Research Summary

The Hartgerink Research Group is dedicated to the study of supramolecular chemistry, self-assembly, peptide chemistry, protein folding and the application of these studies to biomaterial design. Our research is interdisciplinary by nature and includes significant aspects of Chemistry, Biology, Materials Science and Medicine.

Keywords

self-assembly, peptide chemistry, biomaterials

Biography

Jeffrey D. Hartgerink is a Professor of Chemistry and Bioengineering at Rice University, where he also serves as Vice Chair of the Department of Chemistry. He earned his A.B. in Chemistry and Biology, magna cum laude, from Washington University in St. Louis in 1993, and his Ph.D. in Macromolecular and Cellular Structure and Chemistry from The Scripps Research Institute in 1999. As a graduate student, he worked with Donald Hilvert on the mechanism of chorismate mutase before joining the laboratory of M. Reza Ghadiri, where his research on self-assembling cyclic peptide nanotubes combined molecular modeling, solid-phase peptide synthesis, and high-resolution electron microscopy.

Hartgerink continued his training as a postdoctoral fellow with Samuel I. Stupp at Northwestern University from 1999 to 2002, where he designed peptide-amphiphile nanofibers that self-assemble and mineralize to mimic the structure of bone and other biological tissues. He joined the Rice faculty in 2002 as an Assistant Professor, was promoted to Associate Professor in 2008, and became full Professor in 2013. 

Hartgerink's research program sits at the interface of supramolecular chemistry, peptide design, and biomedical engineering. His group develops synthetic strategies for controlling the self-assembly and folding of collagen-mimetic peptides, multidomain peptide nanofibers, and hydrogels, with applications spanning drug and immunotherapy delivery, wound healing, and tissue engineering. He and his group have authored more than 135 peer-reviewed publications and hold numerous U.S. patents on self-assembling peptide biomaterials. 

Hartgerink's contributions have been recognized with a National Science Foundation CAREER Award, a Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Award, a Searle Scholar Award, and induction into the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE). He has also been repeatedly honored for teaching and mentoring at Rice, including multiple George R. Brown Awards for Superior Teaching, the Wiess School of Natural Sciences Excellence in Graduate Student Mentoring Award, the Rice University Presidential Award for Mentoring, and the Provost's Award for Outstanding Doctoral Advisor. Within the department, he has served as Associate Chair for both Graduate and Undergraduate Studies and currently serves on the Rice Faculty Senate, where he convenes the Committee on Appeals and Grievances. He is also Vice President of the Rice Chapter of the AAUP. He sits on the Editorial Advisory Board of Biomacromolecules and is an active member of the American Chemical Society and the Materials Research Society.