2024 News

On December 30, 2024

A super congratulations to Sidharth Panda for winning first place at the 2024 College of Science and Engineering (CSE) Three-Minute Thesis (3MT) competition! The title of his talk, which he presented on October 21, 2024, was “Fixing Genes with mRNA Packages.” The 3MT is a research communication contest that challenges students to communicate in just three minutes the significance of their projects without the use of props or industry jargon. Sidharth is a fourth-year Ph.D. candidate in the Reineke Group and the first Chemistry Ph.D. student to win the college-level competition.

To watch Sidharth’s 3MT presentation and CSE’s Research Spotlight on Sidharth’s groundbreaking research on gene therapy click here. 

To read the Department of Chemistry’s news release on Sidharth’s award-winning presentation click here.

On November 5, 2024

This past summer, Kaylee Barr had the opportunity to intern at Genentech, Inc., a biotechnology company in South San Francisco, CA. The internship was for 12 weeks and was conducted in the Small Molecule Pharmaceutical Sciences Department. Kaylee is a fifth-year graduate student in the Reineke Group. “I enjoyed my time there and learned a lot about the departmental divisions in the pharmaceutical and biotech industry as well as got a taste of how industry operates,” commented Kaylee.

During her internship, Kaylee learned about late-stage research in formulation development. In particular, she gained experience in tabletting, testing tablet properties, and learned about the function of various excipients. “I would like to thank my manager, Wei Zhang, for organizing this internship project and for teaching me a lot in a short time about this field. I enjoyed collaborating with him and am excited about the results we obtained,” stated Kaylee.

Kaylee is appreciative of everyone from Synthetic Molecule Pharmaceutical Sciences and Synthetic Molecule Analytical Chemistry that she had the privilege to talk with. “I enjoyed having insightful conversations and gaining career advice from experts in the pharmaceutical field.” Overall, Kaylee is grateful to the Genentech team members who provided her with the internship opportunity. “I'm excited to apply the invaluable skills and knowledge I learned during my internship toward my graduate studies and my future career!”

On August 8, 2024

Out of many qualified applicants, Tyler was selected to fill one of only 12 openings to participate in the 2024 GlycoMIP Short Course, Glycomaterial Synthesis, which was held at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Virginia, June 11-13, 2024. Way to go, Tyler!

GlycoMIP is one of four National Science Foundation (NSF) Materials Innovation Platforms (MIPs), funded by the NSF Division of Materials Research to support materials development and innovation in the U.S.

When asked what were the top three items or skills that he learned during the program, Tyler replied. “I learned about many unique chemistries/processes for synthesizing glycosidic bonds for unique/customizable oligosaccharides/polysaccharides. I learned about the synthesis/characterization tools available to GlycoMIP for carbohydrate research. I got hands-on lab experience that was directly related to lecture content to help reinforce the learnings from each research talk.”

As for how this new knowledge will help his current and future research projects as well as other group members, Tyler shared the following information. “My experience at GlycoMIP showed me outside-of-the-box ways of synthesizing new carbohydrate materials. Specifically, the talks on polysaccharide modification and continuous flow chemistry are directly applicable to my research. I can also assist/better understand group members' research in the context of what I was shown/taught at the training with respect to novel carbohydrate synthesis and characterization. Additionally, we can send samples/materials for characterization that we may not be able to do in-house.” In the photo, Tyler is standing in the middle row, fourth from the left.

The two-and-half-day training program provided an overview of the four major approaches to glycomaterial synthesis (i.e., solid phase assembly, continuous flow, biocatalysis, and polymerization) and dived into the fundamentals of carbohydrate chemistry, polysaccharide modification, glycomaterial purification and structural analysis. In-lab exercises complemented the lectures and guided participants through building block synthesis via flow chemistry, Glyconeer synthesis of an oligosaccharide, enzymatic polymerization of xylan, and synthetic polymerization of dextran. A workshop on the last day summarized the approaches and tested the comprehension of the participants as they considered strategies on how to efficiently design target glycomaterials. For additional information, click here.

On August 8, 2024 

The 23rd Annual Chemistry Graduate Student Research Symposium (GSRS) was held on June 7, 2024. Alicia Huggett, who will be a fourth-year graduate student in the fall, was honored with the Paul and Gerda Gassman Award for her presentation “A Modular Approach Towards ABC Triblock Bottlebrush Polymers.” Alicia is co-advised by Professors Theresa Reineke and Tim Lodge. Sidharth Panda, who will also be a fourth-year graduate student in the fall, earned an Honorable Mention for his presentation “Not All Amines Play the Same: Elucidating Polymeric Micelle Structure-Activity Relationship in Facilitating mRNA Delivery In Vitro and In Vivo.” In the photo, Alicia and Sidharth are standing, respectively, third and second from the left. Congratulations to Alicia and Sidharth!

