Ting Xu | Research UC Berkeley

Research Expertise and Interest

polymer, nanocomposite, biomaterial, membrane, directed self-assembly, drug delivery, protein therapeutics, block copolymers, nanoparticles

Research Description

Ting Xu is a Professor in the Department of Chemistry and the Department of Materials Science and Engineering.

The key to future technology is the design and fabrication of functional materials having structures ordered down to the molecular level. This goal can't be reached by conventional "top-down" approaches and remains as the "holy grail" using synthetic materials such as block copolymers. In addition, there have been limitations in the functionalization of these nanostructured materials. On the other hand, nature has made a dizzying array of materials using a few building blocks. Remarkable progress has been made in de novo protein design and various peptides have been designed with well-defined structure-sequence relationship and are able to mimic or exceed natural protein functions with much more simple, yet robust, structures. Researches in Xu's group take advantage of the recent developments in de novo protein design and peptidomimetics, polymer science and nanoparticles synthesis and manipulation, and use designed peptides and proteins in concert with the self-assembly of block copolymers, conjugated molecule and nanoparticles as platforms to generate nanostructured materials. Her group aims to generate hierarchical structures spanning multi-length scales down to few nanometers with built-in biological, electrical and magnetic functionalities. Her research group focuses on a fundamental understanding of the physics of assemblage on multiple length scales leading to the design and assembly of functional thin films with tailored functionalities.

In the News

A collage of photos shows scientists working in different types of lab environments

Berkeley’s Ecosystem of Innovation, Entrepreneurship Combats Climate Change

For researchers developing critical new technologies, having an entrepreneurial bent is almost as important as conducting successful experiments.

Schematic illustration of the COF structure, polymers, and nanofibrils

Molecular Weaving Makes Polymer Composites Stronger Without Compromising Function

Berkeley researchers are now leveraging both the porosity and molecular weaving to make polymer composites stronger, tougher, and more resistant to fracture.

Can Synthetic Polymers Replace the Body’s Natural Proteins?

UC Berkeley scientist think the complexity can be simplified and work just as well.

Using 3D STEM (scanning transmission electron microscope) tomography at Berkeley Lab’s Molecular Foundry, Ting Xu and her team captured the precise placement of nanoparticles in a self-assembling material. (Courtesy of ACS Nano)

With a Little Help, New Optical Material Assembles Itself

A research team led by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) has demonstrated tiny concentric nanocircles that self-assemble into an optical material with precision and efficiency.

Graduate student Ivan Jayapurna in a lab working with matter in a dish

VIDEO: How to make plastic truly biodegradable

UC Berkeley’s Ting Xu and her students have come up with one solution for the global problem of single-use plastics: embed enzymes in the plastic, so that once the bag or cup is no longer wanted, it will self-destruct with a little heat and water.

A new technique could make some plastic trash compostable at home

With moderate heat, enzyme-laced films of the plastic disintegrated in standard compost or plain tap water within days to weeks, Ting Xu and her colleagues

New process makes ‘biodegradable’ plastics truly compostable

University of California, Berkeley, scientists have now invented a way to make these compostable plastics break down more easily, with just heat and water, within a few weeks, solving a problem that has flummoxed the plastics industry and environmentalists.

A graphic shows a zoomed in molecular membrane with two channel proteins embedded inside

Lab-made proteins mimic cellular gatekeepers

In a new study published in the journal Nature, engineers at UC Berkeley and their collaborators describe the first lab-made versions of gatekeeper proteins that filter good from bad just as well as the real thing.

Five innovators join the ranks of the Bakar Fellows

Five UC Berkeley faculty innovators have been selected for the Bakar Fellows Program, which supports faculty working to apply scientific discoveries to real-world issues in the fields of engineering, computer science, chemistry and biological and physical sciences.

White fiber mat that is hanging from a cable

Researchers create a protein ‘mat’ that can soak up pollution

In a breakthrough that could lead to a new class of materials with functions found only in living systems, scientists have figured out a way to keep certain proteins active outside of the cell.

Upon solvent annealing, supramolecules made from gold nanoparticles and block copolymers will self-assemble into highly ordered thin films in one minute. - See more at: http://newscenter.lbl.gov/2014/06/09/nanoparticle-thin-films-that-self-assemble-in-one-minute/#sthash.715T7jT5.dpuf

Berkeley Lab Researchers Create Nanoparticle Thin Films that Self-assemble in One Minute

Berkeley Lab researchers have devised a technique whereby self-assembling nanoparticle arrays can form a highly ordered thin film over macroscopic distances in one minute.

Self-assembling nanorods

Berkeley Lab researchers have developed a relatively fast, easy and inexpensive technique for inducing nanorods to self-assemble into aligned and ordered macroscopic structures.

Polymer membranes with molecular-sized channels that assemble themselves

Many futurists envision a world in which polymer membranes with molecular-sized channels are used to capture carbon, produce solar-based fuels, or desalinate seawater, among many other functions. This will require methods by which such membranes can be readily fabricated in bulk quantities. A technique representing a significant first step down that road has now been successfully demonstrated. Berkeley Lab and UC Berkeley researchers — led by materials scientist Ting Xu — have developed a solution-based method for inducing the self-assembly of flexible polymer membranes with highly aligned subnanometer channels.

Capturing carbon

Researchers at Berkeley and other universities to find ways to capture carbon dioxide, produced by burning coal and natural gas, from the waste stream of power plants so that it can be sequestered underground.

Featured in the Media

Please note: The views and opinions expressed in these articles are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or positions of UC Berkeley.

April 22, 2021

New 'Biodegradable' Plastics Actually Degrade

UPI

Brooks Hays

Most plastics advertised as "biodegradable" aren't all that degradable. In fact, researchers estimate that most of these supposedly eco-friendly plastics end up in landfills and last just as long as forever plastics. Scientists at the University of California, Berkeley, have developed a new method for composting biodegradable plastics -- one that actually works. For more on this, see our press release at Berkeley News.

FullStory

April 21, 2021

New Process Breaks Down Biodegradable Plastics Faster

Science Magazine

Scientists have invented a way to make compostable plastics break down within a few weeks with just heat and water. The new process, developed by researchers at University of California, Berkeley and the University of Massachusetts Amherst, involves embedding polyester-eating enzymes in the plastic as it's made. "If you have the enzyme only on the surface of the plastic, it would just etch down very slowly," said Ting Xu, UC Berkeley professor of materials science and engineering and of chemistry. "You want it distributed nanoscopically everywhere so that, essentially, each of them just needs to eat away their polymer neighbors, and then the whole material disintegrates." For more on this, see our press release at Berkeley News. Stories on this topic also appeared in Spektrum.de, and IFLScience.