Alexandra Grigoropoulos is currently a 5th year PhD candidate in the Materials Science and Engineering Department, where she also received her B.S.
Alexandra’s doctoral research, advised by Professor Ting Xu, focuses on the physics of protein-mimetic random heteropolymers (RHPs). From their conformation, hydration, and phase behavior to their hierarchical dynamics, these polymers at once exhibit both synthetic and biotic characteristics. Alexandra applies advanced nanoscale characterization techniques, including elastic and inelastic x-ray and neutron scattering, to quantify how bioinformation, when materialized within synthetic polymers, prescribes their physical behaviors in both time and space.
As a Kavli Fellow, Alexandra will build upon this foundational knowledge to design RHPs whose molecular and system-level properties, from localized small molecule interactions to microscopic phase behavior and interfacial activity, are jointly tuned to satisfy the competing demands of a cascading catalytic system. Beyond system design, she aims to apply the quantitative characterization methods she has developed to interrogate RHP behavior within a multicomponent and constantly fluctuating environment. This will provide a molecularly detailed description of how bioinformation-encoded polymers operate and adapt within complex and uncertain cytosol-like environments to facilitate efficient energy regulation.