On August 1, 2024

In June, Wakana Kani and Jacob Reineke became the newest members of the Reineke Group. Wakana is conducting research in the Reineke lab this summer as a Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) student in the University of Minnesota Materials Research Science and Engineering Center. She is majoring in Chemical and Biological Engineering with a minor in Biomedical Engineering at the Colorado School of Mines in Golden, Colorado, and will be a senior this fall. Jacob is majoring in Civil Engineering at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities and will be a sophomore this fall. Welcome to Wakana and Jacob!

On June 6, 2024 

For his application and proposed research plan submitted to the 2024 National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Fellowship Program competition, NSF Program Reviewers selected and recognized Miles’ application packet with an Honorable Mention. Congratulations to Miles! Click here for the Department of Chemistry News post. Miles will be a second-year graduate student in the Reineke Group this fall semester.

On May 16, 2024

Congratulations to Kaylee for being awarded a University of Minnesota (UMN) Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship (DDF)! On April 23, 2024, the UMN Office of Graduate Fellowships and Awards informed Kaylee that she had been selected — out of 191 outstanding doctoral candidates from across the University who were nominated — to receive a 2024-2025 Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship. The Fellowship gives the University’s most accomplished Ph.D. candidates an opportunity to devote full-time effort to an outstanding research project by providing time to finalize and write a dissertation during the fellowship year. The Fellowship carries a nine-month stipend of $25,000 plus a tuition benefit and an optional health insurance benefit. The Fellowship also includes a $1,000 conference presentation grant for Fellows who have been accepted to present their dissertation research at a conference.

Kaylee is a fourth-year Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science (CEMS). She is co-advised by Prof. Theresa Reineke in the Department of Chemistry and Prof. Frank Bates in CEMS. To learn about the UMN DDF click here. For information about Kaylee’s research, see the research project summary below.

Research Project Summary

Many oral active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) are limited by their poor aqueous solubility in the gastrointestinal tract. Amorphous solid dispersions (ASDs) are an attractive method to disperse an amorphous API in a polymer matrix, enabling supersaturation above a drug’s crystalline solubility. In addition to solubility limitations, the harsh acidic conditions of the stomach can cause acidic hydrolysis and premature release of an API, reducing oral bioavailability. The versatile architecture of bottlebrush polymers offers a promising platform as stimuli-responsive materials.

Kaylee's research focuses on designing polymer excipients for ASD formulations with the goal of helping more oral drug candidates overcome this solubility barrier and reach the commercial market to treat diseases. She is currently focused on studying pH-responsive bottlebrush polymers given that limiting premature release and crystallization in the acidic environment of the stomach can increase the overall oral bioavailability of an API.

On April 29, 2024

Kaylee Barr attended the Spring 2024 American Chemical Society (ACS) Meeting in New Orleans, LA, and presented her research poster at both the Division of Polymeric Materials: Science and Engineering (PMSE) Centennial Poster Session for Graduate Students and Sci-Mix. PMSE officers and the Executive Committee selected Kaylee’s poster as a PMSE Centennial Graduate Student Best Poster Winner! To read the PMSE News post, click here.

The title of Kaylee’s research poster was “Bottlebrush Polymer Excipients for Enhancing the Solubility of an Oral Drug.” A summary of her research project is provided below. As a fun side note, when Kaylee was asked to share one cool scientific item that she learned about while attending the conference she responded, “A Y-inimer can be used for orthogonal polymerization to make polyelectrolyte brushes grafted from a surface!”

Research Summary

Many oral active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) are limited by their poor aqueous solubility in the gastrointestinal tract. Amorphous solid dispersions (ASDs) are an attractive method to disperse an amorphous API in a polymer matrix, enabling supersaturation above a drug’s crystalline solubility. In addition to solubility limitations, the harsh acidic conditions of the stomach can cause acidic hydrolysis and premature release of an API, reducing oral bioavailability. The versatile architecture of bottlebrush polymers offers a promising platform as stimuli-responsive materials. It is hypothesized that poly(N-isopropylacrylamide-stat-N,N-dimethylacrylamide) [PND] bottlebrush polymers with a poly(acrylic acid) [PAA] shell will undergo an extended-to-globule conformational transition to provide drug protection from premature release in the acidic gastric environment due to both thermoresponsive and pH-responsive properties. Bottlebrush polymer excipients were synthesized using controlled polymerization techniques to study the influence of architecture and PAA content on small molecule API pH-responsive delivery. This work demonstrates that incorporation of PAA into PND bottlebrush polymers facilitates pH-responsive behavior and rapid drug release in simulated intestinal conditions.

