Lauren E. Buchanan

Assistant Professor of Chemistry

Overview:

Research in the Buchanan group is highly interdisciplinary, focusing on using state-of-the-art spectroscopic techniques to study systems at the interface of biology and nanotechnology. Our research program is divided into several major themes. One direction focuses on understanding the complex array of forces that drive protein folding and aggregation in order to guide the rational design of peptide materials and to understand human diseases linked to amyloid protein aggregation. Another focus of our research is determining the detailed structural changes that occur in nanoparticle-bound proteins and the implications for nanomedicine. We are also working in collaboration with Professor Joshua Caldwell to better understand the strong coupling of light to molecular vibrations within novel nanoscale optical cavities and the effect that such 'vibrational polaritons' have on chemistry.

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Awards:

-National Science Foundation CAREER award, 2024
-Excellence in Teaching Award – Vanderbilt Student Members of the ACS, 2017
-National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow, 2009-2012
-Outstanding Chemistry Teaching Award, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 2009
-Pei Wang Fellowship, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 2008