Zauscher Lab

The Zauscher lab research lies at the intersection of surface and colloid science, polymer materials engineering, and biointerface science. These broad inquiries deal with fundamental behaviors of soft-wet materials on surfaces and interfaces.

Current projects include:

(1) fabrication, manipulation, and characterization of stimulus-responsive biomolecular and bio-inspired polymeric nanostructures on surfaces;
(2) nanomechanics of soft-wet materials and hybrid biological/non-biological microdevices;
(3) interaction of proteins with lipid membranes in the context of HIV-1;
(4) the role of glycoproteins in boundary lubrication of cartilage.

Recent Publications:

Gonzales, Gavin, Jiaul Hoque, Colin Kaeo, Stefan Zauscher, and Shyni Varghese. “Grafting of cationic molecules to hyaluronic acid improves adsorption and cartilage lubrication.” Biomater Sci, August 9, 2024. https://doi.org/10.1039/d4bm00532e.

Zhao, Yicheng, Zehra Parlak, Wenjun Yu, Daniel French, Wilkins Aquino, and Stefan Zauscher. “Microfluidic QCM enables ultrahigh Q-factor: a new paradigm for in-liquid gravimetric sensing.” Microsystems & Nanoengineering 10, no. 1 (August 2024): 116. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41378-024-00732-2.

Gonzales, Gavin, Jiaul Hoque, Anna Gilpin, Biswanath Maity, Stefan Zauscher, and Shyni Varghese. “Branched poly-l-lysine for cartilage penetrating carriers.” Bioeng Transl Med 9, no. 3 (May 2024): e10612. https://doi.org/10.1002/btm2.10612.