Research Interest:

Main Research Topics

Garrell's research aims are to understand and control adhesion and slip at solution-solid interfaces, and the structure of biological molecules at interfaces. Experiments and theory are being used to characterize the chemical factors responsible for adsorption and adhesion, the structure and mechanical properties of nanoscale films, and how interface chemistry and texture influence wetting and liquid flow. Current areas of investigation include: (1) the structure and stability of organic and inorganic self-assembled monolayers at solution-gold interfaces; (2) the chemistry of cohesion and adhesion in marine biopolymers, and use of these materials to pattern cells for artificial tissues and bioreactors; (3) spectroscopic methods for characterizing protein structure in films, membranes, and drug discovery applications; (4) electrowetting on dielectric surfaces, and applications of electrowetting and surface texturization in microfluidics for biosensors and proteomics.

Detailed Biography:

Professor Garrell received her B.S. degree in Biochemistry with Honors and Distinction from Cornell University in 1978, and Ph.D. in Macromolecular Science and Engineering from the University of Michigan in 1984. She was an Assistant Professor on the faculty of the University of Pittsburgh until 1991, when she joined the faculty of the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at the University of California, Los Angeles. At UCLA, she is the elected Chair of the Faculty of the College of Letters and Science, Associate Director of the Institute for Cell Mimetics in Space Exploration (CMISE), Principal Investigator of the UCLA NSF-IGERT Materials Creation Training Program, member of the Chemistry-Biology Interface Training Program Executive Board, and member of the Biomedical Engineering faculty and the California NanoSystems Institute (CNSI). Garrell's research awards have included the National Science Foundation Presidential Young Investigator Award, Herbert Newby McCoy Award for Outstanding Research at UCLA, Iota Sigma Pi Agnes Fay Morgan Award, and the 2007 Benedetti-Pichler Award in Microchemistry from the American Microchemical Society. She has also received the Hanson-Dow Award for Teaching Excellence at UCLA and the UCLA Distinguished Teaching Award. Garrell is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Her research interests span bioanalytical and surface chemistry, with an emphasis on fundamentals and applications of adhesion and wetting.