered how tiny charged particles, called ions, move within a complex network of minuscule pores. The breakthrough could lead to the development of more efficient energy storage devices, such as supercapacitors, said Gupta, an assistant professor of chemical and biological engineering.

“Given the critical role of energy in the future of the planet, I felt inspired to apply my chemical engineering knowledge to advancing energy storage devices,” Gupta said. “It felt like the topic was somewhat underexplored and as such, the perfect opportunity.”

Gupta explained that several chemical engineering techniques are used to study flow in porous materials such as oil reservoirs and water filtration, but they have not been fully utilized in some energy storage systems.

The discovery is significant not only for storing energy in vehicles and electronic devices but also for power grids, where fluctuating energy demand requires efficient storage to avoid waste during periods of low demand and to ensure rapid supply during high demand.

Supercapacitors, energy storage devices that rely on ion accumulation in their pores, have rapid charging times and longer life spans compared to batteries.

“The primary appeal of supercapacitors lies in their speed,” Gupta said. “So how can we make their charging and release of energy faster? By the more efficient movement of ions.”

Their findings modify Kirchhoff’s law, which has governed current flow in electrical circuits since 1845 and is a staple in high school students’ science classes. Unlike electrons, ions move due to both electric fields and diffusion, and the researchers determined that their movements at pore intersections are different from what was described in Kirchhoff’s law.

Prior to the study, ion movements were only described in the literature in one straight pore. Through this research, ion movement in a complex network of thousands of interconnected pores can be simulated and predicted in a few minutes.

“That’s the leap of the work,” Gupta said. “We found the missing link.”

This work was funded by National Science Foundation CAREER Award # 2238412.

Published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, researchers in Ankur Gupta’s lab are working on improving supercapacitors for energy storage by studying how they store energy at the nanoscale.

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Charge your laptop in a minute or your EV in 10? Supercapacitors can help; new research offers clues

Six chemical and biological engineering students earn major NSF fellowships

Anonymous — Fri, 05 Apr 2024 07:56:06 +0000

Six chemical and biological engineering students earn major NSF fellowships Anonymous (not verified) Fri, 04/05/2024 - 01:56

Susan Glairon

Five chemical and biological engineering graduate students and one ChBE undergraduate student have received 2024 National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowships, a prestigious award that recognizes and supports outstanding students in a wide variety of science-related disciplines. This year the NSF awarded 27 University of Colorado Boulder students, including 18 from the College of Engineering and Applied Science, with the graduate research fellowship.

Fellows receive a three-year annual stipend of $37,000 and full coverage of tuition, fees and insurance, along with opportunities for international research and professional development that span five years.

Emma Aldrich

Biological Engineering
Advisor: Kayla Sprenger

My research leverages computational tools to address questions in immunology, inflammation and cancer. Specifically, I aim to investigate novel therapeutics between Alzheimer’s Disease and glioma, using physics-based simulations to identify and target mechanisms that disrupt the tumor immunoediting process. One of my current projects is investigating how TREM2, a protein expressed on the immune cells of the brain, can mediate tumor suppression mechanisms of a platinum-IV chemotherapeutics in colorectal cancer. Creative applications of computational pipelines allow me to ask new questions at the interface of immunology, oncology and engineering, hopefully leading to solutions to urgent challenges.

Timotej Bernat

Chemical Engineering
Advisor: Michael R. Shirts

My research focuses on development of software and techniques for constructing and modeling general organic polymer systems at the atomic, molecular and nanoscale using molecular dynamics. Polymer design is essential to many active research areas including identifying suitable sustainable and recyclable plastics, compatibilizing polymer-biopolymer interfaces for biomedical engineering and therapeutics, and designing self-healing materials with dynamic covalent networks. However, systematic exploration of chemical and morphological polymer design spaces is practically impossible using experimental methods alone and requires assistance from computational structure-function models. I am currently active in two sustainability-driven collaborations with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), dealing with high-throughput screening of biomass-derived replacements for petroleum plastic monomers and lignin-derived replacements for common commercial plasticizers, respectively.

