Christopher Alabi began his research career as an undergraduate student under the direction of Professor David Schuster at New York University. Upon receiving his B.S. in Chemistry from New York University and B.E. in Chemical Engineering from Stevens Institute of Technology, he went on to pursue a graduate degree in Chemistry at California Institute of Technology with Professor Mark Davis. There, he carried out a two-part dissertation on proton conductive membranes and targeted nanoparticle delivery. He then moved to MIT in 2009 and served as NIH Postdoctoral Fellow with Professor Langer and Anderson. Chris joined the Cornell faculty in the summer of 2013 as an Assistant Professor in the School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering. His research focuses on the assembly of new sequence-defined macromolecules that can be used to create stimuli-responsive materials, develop efficient drug delivery bioconjugates and design potent antimicrobial agents.
Research in the Alabi lab involves the use of synthetic and analytical tools to enhance our understanding and facilitate the engineering of precise functional macromolecular materials and therapeutics. Our research goals involve the discovery and use of sequence-defined macromolecules to create sustainable stimuli-responsive materials, quantitate biological processes, develop efficient drug delivery bioconjugates and discover potent antimicrobial macromolecules. Our work ranges from the molecular scale, where we investigate the precise placement of functional groups along a polymer backbone, to studying their material and biological properties. Our focus is on applications that leverage the advantages of our sequence-controlled macromolecules such as precise sequence and composition control, abiotic backbones and a large scope of chemically diverse monomers.
Christopher Alabi teaches ChemE 6400 and ENGRI 1120
