About Dr. Jessica Rouge
Dr. Jessica Rouge is originally from the east coast, growing up on Long Island, NY. She earned her B.S. in Biochemistry from Boston College in 2006. After graduating from BC, she headed west to the University of Colorado, where in 2012 she earned a Ph.D. in Chemistry working with Prof. Bruce Eaton. At CU she studied the synthesis of RNA-mediated nanoscale inorganic materials. The structures she worked with were evaluated for their use in energy related research, most notably in the area of catalytic water splitting. After completing her Ph.D., she began her postdoctoral studies in 2013 in the laboratory of Prof. Chad Mirkin at Northwestern University. There she applied the skills she learned for interfacing RNA and inorganic materials for developing enzymatic assembly approaches useful for synthesizing RNA-nanoparticle conjugates capable of intracellular gene regulation. In 2015, Jessica joined the faculty of the University of Connecticut as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Chemistry, where she is excited to combine the chemical diversity of nucleic acids with the synthesis of nanoscale materials as a way to tailor the properties of hybrid nanomaterials for energy and medical applications.
Group Interests
Our group seeks to understand how enzymes and nucleic acids can be used in new ways to engineer highly specific and targeted responses in chemical and biological systems. We are specifically interested in developing new chemical strategies for assembling catalytic RNA sequences at nanoparticle surfaces for sensing, diagnostic and therapeutic applications.
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