Montclare Lab

08/24/2026

Job well done to Isabella Huang for representing our lab at the NSF's ChemMatCARS The University of Chicago ASWAXS Users Workshop, held August 19–21, 2026, at Argonne National Laboratory!

Isabella presented our work on water-responsive protein diblock materials, highlighting how ASWAXS (anomalous small-angle wide-angle X-ray scattering) can provide valuable structural insights into these protein-engineered materials and help us better understand their response to water.

Thankful to Mrinal Bera and Raymond Tu for the opportunity for our lab to present. Looking forward to conducting ASWAXS experiments together later this year and exploring what this powerful technique can reveal about our materials.

Congratulations, Isabella, on a great presentation and on representing the lab so well! 👏🔬

08/15/2026

Congratulations to high school researchers Fawzia Nila from Thomas A Edison Career And Technical High School & Melisa Jimenez Canizal from Academy of American Studies for successfully completing the ARISE program at ! 🎓🧬Over the past few weeks, these two students have poured their hard work, curiosity, and dedication into cutting-edge research. They tackled a critical biomedical challenge: engineering protein-engineered biomaterials specifically designed for detecting MASH (Metabolic Dysfunction-Associated Steatohepatitis) under the supervision of Megh Raj Bhatt, PhD!
The future of STEM is bright with innovators like you leading the way. We cannot wait to see where your scientific journeys take you next! 🌟

FutureScientists Innovation ResearchMentorship

08/07/2026

Congratulations to Darren Sea and Basia Czarkowska for presenting their research on developing enzymes for polymer synthesis and supercharged protein•exosome complexes for gene delivery, respectively, at the 2026 UGSRP Symposium! 🎉It has been an absolute pleasure watching them dive deep into their summer research, ask important questions and tackle complex challenges. Their hard work, dedication, and curiosity throughout the summer undergraduate research program culminated in presentations today. Investing in the next generation of researchers is always rewarding, and these two are bright examples of where the future of our field is headed. Please join us in celebrating their achievements and look forward to their contributions as they continue through the academic year! 👏 🎓

08/06/2026

Congratulations Hao-Wei Shih, Megh Raj Bhatt, PhD and collaborator Elizabeth Henaff on the publication of “Protein-Based Biomaterials for Sequestration and Delivery of Metal Ions and Organic Compounds” in Molecular Systems Design & Engineering! In this review, we examine how the molecular design of proteins—including hydrophobic, aromatic, charged, histidine, cysteine, and carboxylate motifs—can be harnessed to create programmable biomaterials for metal ion sequestration, pollutant capture, and controlled drug delivery. We also compare protein-based systems with conventional adsorbents and identify key design principles and translational opportunities for next-generation biomaterials.
You can read the article here:
https://lnkd.in/gj_98DDk
MaterialsScience MolecularEngineering
https://doi.org/10.1039/d6me00042h

Protein-based biomaterials are emerging as programmable platforms for sequestration of metal ions and organic compounds and for therapeutic delivery becaus

08/03/2026

Please join us in congratulating Megh Raj Bhatt, PhD, on being awarded the prestigious Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation ’s Postdoctoral Fellowship! This highly competitive fellowship recognizes outstanding early-career scientists pushing the boundaries of discovery. His research perfectly exemplifies the Foundation’s mission to support fundamental, discovery-driven science at the interface of chemical physics, biophysics, molecular biology, and soft materials. Thank you to the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation for investing in next-generation research and supporting Megh's work!

07/16/2026

Guess who is featured on the PhD Pulse on LinkedIn? It’s & Henaff Lab’s Hao-Wei Shih! Check it out!

For this month's Ph.D.

07/15/2026

Please join us in welcoming researchers Fawzia Nila from Thomas A Edison Career And Technical High School & Melisa Jimenez Canizal from Academy of American Studies to ! They started this month and continue to work on protein engineering research under Megh Raj Bhatt, PhD.

06/29/2026

This past weekend we had our annual summer party celebrating together with , & Tu lab! We also celebrated Dr. on completing his journey. As , a junior PhD student designed a t-shirt, which was well received. Congratulations & we expect you to proudly wear it!

06/22/2026

Congratulations to Jonathan Sun, Andrew Wang, Isabella Huang, Nada Haq-Siddiqi, PhD, Zara Hedaya, and colleagues Chengyu Sun, Seungri Kim, PhD , Raymond Tu & Xi Chen on this new publication in Biochemistry! This work elegantly demonstrates that a single leucine-to-alanine mutation in protein block copolymers (BCPs) significantly enhances water-responsive actuation, with the mutated CL44AE variant achieving a record-breaking energy density of 2,043 kJ/m³. The study reveals that this single modification changes hierarchical assembly, resulting in increased water uptake and superior performance, highlighting the role of asymmetric architectures in developing high-performance, moisture-powered smart materials. Check it out at https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.biochem.6c00038 !
🎓

06/16/2026

Welcome Hanshika Biswas a Biotechnology MS student & Micahael Samuel a ChemE BS student at NYU Tandon School of Engineering to ! Hanshika earned her earned her BS in Biotechnology with a specialization in Clinical Laboratory Science from Penn State University in 2025, while Micahael will be completing his BS and looking to pursue a MS. We look forward to their research contributions to the lab.