On April 29, 2024

Congratulations to Punarbasu Roy for being selected to present his research at the Spring 2024 American Chemical Society (ACS) National Meeting, Division of Polymer Chemistry (POLY) “Excellence in Graduate Polymer Research Symposium”! In addition to presenting his award-winning research at the POLY Research Symposium poster session, Punarbasu presented a second research poster at the ACS Division of Polymeric Materials: Science and Engineering (PMSE) Centennial poster session and the Sci-Mix poster session. The Spring 2024 ACS meeting was held in New Orleans, LA, March 17–21, 2024.

The titles of Punarbasu’s research posters are listed below:

Two Is Better Than One: Using Two-Component Quinine-Based Polymer Systems for Enhanced Nucleic Acid Delivery (Excellence in Graduate Polymer Research Symposium poster session)

Delivering Genes with Quinine-Based Polymers (PMSE Division Centennial and Sci-Mix poster sessions)

Punarbasu's doctoral research aims to develop quinine-based polymers that can bind and carry nucleic acids such as DNA and mRNA into the cells. His research contributes to the ongoing mission of the Reineke Group to develop polymer-mediated nucleic acid delivery as a cost-effective and safer alternative to virus-based nucleic acid carriers for gene therapy applications. At the ACS spring meeting, Punarbasu engaged in scientific discussions with ACS members from various divisions of the ACS including the POLY and PMSE Divisions. He also received great suggestions about synthesizing challenging polymer designs and improving his current library of polymers. For current and future Reineke Group members who will attend ACS meetings, Punarbasu highly recommends attending the POLY and PMSE sessions. He also encourages Reineke biopolymer group members to explore research from other ACS divisions such as the Division of Biochemical Technology (BIOT) for interdisciplinary research related to chemistry and biology.

On April 4, 2024 

On March 28, 2024, Erin successfully defended her dissertation, "Recycling of 3D Printed Thermosets and Commodity Thermoplastics." Congratulations to Dr. Maines! Erin’s advisors are Prof. Christopher Ellison, Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, and Prof. Theresa Reineke.

On April 1, 2024 

In 2023, Prof. Reineke and research collaborators were awarded two U.S. patents for their discoveries! In January, a patent on “Cationic Block Polymer Micelles for Delivery of DNA, RNA, and Proteins” was issued to Prof. Reineke, Prof. Tim Lodge, and Reineke Group alumni Dr. Zhe Tan, Dr. Yaming Jiang, and Dr. Mitra Ganewatta. In June, a patent on “Cinchona Alkaloid Copolymers as Transfection Agents for Enhanced Gene Delivery and Gene Editing” was granted to Prof. Reinke and Reineke Group alumnus Dr. Craig Van Bruggen.

The Department of Chemistry News post is available here. The UMN Technology Commercialization News post is available here. To view and read the entire patent, click on the linkable title in each of the two announcements.

On March 13, 2024

Fifth-year graduate student Emily Prebihalo recently returned from Australia, where she participated in the PELICANS program (Plastic in the Environment: Leaders and Innovators Collaborating from Australia, New Zealand, and United States). Emily is standing in the first row, third person from the right.

The PELICANS program provided an opportunity to go beyond the classroom and gain a holistic view at the plastics recycling value chain and potential for a circular economy, and encouraged participants to evaluate their own research and what impact it could make. PELICANS was supported by the Australian Packaging Covenant Organisation (APCO), Australia’s National Science Agency (CSIRO), the National Science Foundation Center for Sustainable Polymers, National Science Foundation, Monash University, University of New South Wales, UNSW Centre for Sustainable Materials Research and Technology (SMaRT@UNSW), and the University of Minnesota. 

 On February 8, 2024 

The Department of Chemistry Community of Chemistry Graduate Students (CCGS) hosted its annual Chili Cook-off competition on December 1, 2023.  The three award categories for the contest included Best Meat Chili, Best Vegetarian Chili, and the People’s Choice. Nathan Rackstraw’s “Purple People Feeder” chili won the People’s Choice award!

 On January 5, 2024

Welcome to the newest Reineke Group members! Left to right: Dr. Ruma Ghosh (postdoc Chemistry); Jackson Cleveland, first-year graduate student (Chemical Engineering and Materials Science); Miles Willis, first-year graduate student (Chemistry); and Dr. Sonashree (postdoc Chemistry).