Research

The table below shows some of our main research areas:

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  Electrodialysis for Salt Purification

  In electrodialysis, an electrical potential drives ions across membranes to effect separations. However, typical ion-exchange membranes show minimal selectivity between monovalent and divalent ions, which is important for applications such as water softening and salt purification. In contrast, we recently found that polyelectrolyte multilayers adsorbed on cation-exchange membranes give rise to an electrodialysis K+/Mg2+ selectivity >90.

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  Modified Membranes for Protein Purification

  We modify membranes with polyelectrolyte multilayers and then derivatize them with affinity groups that capture specific proteins.

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  Counter-Flow Electromigration Ion Separations

  This work investigates methods for separating ions such as Li⁺ and K⁺ or Na⁺ with an eye toward resource recovery.

   

   

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  Analysis of Therapeutic Proteins

  Capture of monoclonal antibodies in mimotope-modified membranes enables analysis of these antibodies in human serum.  Such analysis could personalize the dosing regimen for treatment with therapeutic antibodies.