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Welcome to the Soft Materials Research and Technology (SMART) Lab
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NEWS
April, Hong Huy Tran’s illustration was featured on the inside front cover of Advanced Healthcare Materials (Issue 8, 2025)! The work showcases nanozyme-shelled microrobots designed to navigate and treat biofilm infections in confined spaces like root canals.
April, Penn Engineering Today recently featured research from our lab led by postdoctoral scholar Dr. Hong Huy Tran, alongside a team of Penn faculty including Professor Daeyeon Lee, Professor Edward Steager, and Professor Hyun (Michel) Koo. The team is developing shapeshifting microrobots designed to navigate the complex environment of the mouth for precise, non-invasive oral healthcare. Read the full story on Penn Engineering Today here.
April, Sophie receives the Caffey Award for best basic science paper for her work titled "Multi-parametric Ultrasound in Detecting Placental Insufficiency: A Pilot Study in a Guinea Pig Model of Pregnancy." Congratulations!
March, Seonghun's paper titled "Artificial Intelligence-Empowered Automated Double Emulsion Droplet Library Generation" is accepted for publication in Small. Congratulations!
March, Baekmin's paper titled "Polymer–Nanoparticle Composite Films with Ultrahigh Nanoparticle Loadings Using Capillarity-Based Techniques" is accepted for publication in Accounts of Materials Research. Congratulations!
February, the SMART lab has a group gathering and bids farewell to Luuk and Seonghun. It was a pleasure having you in our lab! All the best in your future endeavors! :)
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February, the Penn Engineering Innovation & Impact podcast features NSF AIRFoundry team members Daeyeon Lee, Zachary Ives, and Kathy Liu, discussing the intersection of chemical engineering, AI, and biochemistry at Penn in advancing the NSF Artificial Intelligence-driven RNA Foundry (NSF AIRFoundry). Watch the full episode here!
January, Siddharth is awarded the Interdisciplinary Training in Data Driven Soft Materials Research and Science Policy (D2SMRSP) fellowship. Congratulations!
December, Hong-Huy's paper titled "Robotic Microcapsule Assemblies with
Adaptive Mobility for Targeted Treatment of Rugged Biological Microenvironments" is accepted for publication in ACS Nano. Congratulations!
December, Yoon Ho's paper titled "Robust, Scalable Microfluidic Manufacturing of RNA–Lipid Nanoparticles Using Immobilized Antifouling Lubricant Coating" is accepted for publication in ACS Nano. Congratulations!
December, Baekmin's paper titled "Nanoconfinement-induced shift in photooxidative degradation pathway of polystyrene" is accepted for publication in the Journal of Colloid and Interface Science. Congratulations!
November, Owen Land receives an Excellence in Fluid Mechanics Research and Oral Presentation Award for his presentation at the 2024 AIChE Annual Meeting. Congratulations!
November, Gabriela's paper titled "Using Hybrid Coating to Fabricate Highly Stable and Expandable Transparent Liquid Marbles" is accepted for publication in ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces. Congratulations!
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October, the SMART Lab moves to the new Vagelos Laboratory for Energy Science and Technology (VLEST) building!
October, Clara Kim is awarded 2nd place for her poster in the Materials Division at the AIChE Annual Meeting. Congratulations!
October, SMART Lab goes to the 2024 AIChE Annual Meeting in San Diego!
October, Hong Huy's paper titled "Nanozyme-Shelled Microcapsules for Targeting Biofilm Infections in Confined Spaces" is accepted for publication in Advanced Healthcare Materials. Congratulations!
October, Tae-Young's paper titled "Nonmonotonic Impact of Statistical Copolymer Composition on the Kinetics of Capillary Rise Infiltration" is accepted for publication in Macromolecules. Congratulations!
October, Owen's paper titled "Convolutional neural network augmented soft-sensor for autonomous microfluidic production of uniform bubbles" is accepted for publication in Chemical Engineering Journal. Congratulations!
