www.ronZnet.com

Ronald Zuckermann, Ph.D.

Nanobioscience Research
at the intersection of Chemistry, Biology & Engineering

Specializing in:
Molecular biomimicry with bio-inspired polymers Combinatorial chemistry Solid-phase synthesis Peptoids and non-natural oligomers Self-assembly and folding of protein-mimetic polymers Laboratory automation Custom instrumentation Mechanical engineering & Fluidics

	Contact Information Ronald Zuckermann, Ph.D. Biological Nanostructures Facility The Molecular Foundry Lawrence Berekeley National Laboratory 1 Cyclotron Rd., MS 67-5110 Berkeley, CA 94720 Phone: (510) 387-9364 E-mail: ron@ronznet.com

About Ron

Ronald Zuckermann received his B.S. in Chemistry in 1984 from Harvey Mudd College where he did undergraduate research in synthetic organic chemistry.  He then went on to UC Berkeley to study Bioorganic Chemistry with Dr. Peter Schultz.  His thesis work was on the synthesis of semi-synthetic nucleases capable of the sequence-specific cleavage of RNA.  After receiving the first Schultz group Ph.D. in 1989, he became one of the founding chemists at Protos Corp., a combinatorial drug discovery start-up in Emeryville, CA.  There he helped develop several key drug discovery technologies such as robotic combinatorial library synthesizers, affinity selection methods and a novel class of heteropolymers called "Peptoids".  Chiron Corp. acquired Protos in 1991 where this work continued and was applied to small molecule drug discovery, new biomaterials and DNA delivery.  Dr. Zuckermann was promoted to Chiron Research Fellow in 2003. In early 2006, he left Chiron to join the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, where he served as the Facility Director of the Biological Nanostructures Facility at The Molecular Foundry. He was promoted to Senior Scientist in 2011, and became a Researcher Emeritus in 2022. At LBL, he continues his quest to expand the application of peptoid polymers to mimic the structure and function of proteins, by folding peptoid sequences into defined nanoarchitectures. He has published over 180 papers and is co-inventor on 39 patents.

What's Hot!

 

