The Spangler Lab at VCU
We investigate the engineering of protein biomaterials for sustainable energy applications and more. Our research is highly interdisciplinary, spanning materials science, protein engineering, synthetic biology, and physical chemistry.
Current Projects
Biomineralization of Semiconductor Quantum Dots
Engineering Light Harvesting Proteins from Algae
De Novo Protein Design for Sustainable Materials Synthesis
Recent News
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New Publication on De Novo Protein Templated Quantum Dots
The Spangler lab publishes its first paper using de novo proteins to template the formation of semiconductor quantum dots in ACS Central Science! This work was done in collaboration with Michael Hecht at Princeton University. Check out our work here: https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acscentsci.4c01826
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Rafael Wins NSDEG Fellowship!
PhD Student Rafael Gonzalez-Rosario has won a prestigious NSDEG Fellowship! Congratulations Rafael!
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Spangler Lab Receives Funding from DARPA
The Spangler lab recently received funding from DARPA to study the separation and purification of rare earth elements using de novo protein design. Check out the recent VCU news story here!
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Graduate students present posters at ISEE Annual Symposium
Graduate students Rebecca Jarrell, Coral O’Brien, and Rafael Gonzalez Rosario all presented posters on their current research at this year’s Institute for Sustainable Energy and Environment (ISEE)’s Annual Symposium. We really enjoyed getting to share our work with everyone at the conference!
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Rebecca gives invited presentation at Research Administrator Day!
Graduate student Rebecca Jarrell gave an excellent overview of her research on QD biomineralization at VCU’s Research Administrator Day this year. Great job Rebecca!
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The lab hosts REU student Amanda Richardson this summer!
This summer the Spangler lab was very lucky to host visiting REU student Amanda Richardson from the University of South Florida! Amanda completed some excellent research developing a protein secretion system in E. coli for continuous manufacturing. She presented her work at the REU poster session at the end of the program. Her work was…
Spangler Lab 