Cecilia Leal

For More Information

• Leal Lab: Materials Science of Soft and Living Systems
• LinkedIn
• Publications

Selected Articles in Journals

• K. Ko, S. R. Bandara, W. Zhou, L. Sevnningsson, M. Porras-Gomez, N. Kambar, J. Dreher-Threlkeld, D. Topgaard, D. Hernandez-Saavedra, S. Anakk and C. Leal*, "Diet-induced obesity modulates close-packing of triacylglycerols in lipid droplets of adipose tissue", J. Am. Chem. Soc. 146, 34796 (2024)
• L. Zheng, S. Bandara, Z. Tan, and C. Leal*, "Lipid nanoparticle topology regulates endosomal escape and delivery of RNA to the cytoplasm", Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 120, e2301067120 (2023)
• Y. K. Go, J. Shin, G. Chen, and C. Leal*, "Reorientation of Crystalline Block Copolymer Membranes by Phospholipid Hybridization", Chem. Mater. 34, 8577 (2022)
• M. Kim, M. Porras-Gomez, and C. Leal*, "Graphene-based sensing of oxygen transport through pulmonary membranes" Nat. Commun. 11, 1103 (2020)
• H. Kim, Z. Song, and C. Leal*, "Super-swelled Lyotropic Single Crystals" Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 114, 10834 (2017)

Other Publications

• Cecilia Leal and Ivan Smalyukh, "Sheltering In Place At The Charles T. Munger Physics Residence", Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics (KITP) Newsletter, Spring 2020

Magazine Articles

• Commentary on: "Protein-lipid particles to deliver genetic medicine" by Laurel Oldach, C&EN Magazine, September 10, 2024
• Commentary on: "Verve pauses gene therapy trial, switches delivery agent" by Laura Howes, C&EN Magazine, April 4, 2024
• Highlight at Chemical & Engineering (C&EN) News: "Labyrinthine lipid nanoparticles may boost RNA delivery" by Shi En Kim, June 28, 2023
• Commentary on: "Hopewell nabs seed funding for lipid nanoparticle delivery" by Shi En Kim, C&EN Magazine, June 9, 2023

Teaching Honors

• List of Teachers Ranked as Excellent by their Students for Fall 2015 - MSE 201-Phases and Phase Relations, UIUC (2015)
• List of Teachers Ranked as Excellent by their Students for Fall 2020 - MSE 201-Phases and Phase Relations, UIUC (2020)
• List of Teachers Ranked as Excellent by their Students for Fall 2021 - MSE 201 - Phases and Phase Relations, UIUC (2021)
• List of Teachers Ranked as Excellent by their Students for Spring 2017 - MSE 473-Biomolecular Materials Science, UIUC (2017)
• List of Teachers Ranked as Excellent by their Students for Spring 2022 - MSE 473-Biomolecular Materials Science, UIUC (2022)
• List of Teachers Ranked as Excellent by their Students for Spring 2023 - MSE 473-Biomolecular Materials Science, UIUC (2023)

Research Honors

• University of Illinois Provost's Distinguished Promotion to Full Professor Award (2024)
• University of Illinois Scholar (2023)
• Illinois Grainger College of Engineering Dean's Award for Excellence in Research for Associate Professor (2021)
• Racheff Faculty Scholar Award (2019)
• University of Illinois Provost Distinguished Promotion to Associate Professor Award (2019)
• Illinois Grainger College of Engineering Dean's Award for Excellence in Research for Assistant Professor (2018)
• National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA) Faculty Fellowship (2017)
• NIH New Innovator Award: A New Paradigm In Nanomedicine: Can Structural Interiors of Nanoparticles Regulate Cellular Delivery? (DP2-EB-024377) (2016)
• NSF CAREER Award: Nanostructured Soft Substrates for Responsive Bioactive Coatings (DMR -1554435 ) (2016)