October, SMART Lab participates in the 2024 NanoDay at Andrew Hamilton School and showcases the power of Nanoscale for Material Design
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August, Penn Engineering secures a multi-million-dollar NSF Artificial Intelligence-driven RNA BioFoundry (NSF AIRFoundry) grant for AI-driven RNA research. The interdisciplinary team includes Penn Engineering Faculty, Daeyeon Lee, Zachary Ives and David Issadore, along with Drew Weissman from the Perelman School of Medicine and Claribel Acevedo-Velez from the department of Chemical Engineering at the University of Puerto Rico - Mayagüez. Congratulations!
August, Anirban's paper titled "Modulating the Contact Angle between Nonpolar Polymers and SiO2 Nanoparticles" is accepted for publication in Macromolecules. Congratulations!
July, the SMART Lab enjoys their annual summer picnic and bids farewell to Baekmin and Yoon-Ho!
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July, Emery's paper titled "Non-Classical Euler Buckling and Brazier Instability in Cylindrical Liquid Droplets" is accepted for publication in Nano Letters. Congratulations!
June, Hyewon joins the group! Welcome!
June, SMART Lab attends ACS Colloids at the University of Washington!
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June, Sohyun's paper titled "Enhancing Penetration Performance and Drug Delivery of Polymeric Microneedles Using Silica Nanoparticle Coatings" is accepted for publication in Advanced Materials Interfaces. Congratulations!
June, Yijiang's paper titled "Spiky Magnetic Microparticles Synthesized from Microrod-Stabilized Pickering Emulsion" is accepted for publication in Small. Congratulations!
June, Jessica's paper titled "A microfluidic platform for the synthesis of polymer and polymer-protein-based protocells" is accepted for publication in The European Physical Journal E. Congratulations!
May, Amanda, Eitan, Yijin, Eduardo, Airam, Rahul, Nathalia, Clara, Keiralys, and Irfaz join the group. Welcome!
May, Baekmin gives a presentation at the Polymer Society of Korea as the recipient of the PSK-INNOX Young Scientist Award. Congratulations!
May, Gabriela's paper titled "Cellulose acetate microwell plates for high-throughput colorimetric assays" is accepted for publication in RSC Advances. Congratulations!
May, Yijiang's paper titled "Colloidal synthesis of metallodielectric Janus matchsticks" is accepted for publication in Chemical Communications. Congratulations!
May, Daeyeon receives the Penn CBE Distinguished Teaching Award presented by the University of Pennsylvania student chapter of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers. Daeyeon thanks all of his students for this great honor.
April, Minjun, and Jaehyun's paper titled "Drug-loaded adhesive microparticles for biofilm prevention on oral surfaces" is accepted for publication in Journal of Materials Chemistry B. Congratulations!
April, SMART Lab has group picture day!
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April, SMART Lab visits our soon-to-be lab at the new VLEST building.
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February, Seonghun joins the group! Welcome!
February, Woojin is selected as a CSLM Postdoctoral Fellow! Congratulations!
February, with the collaboration of the Composto and Riggleman groups, Ana's paper titled "Capillary filling dynamics of polymer melts in a bicontinuous nanoporous scaffold" is accepted for publication in Journal of Chemical Physics. Congratulations!
February, Neha's paper titled "Nonmonotonic polymer translocation kinetics through nanopores under changing surface–polymer interactions" is accepted for publication in Journal of Chemical Physics. Congratulations!
February, SMART Lab holds a celebration party for Joe and Jess who have successfully defended their thesis! Congratulations!
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February, Uiseok's paper titled "Flexible Antireflection Coatings with Enhanced Durability and Antifogging Properties" is accepted for publication in ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces. Congratulations!
January, SMART lab holds their annual clean-up. Thank you all for showing up and participating!
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January, Jay's paper titled "Adaptive coloration enabled by the reversible osmotic annealing of chromatophore-like microcapsules" is accepted for publication in Journal of Materials Chemistry. Congratulations!
January, Tian's paper titled "Increase in the effective viscosity of polyethylene under extreme nanoconfinement" is accepted for publication in Journal of Chemical Physics. Congratulations!
December, SMART Lab has a holiday and farewell party for Tian!