May 2003 RZ receives Chiron Research Fellow Award at all employee meeting from Craig Wheeler. Audio capture (mp3, 7:39).	May 2007 Interview in Nano World News: "Techniques for Rapid Drug Discovery Now Focusing on Nanoscience Research"	May 2008 Feature story in LBNL News Center: "A Tailorable Nanotube, Formed by a Ring-shaped Protein"	July 2008 Feature story in LBNL News Center: "Nano-Sized Jaws Perform Like Proteins"
August 7-8th, 2008 The 6th Peptoid Summit was held on at the Molecular Foundry.	December 1, 2008 Eric Drexler's blog on MetaModern: "Peptoids at the Molecular Foundry"	August 9-10th, 2010 The 7th Peptoid Summit was held at the Molecular Foundry	April 2010 Feature story in LBNL News Center about our discovery of peptoid nanosheets: "Berkeley Lab Scientists Create ‘Molecular Paper’"
April 12, 2010 Wired Science at WIRED.com: "Floating Nanosheets Could Be the Plywood of Nanotechnology"	April 19, 2010 News of the Week story at Chemical & Engineering News about our first paper on peptoid nanosheets: "Bioinspired Material Debuts"	April 22, 2010 Eric Drexler's blog on MetaModern: "Peptoid nanosheets: A platform for new nanotechnologies"	April 28, 2010 Kristin Brinner's blog at ScienceBlog.com: "Tasty New Molecular Sandwiches"
June 22, 2010 Guest blog by RZ on ScriptPhD.com about my long-term quest to make protein like materials from non-natural building blocks: "Beauty and the Building Blocks"	January 18, 2011 Feature story in LBNL News Center on a peptoid block copolymer that forms nanosheets that roll up into superhelices: "A Nanoscale Rope"	August 2011 Award-winning lecture presented at the 2011 Annual Retreat of the LBNL Materials Sciences Division "Perspective: Safety Culture" Lecture slides: PDF or Keynote format. (e-mail me if you have comments!) Profile in Safety story about my safety management philosophy in "Today at LBNL"	September 2011 Top story in the Dept. of Energy's Energy Frontier Research Newsletter about our work on peptoids that accelerate the mineralization of CO2: "Turning Greenhouse Gas to Stone"
September 2011 Special issue of Biopolymers Peptide Science devoted to papers presented at the 7th Peptoid Summit: 7th Peptoid Summit Special Issue	October 17, 2011 Feature story in LBNL News Center about our JACS paper on how peptoid nanosheets are formed: "Shaken, not Stirred" Original article in press at J. Am. Chem. Soc.	October 17, 2011 Science Concentrate in Chemical & Engineering News "Surprise Route to Peptoid Nanosheets" pdf version: here.	November 2, 2011 Journal of Visualized Experiments published a detailed 14 minute video and accompanying written protocol on how to make peptoids and self assemble them into nanosheets. Now anyone can get involved! "Solid-phase Submonomer Synthesis of Peptoid Polymers and their Self-Assembly into Highly-Ordered Nanosheets" See a 1 min preview here!
August 2012 The 8th peptoid Summit was held in Berkeley on August 9-10, 2012	August 21, 2012 LBNL press release about our PNAS paper on peptoid structure prediction: "Form, Function and Folding" See also: Feature article on DOE's Office of Science website: "Predictions, proteins and peptoids"	May 13, 2013 Ron delivers his "Big Idea" at an LBNL Science at the Theater event at the Berkeley Repertory Theater: Link to video here.	July 29, 2013 Peppytides paper published in PNAS on our foldable, physical model of the polypeptide chain.
August 2013 Ron wins the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory Director's Award for Excellence in Safety!	October 30, 2013 LBNL press release on our ACS Nano paper on antibody-mimetic peptoid nanosheets. “Molecular Velcro” May Lead to Cost-Effective Alternatives to Natural Antibodies Also, hear an 8-minute interview with Ron about this paper in the October edition of the ACS Nano Podcast (see episode #75).	January 7, 2014 Make Magazine publishes a project tutorial on how to make your own Peppytide models. Make: Projects "Peppytides" Build a super accurate, scaled 3D-model of a polypeptide chain that can be folded into all the basic protein structures, like α-helices, β-sheets, and β-turns. The model, called a Peppytide, is made by linking together many 3D-printed molecular subunits with a series of precisely placed magnets and screws. Once built, the Peppytide chain faithfully reproduces the size, shape and flexibility of proteins... read more!	January 20, 2014 Berkeley Lab releases a cool 5 minute video on the Peppytide project! Peppytides: Interactive Models of Polypeptide Chains
April, 19, 2014 Ron delivers one of the 2014 HC Brown Symposium lectures in Organic Chemistry at Purdue University.	September 2, 2014 Our paper on the assembly of peptoid nanosheets at the oil-water interface came out in PNAS. LBNL press release: "Peptoid Nanosheets at the Oil/Water Interface" University of Oregon story: "UO-Berkeley Lab unveil new nano-sized synthetic scaffolding technique"	September 4, 2014 Ron and Promita were awarded the LBNL Director's Award for Exceptional Achievement in outreach for our work on the Peppytide molecular models!	November 4, 2014 9th Peptoid Summit announced! Come join us at the 9th Peptoid Summit, August 6-7th, 2015, Molecular Foundry, Berkeley, CA.
