The Biopolymer Engineering and Nanotechnology Laboratory, led by Thom LaBean, Professor of Materials Science and Engineering, designs and constructs self-assembling molecular materials using DNA and proteins as programmable building blocks. Drawing inspiration from nature’s molecular recognition principles, the group engineers artificial materials with precise nanoscale features and investigates new approaches for biomimetic nanofabrication to overcome the scaling limits of traditional semiconductor and photonic device processing. Their research also extends to medical applications, developing bionanotechnology tools such as enzyme inhibitors, targeted metabolic activators and strategies to program cell surface receptor behavior for therapeutic outcomes.