Updates and Guidance
For operational updates and health guidance from the University, please visit the COVID-19 Resource Guide.
To learn more about our spring term, please visit the Updates for Students page.
For operational updates and health guidance from the University, please visit the COVID-19 Resource Guide.
To learn more about our spring term, please visit the Updates for Students page.
811B S.W. Mudd
Allie Obermeyer’s research, which lies at the intersection of chemistry, biology, and engineering, is motivated by the goal to improve human health. The primary focus of her lab is on developing hybrid protein and polymer-based materials for biomedical applications.
Three aspects of proteins make them particularly attractive for use in functional materials: they can (1) possess great strength, (2) function as exquisite catalysts, and/or (3) dynamically assemble and disassemble. However, the exceptional functionality of proteins is frequently matched with an equivalent lack of stability. By combining functional proteins with traditional synthetic polymers, materials with the favorable features of each component can be created. Exploiting the diverse structure and function of native, or unaltered, proteins, Obermeyer is using a combination of genetic and synthetic modifications to control protein assembly and behavior. This enables her to engineer complementary functionality into novel protein-based materials, which eventually will be used for applications in medicine, biotechnology, and synthetic biology.
Obermeyer received a BS, magna cum laude, in chemistry from Rice University in 2008 and a PhD in chemistry from the University of California, Berkeley, in 2013. From 2014 to 2016, she was an Arnold O. Beckman postdoctoral fellow at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Obermeyer has also volunteered in programs designed to engage public school students with science.