Congrats to Zoe, Annie, and Will!

Last week was a big one for Team Sydlik!

First, congrats to Zoe and Annie for becoming the Sydlik Group's first ABD (all but doctorate) PhD candidates!

Not to be outdone, congrats to Will for becoming the first graduate of the Sydlik Group! Will graduated with his BS in Chemistry on Sunday and will head to Duke to pursue his PhD this fall.

Top: Karen Stump, me, and my advisor Rick McCullough at CMU's graduation in 2007
Bottom: Karen Stump, Will, and me at CMU's graduation in 2017... I just had to recreate it!

Bioinspired Polypeptide Graphene

Our latest paper was just published in Polymer International! Using a living polymerization technique, we successfully chemically modified graphite, or pencil lead, to give a new bioinspired graphene. We demonstrated good mechanical properties and an propensity for cell adhesion, suggesting the promise of this material as a scaffold for tissue regeneration. Good work, Annie and Brian! You can read the full paper here: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/pi.5375/full

Glowing cells growing happily on our magical bioinspired pencil lead

Group Picture, Spring 2017

It was time for a new group picture! Welcome springtime weather!

Sydlik Group, Spring 2017

Left to Right: Dan Siroky (GS2, Chem), Anne Arnold (GS3, Chem), Brian Holt (postdoc), Wyatt Swift-Ramirez (sophomore, Chem), Caoxin Tang (junior, Chem),  Gauav Begur (junior, BME/ MSE), Zoe Wright (GS3, Chem), Jenny Gao (junior, Chem), Will Koshut (senior, Chem), Val Senavsky (junior, Chem), Stefanie Sydlik (Professor)

#SydlikGroupSelfie in the elevator. They are very nice to humor me!