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November, SMART Lab has group picture day!
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November, Daeyeon Lee, Oren Friedman, and Sergei Vinogradov have been awarded the Nemirovsky Engineering and Medicine Opportunity (NEMO) Prize to research improve soft-tissue transplant surgeries. Congratulations!
October, Jessica's paper titled "Asymmetry-Enhanced Motion of Urease-Powered Micromotors from Double Emulsion-Templated Microcapsules" is accepted for publication in ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces. Congratulations!
October, Gabriela rejoins the group. Welcome back!
October, Alex, Yoon-Ho & Sagar's paper titled "Micro-Patterning Wettability in Very Large Scale Microfluidic Integrated Chips for Double Emulsion Generation" is accepted for publication in Advanced Functional Materials. Congratulations!
October, SMART Lab participates in the 2023 NanoDay at PRISMS and showcases the science of material properties and microfluidics
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October, Arthur's paper titled "Bioinspired Switchable Passive Daytime Radiative Cooling Coatings" is accepted for publication in ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces. Congratulations!
October, Joseph's paper titled "Nanocomposite colloids prepared by the Ouzo effect" is accepted for publication in Journal of Colloid and Interface Science. Congratulations!
September, Seyeon, Katherine, Jisung and Christian join the group. Welcome!
August, Uiseok's paper titled "Dual Porosity-Enhanced Antireflection Coatings with Continuous Gradient" is accepted for publication in ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces. Congratulations!
August, Tian's paper titled "Understanding polymer-porous solid interactions based on small gas molecule adsorption behavior" is accepted for publication in Chemical Engineering Journal. Congratulations!
August, Nia, Roberto, Yildeliz, Grace and Paola make great presentations at the REU event.
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July, the SMART lab enjoys a group picnic together!
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July, Anirban receives the prestigious Vagelos Institute for Energy Science and Technology (VIEST) fellowship! Congratulations!
July, Daeyeon is named the Russell Pearce and Elizabeth Crimian Heuer professor! Congratulations!
July, Joseph and Arthur successfully defend their thesis! Congratulations Dr. Rosenfeld and Dr. Wang!
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June, SMART Lab attends ACS Colloids at NC State University!
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June, Baekmin's paper titled "Water-Induced Separation of Polymers from High Nanoparticle-Content Nanocomposite Films" is accepted for publication in Small. Congratulations!
June, SMART Lab has a group social welcoming Woojin, Grace, Awahan, Lorenzo, Paola, Yildelez, Roberto, Nia and bidding farewell to Minjun, and Uiseok.
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May, Joe receives the Andy Binns Impact Award for Outstanding Service to Graduate & Professional Student Life for leadership in GAPSA and GSEG. Congratulations!
May, Joe receives the Penn Engineering Ph.D. Outstanding Service Award ("significant contributions that enhance the social well-being of other Penn Engineering students") for leadership of ChEGA, GSEG, and GSS. Congratulations!
May, Tian wins fifth place at the 2023 Catalysis Club of Philadelphia poster session. Congratulations!
May, Tagbo joins the ChemE faculty at Carnegie Mellon University, which is featured on the CMU ChemE page. Congratulations!
May, Jay's paper titled "Polymer-Grafted, Gold Nanoparticle-Based Nano-Capsules as Reversible Colorimetric Tensile Strain Sensors" is accepted for publication in Small. Congratulations!
May, SMART lab holds a group social to bid a farewell to Jay :,)
April, SMART lab has group picture day!
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April, Daeyeon delivers the Evan C. Thompson lecture on reconnecting in and out of the classroom, which is featured on Penn Today.
March, Huy's paper titled "Wetting ridges on slippery liquid-infused porous surfaces" is accepted for publication in Reports on Progress in Physics. Congratulations!
March, Sunghee and Taeyoung join the group. Welcome!
March, Jaekyoung joins the group. Welcome!
March, Daeyeon receives the 2022 Outstanding Achievement Award in Nanoscience for exceptional achievements in nanoscience research and notable leadership in the area of colloidal nanoparticles and applications. Congratulations!
