Van Lehn Group

We are a group in the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. We develop and apply molecular simulation methods to characterize, predict, and engineer the physicochemical properties of synthetic and biological soft materials. We broadly seek to uncover relationships between nanoscale properties and macroscopic behavior in order to inform materials design, and particularly focus on understanding interactions at complex, multicomponent interfaces. We study a range of systems, including nanoparticles, peptides, surfactants, liquid crystals, and polymers, for applications in drug delivery, environmental sensing, plastic recycling, catalysis, and self-assembly.