Alex Marras is a postdoctoral scholar at the Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering at the University of Chicago where he studies polyelectrolyte complexation with biomacromolecules in Professor Matt Tirrell's group. He serves on the User Executive Committee for the Molecular Foundry at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and is the co-chair for the Self-Assembled Biomaterials session at the 2019 American Institute of Chemical Engineers meeting. Marras received his PhD from The Ohio State University working with Carlos Castro in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering. His graduate research in structural DNA nanotechnology focused on the development of DNA-based mechanical mechanisms and methods for their rapid actuation. Marras has received multiple awards for his research accomplishments, including the Presidential Fellowship at The Ohio State University and Best Poster prize at Foundations of Nanotechnology conference.
Alex's areas of research expertise include self-assembled biomaterials, nucleic acids, structural DNA nanotechnology, and polyelectrolyte complexation with biomolecules.
Advances in the Structural Design of Polyelectrolyte Complex Micelles
Alexander E. Marras, Jeffrey M. Ting, Kaden C. Stevens, and Matthew V. Tirrell. "Advances in the Structural Design of Polyelectrolyte Complex Micelles". J. Phys. Chem. B, 2021, 125, 26, 7076-7089.
Physical Property Scaling Relationships for Polyelectrolyte Complex Micelles
Alexander E. Marras, Trinity R. Campagna, Jeffrey R. Vieregg, and Matthew V. Tirrell. "Physical Property Scaling Relationships for Polyelectrolyte Complex Micelles". Macromolecules, 2021, 54, 13, 6585-6594.
Advances in the Structural Design of Polyelectrolyte Complex Micelles
Alexander E Marras, Jeffrey M Ting, Kaden C Stevens, Matthew V Tirrell. "Advances in the Structural Design of Polyelectrolyte Complex Micelles". The Journal of Physical Chemistry B, 2021
Physical property scaling relationships for polyelectrolyte complex micelles
Alexander E Marras, Trinity R Campagna, Jeffrey R Vieregg, Matthew V Tirrell. "Physical property scaling relationships for polyelectrolyte complex micelles", Macromolecules, 2021.
Impact of wet-dry cycling on the phase behavior and compartmentalization properties of complex coacervates
Fares, Hadi M., Alexander E. Marras, Jeffrey M. Ting, Matthew V. Tirrell, and Christine D. Keating. "Impact of Wet-Dry Cycling on the Phase Behavior and Compartmentalization Properties of Complex Coacervates." (2020).
Comparing Zwitterionic and PEG Exteriors of Polyelectrolyte Complex Micelles
Ting, Jeffrey M., Alexander E. Marras, Joseph D. Mitchell, Trinity R. Campagna, and Matthew V. Tirrell. "Comparing Zwitterionic and PEG Exteriors of Polyelectrolyte Complex Micelles." Molecules 25, no. 11 (2020): 2553.
Assembly and Characterization of Polyelectrolyte Complex Micelles
Marras, A. E., Vieregg, J. R., Tirrell, M. V. Assembly and Characterization of Polyelectrolyte Complex Micelles. J. Vis. Exp. (157), e60894, doi:10.3791/60894 (2020).
Polyelectrolyte complexation of oligonucleotides by charged hydrophobic–neutral hydrophilic block copolymers
Marras, A. E., Vieregg, J. R., Ting, J. M., Rubien, J. D., Tirrell, M. V.. Polyelectrolyte complexation of oligonucleotides by charged hydrophobic–neutral hydrophilic block co. Polymers. 2019. Vol. 11, Pg. 83.