My primary professional interests lie in research and education in biomaterials science and engineering, bioanalytical chemistry and biointerfacial phenomena. These areas are generally populated by researchers with formal training in biomedical engineering, chemical engineering, chemistry, biology and physics, and as such are inherently interdisciplinary and highly collaborative in nature. Our research group has worked to address problems across a number of fields. Highlights include:

Bioinspired and Biomimetic Materials. We have developed several intelligent materials systems that are capable of biospecific molecular recognition and transduction of molecular signals to macroscopically observable responses. These materials are finding application in areas such as diagnostics, environmental monitoring and drug discovery. We have also developed biomimetic membrane materials that have functional hallmarks of biological membranes but that are robust enough to incorporate into manufacturable devices.

Biosensing and Diagnostic Systems. We have developed methods and instrumentation suited for making measurements on arrays of biospecific and cross-reactive sensors. Systems have spanned refractometric, fluorometric, electrochemical and colorimetric transduction methods. This comprehensive suite of methodologies brings substantial power to designing biosensing systems for particular applications, and to benchmarking the performance of new methodologies.

Control of Microbial Interactions with Materials. We were among the first to establish principles for formation of fouling resistant surfaces and stimuli-responsive surfaces that could be used for rapid and efficient release of microbial biofilms.

Analytical Bioseparations. We have demonstrated facile methods for the manufacture of integrated nanofluidic systems that allow controllable sample introduction and highly efficient separation using new methodologies such as nanoelectroosmosis.

Each of these general areas of research remains ripe for new discoveries and innovations. The research environment offered by Duke University and its surroundings provides fertile grounds for continued development in each of these areas, as well as their direct application to specific biological, biotechnological and medical problems.

Contact Info:

Office Location:	1427 Fciemas
Email Address:
Web Page:	https://sites.google.com/site/lopezlabatduke/

Education:

PhD, Chemical Engineering, University of Washington, 1991

BS, Chemical Engineering, University of Colorado, 1985

Research Interests:

Prof. Lopez' professional interests lie in research and education in biomaterials science and engineering, bioanalytical chemistry and biointerfacial phenomena.

Recent Publications   (More Publications)

1. Shivapooja, P. and Wang, Q. M. and Orihuela, B. and Rittschof, D. and Lopez, G. P. and Zhao, X. H., Bioinspired Surfaces with Dynamic Topography for Active Control of Biofouling, Advanced Materials, vol. 25 no. 10 (2013), pp. 1430--1434 [doi] .
2. Yang, Y. and Gao, L. and Lopez, G. P. and Yellen, B. B., Tunable Assembly of Colloidal Crystal Alloys Using Magnetic Nanopartide Fluids, Acs Nano, vol. 7 no. 3 (2013), pp. 2705--2716 [doi]  [abs].
3. Cushing, K. W. and Piyasena, M. E. and Carroll, N. J. and Maestas, G. C. and Lopez, B. A. and Edwards, B. S. and Graves, S. W. and Lopez, G. P., Elastomeric Negative Acoustic Contrast Particles for Affinity Capture Assays, Analytical Chemistry, vol. 85 no. 4 (2013), pp. 2208--2215 [doi]  [abs].
4. Yu, Q. and Shivapooja, P. and Johnson, L. M. and Tizazu, G. and Leggett, G. J. and Lopez, G. P., Nanopatterned polymer brushes as switchable bioactive interfaces, Nanoscale, vol. 5 no. 9 (2013), pp. 3632--3637 [doi]  [abs].
5. Thapa, A. and Han, W. and Simons, R. H. and Chilkoti, A. and Chi, E. Y. and Lopez, G. P., Effect of detergents on the thermal behavior of elastin-like polypeptides, Biopolymers, vol. 99 no. 1 (2013), pp. 55--62 [doi]  [abs].