From left to right: polymer micelles, worm-like micelles, and vesicles.
Karthikan Rajagopal
Ph.D (Chemistry) 2007, University of Delaware, Newark, DE
email: kr 'at' seas upenn edu
phone: 215-898-4809
Current Research Interests
-Self-assembly & morphological phase behavior of amphiphilic diblock copolymers
-Design of functional nanoscale assemblies (wormlike micelles and polymersomes) for drug delivery
-Bioconjugate chemistry
Publications
1. Karthikan Rajagopal, Matthew S. Lamm, Lisa A. Haines-Butterick, Darrin J. Pochan, and Joel P. Schneider, “Tuning the pH Responsiveness of β-Hairpin Peptide Folding, Self-Assembly and Hydrogel Material Formation” Submitted to The Journal of the American Chemical Society, 2009.
2. Matthew S. Lamm, Nikhil Sharma, Karthikan Rajagopal, Frederick L. Beyer, Joel P. Schneider, and Darrin J. Pochan, “Laterally spaced linear nanoparticle arrays templated by laminated β-sheet fibrils”, Advanced Materials, 20(3):447-451, 2008.
3. Bulent Ozbas, Karthikan Rajagopal, Lisa Haines-Butterick, Joel P. Schneider and Darrin J. Pochan, “Reversible stiffening transition in β-hairpin hydrogels induced by ion complexation” Journal of Physical Chemistry B, 111(50):13901 -13908, 2007.
4. Lisa Haines-Butterick, Karthikan Rajagopal, Monica Branco, Daphne Salick, Ronak Rughani, Matthew Pilarz, Matthew S. Lamm, Darrin J. Pochan, and Joel P. Schneider, “Controlling hydrogelation kinetics by peptide design for three-dimensional encapsulation and injectable delivery of cells” Proceedings of the National Academy of the Sciences, 104(19):7791-7796, 2007.
5. Cecile Veerman, Karthikan Rajagopal, Chandra Sekhar Palla, Darrin J. Pochan, Joel P. Schneider, and Eric M. Furst, “Gelation kinetics of β-hairpin peptide hydrogel networks” Macromolecules, 39:6608-6614, 2006.
6. David D. Díaz, Karthikan Rajagopal, Erica Strable, Joel Schneider, and M. G. Finn, “"Click" chemistry in a supramolecular environment: Stabilization of organogels by copper(I)-catalyzed azide-alkyne [3 + 2] cycloaddition”, The Journal of the American Chemical Society, 128(18):6056-6057, 2006.
7. Karthikan Rajagopal, Bulent Ozbas, Darrin Pochan, and Joel Schneider, “Probing the importance of lateral hydrophobic association in self-assembling Peptide Hydrogelators” European Biophysics Journal, 35:162-170, 2006.
8. Lisa Haines, Karthikan Rajagopal, Bulent Ozbas, Daphne Salick, Darrin Pochan, and Joel Schneider, "Light activated hydrogel formation via the triggered folding and self-Assembly of a designed peptide" The Journal of the American Chemical Society, 127(48):17025-17029, 2005.
9. Matt Lamm, Karthikan Rajagopal, Joel Schneider, Darrin Pochan, “Laminated morphology of non-twisting beta-sheet fibrils constructed via peptide self-assembly” The Journal of the American Chemical Society, 127(47):16692-16700, 2005.
10. Bulent Ozbas, Karthikan Rajagopal, Joel Schneider and Darrin Pochan., “Semiflexible chain networks formed via self-assembly of beta-hairpin molecules”, Physical Review Letters, 93(26):268106, 2004.
11. Karthikan Rajagopal and Joel Schneider, “Self-assembling peptides and proteins for nanotechnological applications”, Current Opinion in Structural Biology, 14:480-486, 2004.
12. Bulent Ozbas, Juliana Kretsinger, Karthikan Rajagopal, Joel Schneider, Darrin Pochan, “Salt-triggered peptide folding and consequent self-assembly into hydrogels with tunable modulus” Macromolecules, 37:7331-7336, 2004.
13. Darrin Pochan, Joel Schneider, Juliana Kretsinger, Bulent Ozbas, Karthikan Rajagopal and Lisa Haines, "Thermally reversible hydrogels via intramolecular folding and consequent self-assembly of a de novo designed peptide" The Journal of the American Chemical Society, 125(39):11802-11803, 2003.
14. Joel Schneider, Darrin Pochan, Bulent Ozbas, Karthikan Rajagopal, Lisa Pakstis and Juliana Kretsinger, “Responsive hydrogels from intramolecular folding and self-assembly of a designed peptide”, The Journal of the American Chemical Society, 124(50):15030-15037, 2002.
Recent Conference Presentations:
1. Karthikan Rajagopal, Abdullah Mahmud, David Pajerowski, David Christian and Dennis E. Discher “Phase boundaries and flexibility transitions of worm micelles and vesicles made with polycaprolactone based diblock copolymers”, American Institute of Chemical Engineers National Meeting, Philadelphia, Nov 16 - 21, 2008.
2. Kandaswamy Vijayan, Andre Brown, Karthikan Rajagopal and Dennis E. Discher “Glassy worms: From rheology to solvent tuned flexibility and nano-molded rods”, American Institute of Chemical Engineers National Meeting, Philadelphia, Nov 16 - 21, 2008.
3. Karthikan Rajagopal and Dennis E. Discher “Design of functional wormlike micelles from polyethyleneoxide-b-polycprolactone diblock copolymers”, American Institute of Chemical Engineers National Meeting, Philadelphia, Nov 16-21, 2008.
4. Karthikan Rajagopal and Dennis E. Discher. “Design of functional polymeric assemblies for drug delivery applications”, 236th American Chemical Society National Meeting, Philadelphia, Aug 17 - 21, 2008.
5. Karthikan Rajagopal and Dennis E. Discher. “Reductive degradation of worm-like micelles for drug delivery applications”, Materials Research Society Fall Meeting, Boston, Nov 26 - Nov 30, 2007.
Patents:
1. “Novel Hydrogels and Uses There Of” Inventors: Joel P. Schneider, Darrin J. Pochan, Bulent Ozbas, Karthikan Rajagopal, Juliana Kretsinger, and Lisa Haines-Butterick. International Patent Application No.: PCT/US2005/026528; Publication No: WO/2006/076042