February, Dahin's experience of being in our lab is featured on Penn's Website.
February, Stuti joins the group. Welcome!
February, SMART lab holds a group social to bid a farewell to Siwon, Minjeong, Jiwon, Hyejoong, Prof. Chung and Prof. Choi.
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February, Alex's paper titled "Patterning Wettability on Solvent-Resistant Elastomers with High Spatial Resolution for Replica Mold Fabrication of Droplet Microfluidics" is accepted for publication in ACS Applied Surfaces & Interfaces. Congratulations!
February, Arthur's paper titled "Bicontinuous interfacially jammed emulsion gels with nearly uniform sub-micrometer domains via regulated co-solvent removal" is accepted for publication in Materials Horizons. Congratulations!
February, Joe's paper titled "Dielectric Charge Injection (DCI)-Enabled Contactless Droplet Wetting Modulation for Droplet-Surface Material Interchange" is accepted for publication in the Journal of Colloids and Interfaces. Congratulations!
January, Ana's paper titled "Increases in Miscibility of a Binary Polymer Blend Confined within a Nanoparticle Packing" is accepted for publication in Macromolecules. Congratulations!
January, Christopher's paper titled "Investigating the Sequence Specific Adsorption Behavior of Polypeptides at the Solid/Liquid Interface" is accepted for publication in Langmuir. Congratulations!
January, Kevin joins the group. Welcome!
December, Yiwei's paper titled "Role of Polymer–Nanoparticle Interactions on the Fracture Toughness of Polymer-Infiltrated Nanoparticle Films" is accepted for publication in Macromolecules. Congratulations!
December, Tian wins third place at the TAFDV poster session. Congratulations!
November, SMART Lab has a logo design contest and our new logo is featured below!
November, Wilfredo's paper titled "Ionic Strength-Dependent Assembly of Polyelectrolyte-Nanoparticle Membranes via Interfacial Complexation at a Water–Water Interface" is accepted for publication in ACS Nano. Congratulations!
November, Katie's paper titled "Nanoparticle dynamics in hydrogel networks with controlled defects" is accepted for publication in Soft Matter. Congratulations!
November, Wilfredo Méndez and Jingyu (Alex) Wu successfully defend their thesis! Special thanks to Owen and Trevor who let us celebrate at their home. Congratulations Dr. Méndez and Dr. Wu!
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November, annual picture day! :)
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October, the SMART lab participates during GSS - thank you to everybody that was there and participated! Special thanks to Joe for organizing the event.
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October, Philip and Jesse join the group. Welcome!
October, Yijiang joins the group as a postdoc. Welcome!
October, Minjeong joins the group as a visiting student from Hongik University. Welcome!
October, Raj's paper titled "Recombinant Protein Micelles to Block Transduction by SARS-CoV-2 Pseudovirus" is accepted for publication in ACS Nano. Congratulations!
September, Katie's paper titled "Shape Anisotropy Enhances Nanoparticle Dynamics in Nearly Homogeneous Hydrogels" is accepted for publication in Macromolecules. Congratulations!
September, Bharath's paper titled "Interfacial Friction Controls the Motion of Confined Polymers in the Pores of Nanoparticle Packings" is accepted for publication in Macromolecules. Congratulations!
August, Uiseok joins the group as a visiting student from Sungkyunkwan University, and Dong-Shik joins as a visiting professor from Sookmyung Women's University. Welcome!
August, Molly, Yitian and Jiwon's paper titled "Zwitterionic surface chemistry enhances detachment of bacteria under shear" is accepted for publication in the Royal Society of Chemistry - Soft Matter. Congratulations!
August, the group bids farewell to Gabriela, RJ and Sohyun :,)
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July, Joe receives 2nd place award at the second annual Colgate's Smile With Science Symposium. Congratulations!
July, João joins the group as a visiting student from the University of São Paulo. Welcome!
June Minjun' paper titled "Surface Topography-Adaptive Robotic Superstructures for Biofilm Removal and Pathogen Detection on Human Teeth" is accepted for publication in ACS Nano. Congratulations!