Zoe Cruse

Chemical and Biological Engineering (undergraduate)
Advisors: Wyatt Shields and Ankur Gupta

The goal of my research is to build a deeper understanding of active particle systems for improving targeted systems, such as targeted drug delivery. By leveraging both computational frameworks and experimental methodologies, I will gain a holistic understanding of how we can fabricate microparticle systems and integrate them into biological environments safely and effectively. In doing so, I hope to develop a framework that allows researchers to bridge the gap between the lab bench and patient bedsides. I look forward to starting my PhD at the University of Michigan this fall!

Olivia Irvin

Biological Engineering
Advisor: Timothy Whitehead

In my research, I use protein engineering to make better influenza vaccine immunogens. I use computational design tools, yeast display and deep sequencing techniques to redesign viral proteins. Upon immunization with these proteins, the immune system should more robustly target regions of the influenza protein that offer broader protection against a variety of flu strains.

David Saeb

Chemical Engineering
Advisor: Kayla Sprenger

My research uses computational tools, namely molecular dynamics simulations, to determine the protein-ligand binding mechanisms underlying Alzheimer's disease. Specifically, I aim to understand how an immune receptor protein known as TREM2, and its soluble form, modulate neuroinflammation. The ultimate goal of my project is to combine computational and wet lab tools to design novel Alzheimer's therapeutics.

Katie Trese

Biological Engineering
Advisor: Wyatt Shields

Some immune cell types are particularly good at migrating to sites of inflammation, such as solid cancer tumors. The goal of my project is to harness this capability of immune cells to bring drug-loaded nanoparticles directly to diseased tissue. To do so, I will investigate nanoparticle engineering, the ability of sound waves to purify cells, and the effect of nanoparticles on immune cell behavior. My hope is that the work done in this project will improve accessibility and patient outcomes for cell-based immunotherapies for a variety of treatment scenarios.

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PhD student wins prestigious Teets fellowship

Anonymous — Tue, 09 Jan 2024 15:43:19 +0000

PhD student wins prestigious Teets fellowship Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 01/09/2024 - 08:43

Arkava Ganguly, a third-year PhD student in the Gupta research group, also known as the Laboratory of Interface, Flow and Electrokinetics (LIFE), has been honored with the prestigious 2024 Teets Family Endowed Doctoral Fellowship. This highly sought-after fellowship, providing $15,000 over a two-year period, is intended to support students engaged in research within the field of nanotechnology.

"The Teets fellowship gives me the independence to work on some exciting research ideas through which I hope to gain a deeper understanding of surface interactions at the colloidal scale to develop effective sequestration technologies,” Ganguly said.

Ganguly's research utilizes a combination of theoretical and computational tools to unravel the intricacies of micro- and nanoparticle motion. His specific focus lies in investigating how various factors, such as particle shape, surface heterogeneities and interactions impact not only particle movement but also their interactions with the surrounding environment and other particles.

Actively controlled micro- and nanoparticles hold vast potential in diverse fields like biomedicine and environmental remediation, said Assistant Professor Ankur Gupta, Ganguly's advisor. Ongoing developments in this domain underscore the importance of comprehending the physics behind particle propulsion and their interactions with the environment. This understanding can help engineer particles capable of navigating complex environments, with applications ranging from targeted drug delivery to fine-tuning surface properties for efficiently sequestering plastics from water sources, he added.

“I am proud of Arkava for his commitment to his research as he has made contributions to several different topics in our group," Gupta said. "This award underscores his excellent progress to date.”

After completing his PhD, Ganguly envisions a career leveraging his expertise in fluid mechanics, transport phenomena and surface science. He aspires to focus on projects centered around sustainability and environmental remediation, aligning his skills with real-world applications.

“I would like to thank the Teets family and the College of Engineering and Applied Science for their generous support," Ganguly said. "I would also like to thank Professor Gupta for his mentorship and guidance. Finally, I want to thank my lab members for their help with my work and unwavering encouragement."

Arkava Ganguly, a third-year PhD student in the Gupta research group, has been honored with a 2024 Teets Family Endowed Doctoral Fellowship. The fellowship provides $15,000 over two-years and supports students engaged in nanotechnology research.

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CNN: A new study updates Turing’s theory on how animals get their spots and stripes

Anonymous — Fri, 05 Jan 2024 22:49:09 +0000

CNN: A new study updates Turing’s theory on how animals get their spots and stripes Anonymous (not verified) Fri, 01/05/2024 - 15:49

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