We are excited to announce that Freeman Lab Ph.D. candidate Maggie Daly has been selected for the 2019 National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Fellowship Program.

Each year NSF recognizes outstanding graduate students in STEM fields of study who “have demonstrated the potential to be high-achieving scientists and engineers, early in their career.” Maggie is one of just 2,000 fellows this year, selected from an applicant pool of more than 12,000 candidates. The Graduate Research Fellowship Program awards recipients with stipends to support their research, as well as educational allowances and professional development opportunities.

The goal of Maggie’s research is to create a new class of biomaterials that can dynamically interface with cells and organisms by changing their structure and function on demand. “We take advantage of the impressive interplay of weak interactions that can shape, morph and deconstruct biomolecular assemblies in biology,” explains Maggie. “To create these materials, we link natural building blocks such as peptides and nucleotides and harness their ability to assemble into a variety of transient architectures.”

Maggie’s work has the potential to create a paradigm shift in supramolecular assembly. “The ability to engineer complex dynamic architectures and devices will enable advances in fields such as tissue engineering, sensing and smart materials,” Maggie writes. “By developing the self-healing properties of dynamic biomaterials, we can envision eliminating scar tissue, healing spinal cord injuries, and replacing or repairing defective organs with personalized medicine.”

With the National Science Foundation’s grant, Maggie has an incredible opportunity to address medical challenges in diagnostics, drug delivery, and tissue regeneration. Maggie is excited to inspire, mentor, and learn from young scientists to create the medicinal materials of the future.