Ice Interactive Polymers

These projects all have to do with our work on bioinspired synthetic polymers that interact with nascent ice crystals to either perform dynamic ice shaping (DIS) to stunt the growth of the crystals or to influence their morphology, to stabilize nascent ice crystals to serve as ice recystalization inhibition (IRI) agents, to induce thermal hysteresis activity (THA), or to depress the ice nucleation point. All of these are inspired by anti-freeze proteins and are used as cryoprotecting agents in biological cryo-perservation (e.g. red blood cells, mesochemial stem cells, or even full organs) and/or anti-icing applications.