June, the SMART lab enjoys a group picnic and bids farewell to Chris, Bharath, Yiwei, and Katie :,)
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June, RJ and Gabriela join as visiting undergraduates from UPR - Cayey, Dahin joins as an undergraduate from UPenn, and Sophie joins as a PhD student. Welcome!
May, Bharath's paper titled "Conflicting Effects of Extreme Nanoconfinement on the Translational and Segmental Motion of Entangled Polymers" is accepted for publication in ACS Macromolecules. Congratulations!
May, doctoral student graduation ceremony is held and the SMART lab celebrates the graduation of Bharath, Katie, Giuseppe and Yiwei. Congratulations! We will miss you all but wish you all the best wherever you may go :)
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May, Baekmin joins the group as a postdoc. Welcome!
May, Joseph is awarded a travel grants to attend the NATAS Conference at Case Western Reserve University, August, 1-5, 2022 to make a presentation. Congratulations!
May, annual group picture day!
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April, Lilia receives the 2022 Penn Prize for Excellence in Teaching by Graduate Students. Congratulations!
April, Trevor receives the prestigious NSF GRFP Fellowship. Congratulations!
April, Yiwei's paper titled "The Interplay of Polymer Bridging and Entanglement in Toughening Polymer-Infiltrated Nanoparticle Films" is accepted for publication in ACS Nano. Congratulations!
April, Hong-Huy, and Yoon-Ho join the group as postdocs. Welcome!
March, Prof. Choi, and Jiwon join the group as a visiting professor and student from Chung-Ang University, respectively. Welcome!
Link to Professor Choi's website: http://nml.creatorlink.net/
March, the SMART lab helps out during the Penn CBE recruitment weekend - thank you to everybody that participated! Special thanks to Anirban, Trevor and Owen for organizing/leading the activities!
March, Penn Engineering secures a multi-million Wellcome Leap contract for Lipid Nanoparticle Research Essential in Delivery of RNA Therapies. The Penn Engineering team features Daeyeon Lee, Michael Mitchell, David Issadore, and Sagar Yadavali. Drew Weissman from the Perelman School of Medicine is also a part of this interdisciplinary team.
February, the group bids farewell to Jaeyong. It was a pleasure having you in our lab! All the best in your future endeavors! :)
February, Prof. Chung, and Sohyun join the group as a visiting professor and student from Hongik University and Seoul National University, respectively. Phuong, and Stefanie join the group as undergraduate researchers from UPenn. Welcome!
Link to Professor Chung's website: https://sites.google.com/site/nanobiointerfaces/
January, Chris' paper titled "Electrochemically Deposited Molybdenum Disulfide Surfaces Enable Polymer Adsorption Studies using Quartz Crystal Microbalance with Dissipation Monitoring (QCM-D)" is accepted for publication in Journal of Colloid and Interface Science. Congratulations!
January, the group bids farewell to Minchul, Sean, Yitian and Giuseppe and Prof. Oh. It was a pleasure having you in our lab! All the best in your future endeavors! :)
December, Tian's paper titled "Modulating Interactions between Molten Polystyrene and Porous Solids Using Atomic Layer Deposition" is accepted for publication in Langmuir. Congratulations!
November, Alex's paper titled "Ultra-high throughput on-chip synthesis of microgels with tunable mechanical properties" is accepted for publication in Advanced Materials Technology. Congratulations!
September, annual group picture day and welcoming party for Yingjie, Emery, Sid and Hoang!
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September, Yingjie, Emery, Sid and Hoang join the group. Welcome!
September, Dorine joins the group. Welcome!
September, Daeyeon receives an Emerging Frontiers in Research and Innovation grant from NSF to enable distributed manufacturing of mRNA. See press release here:https://blog.seas.upenn.edu/penn-engineers-will-use-nsf-grant-to-develop-dream-for-on-demand-on-site-mrna-manufacturing/
September, Nyvia is accepted to participate at the Nano and Emerging Technologies Student Leaders Conference. Congratulations!
September, Siwon joins the group. Welcome!
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