Professor and Racheff Faculty Scholar Cecilia Leal is contributing her expertise in biomembrane structure and characterization to a $2 million NSF project led by the University of Massachusetts Amherst. The research aims to revolutionize separation membrane manufacturing. The interdisciplinary collaboration seeks to replace the decades-old toxic chemical process with biology-inspired membranes that mimic how human cells naturally filter molecules. Leal's work is critical to replicating the structural complexity that makes biomembranes so effective at selective transport, with potential applications in water purification, desalination and pharmaceutical manufacturing.
Written by Jackson Brunner
Professor Cecilia Leal is bringing her expertise in biomembrane structure and characterization to a $2 million National Science Foundation project that aims to revolutionize how separation membranes are made.
Cecilia Leal, Professor and Racheff Faculty Scholar
Led by the University of Massachusetts Amherst, the interdisciplinary collaboration seeks to replace the 60-year-old chemical manufacturing process with biology-inspired membranes that can be made without toxins. The team is taking cues from how human cells naturally allow some molecules to pass through while filtering others out.
Leal, a professor from the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at The Grainger College of Engineering, specializes in understanding how biological membranes work and the tools needed to characterize them. Her contribution is critical as the team works to replicate the structural and compositional complexity that makes biomembranes so effective at selective transport.
Combination of Cryo-EM image data + cartoon of the porous bioinspired membranes researchers are working on in the NSF project.
"Biomembranes exemplify how structural and compositional complexity can drive selective and efficient transport—yet current materials for separation membranes fall short of replicating this sophistication," Leal said.
The project brings together researchers from the University of Massachusetts Amherst, the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, the University at Buffalo and the Air Force Research Lab. Principal investigator Sarah Perry and co-investigator Jessica Schiffman from UMass Amherst lead the effort, with Illinois professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering Charles Sing providing computational modeling expertise.
The new membranes could transform water purification, desalination, and pharmaceutical manufacturing, making these processes more efficient while addressing emerging contaminants in water supplies.