Christopher DelRe
Assistant Professor
ASRC Nanoscience Initiative
Areas of Expertise/Research
- Nanoscience
- Polymer Chemistry
Building
CUNY Advanced Science Research Center
Office
ASRC G.358
Phone
212-413-3384
Website

Christopher DelRe
Profile
Chris received his PhD in Materials Science and Engineering from the University of California, Berkeley under the advisement of Professor Ting Xu in January 2021. He then completed a postdoctoral fellowship at Harvard University in Professor Jarad Mason鈥檚 laboratory, in the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, in January 2023. Chris is currently an assistant professor in the Nanoscience Initiative at the Advanced Science Research Center at CUNY. His lab broadly focuses on engineering materials based on confined macromolecules.
Education
BS/MS, Materials Science and Engineering, Drexel University, 2010-2015
PhD, Materials Science and Engineering, University of California, Berkeley, 2015-2020
Postdoc, Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Harvard University, 2021-2023.
Research Interests
The functionalities of macromolecules鈥攕uch as proteins and synthetic polymers鈥攁re governed largely by their hierarchical structures and dynamics, which can change dramatically when macromolecules are confined in narrow spaces. Our research combines concepts from polymer science, protein science, and inorganic chemistry to carefully engineer the microenvironment of confined macromolecules and unlock materials with novel functionalities.
Selected Publications
7. D. Erdosy*, M. Wenny*, J. Cho*, C. DelRe, R. Sanchez, Y. Peng, B. Polizzotti, and J. Mason. (*Co-first authors) 鈥淢icroporous water with high gas solubilities.鈥 Nature. Vol. 608, 712-718 (2022).
6. J. Kwon, C. DelRe, P. Kang, A. Hall, D. Arnold, I. Jayapurna, L. Ma, M. Michalek, R.O. Ritchie, and T. Xu. 鈥淐onductive ink with circular life cycle for printed electronics.鈥 Advanced Materials. Vol. 34, 2202177 (2022).
5. C. DelRe, Y. Jiang, P. Kang, J. Kwon, A. Hall, I. Jayapurna, Z. Ruan, L. Ma, K. Zolkin, T. Li, C. Scown, R.O. Ritchie, T.P. Russell, and T. Xu. 鈥淣ear-complete depolymerization of polyesters with nano-dispersed enzymes.鈥 Nature. Vol. 592, 558-563 (2021).
4. C. DelRe, B. Chang, I. Jayapurna, A. Hall, A. Wang, K. Zolkin and T. Xu. 鈥淪ynergistic enzyme mixtures to realize near-complete depolymerization in biodegradable polymer/additive blends.鈥 Advanced Materials. Vol. 33, 2105707 (2021).
3. C. DelRe, C. Huang, T. Li, P. Dennis, E. Drockenmuller, and T. Xu. 鈥淩eusable enzymatic fiber mats for neurotoxin remediation in water.鈥 ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces. Vol. 10, 44216-44220 (2018).
2. B. Panganiban, B. Qiao, T. Jiang, C. DelRe, M. Obadia, T. Nguyen, A. Smith, A. Hall, I. Sit, M. Crosby, P. Dennis, E. Drockenmuller, M. Olvera de la Cruz, and Y. Xu. 鈥淩andom heteropolymers preserve protein function in foreign environments.鈥 Science. Vol. 359, 1239-1243 (2018).
1. S. Simotwo*, C. DelRe*, and V. Kalra. (*Co-first authors) 鈥淪upercapacitor electrodes based on high-purity electrospun polyaniline and polyaniline-carbon nanotube nanofibers.鈥 ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces. Vol. 8, 21261-21269 (2016).