December 11, 2014 Ron's research on peptoid nanosheets highlighted in Today at Berkeley Lab. "Mimicking Nature for Homeland Security"	December 30, 2014 Our research is mentioned on NBC News! 3-D Printed Molecule Models Solve Protein Puzzles	April 1, 2015 LBNL Science Shorts: A Robot Chemist, at Your Service	June 2, 2015 LBNL News Center: Using Robots at Berkeley Lab, Scientists Assemble Promising Antimicrobial Compounds
August 6-7, 2015 Ninth Peptoid Summit Convened at the Molecular Foundry, featuring 130 attendees, 28 talks and 45 posters. See the slide show!	October 7, 2015 Sigma strand paper appears in Nature! LBNL News Center: Newly Discovered ‘Design Rule’ Brings Nature-Inspired Nanostructures One Step Closer	December 3, 2015 Ron gives the Dow Distinguished Lecture at the Materials Research Laboratory at UC Santa Barbara. with Chelsea Catania.	December 4. 2015 Ron talks to the Graduate Students for Diversity in Science at UC Santa Barbara about "Building Relationships with Mentees and Collaborators". Ron Zuckermann speaks about building relationships Fixing the Leaky Pipeline
March 9, 2016 Feature article in New Scientist Magazine talks about the future of peptoids! Plastic fantastic: The quest to create the smartest materials (pdf)	March 15, 2016 Review article on peptoid nanosheets on the cover of Accounts of Chemical Research!	March 24, 2016 Molecular Foundry 10th Anniversary Celebration! Congressman Mike Honda. ABC News report!	May 22, 2016 Speaker at the Bay Area Maker Faire, on a "Think, Make, innovate" panel of Dept. of Energy Scientists who are also Makers! "Meet the Maker" blog about the panel from Maker CEO, Dale Dougherty.
August 22, 2016 Our work mentioned in Scientific American! "Maker Movement Turns Scientists into Tinkerers"	October 2016 10th Peptoid Summit announced! Come join us at the 10th Peptoid Summit, August 10-11th, 2017, Molecular Foundry, Berkeley, CA.	August 10-11,2017 10th Peptoid Summit convened! Over 140 attendees, 40 talks, and 43 posters, plus BBQ in the park! LBNL Science Short: Mimicking Nature with Designer Molecules	August 12, 2017 Zuckermann Alumni Gathering! Over 75 former colleagues, students and post-docs gathered at the Hillside Club in Berkeley to celebrate!
November 2, 2017 Our work featured in Quanta Magazine and Scientific American! Life’s First Molecule Was Protein, Not RNA, New Model Suggests	November, 2017 Interview with Ron about his career, peptoids, LBNL, the past and the future. Conducted by UC Berkeley undergraduate, Leah Roe. The Future of Now	March 29, 2018 LBNL News Center Scientists Develop Sugar-Coated Nanosheets to Selectively Target Pathogens	November 12, 2018 LBNL News Center Scientists Bring Polymers Into Atomic-Scale Focus
April 24, 2019 Special issue of Biopolymers dedicated to Peptoids (Part 1).	June 19, 2019 Special issue of Biopolymers dedicated to Peptoids (Part 2).	July 11, 2019 Foundry News Story Biopolymers special issue features peptoid work at the Molecular Foundry	November 6, 2019 LBNL News Center A Game-Changing Test for Prion, Alzheimer’s, and Parkinson’s Diseases is on the Horizon
December 4, 2019 LBNL News Center Freeze Frame: Scientists Capture Atomic-Scale Snapshots of Artificial Proteins	December 17, 2019 Foundry News Story Opening a New Chapter in Antibody Mimetics	April 16, 2020 Self-assembling Molecular Models Skeletides: A Modular, Simplified Physical Model of Protein Secondary Structure	October 27, 2020 Keynote Address Ron delivers the inuagural online International Peptoid Symposium keynote lecture. (30 min) "Peptoid Science: Three decades of research, Folding Beyond Proteins"
August 10, 2021 Peptoids named as a Berkeley Lab Breakthrough! As part of LBL's 90th birthday, 90 breakthroughs over its 90-year history were announced. A Synthetic Platform That Can Mimic Protein Folding	October18, 2021 4th Place win in Foundry NanoArt Contest! This image shows our 3D printed Skeletide models after their self-assembly into alpha-helices. 2021 NanoArt Competition winners	May 2022 11th Peptoid Summit (virtual) coming Aug 10-12, 2022! Come share your research with us. Registration is open! peptoids.org

 

Videos!

• 10/27/2020: Excerpt from the inaugural online International Peptoid Symposium. Ron delivers a 30 minute keynote lecture to kick off the new seminar series, discussing advances in the last three decades by the peptoid community, as well as some perspectives and recent research results on "Folding Beyond Proteins".

• 9/12/2019: Ron gives an invited seminar on his research on Peptoid Nanoscience at the Laufer Center for Physical and Quantitative Biology at Stony Brook University, hosted by Prof. Ken Dill. 63 min.

• 1/20/2015: Ron presents Peppytides at the "Science in 3D Festival" at the National Institutes of Health in Washington D.C. (first couple of minutes got cut off). 12 min.

• 1/20/2014: Berkeley Lab video on our Peppytide model project: "Peppytides: Interactive Models of the Polypeptide Chain" (5 min).

• 5/13/2013: LBNL Science at the Theater event: "Eight Big Ideas" at the Berkeley Repertory Theater. Eight Berkeley Lab scientists describe their big idea! Here I discuss "Mimicking Biology to Make Better Materials" (8 min).

• 2/22/2013: Molecular Foundry Staff Profile: 60 Seconds. Describe your research. Go!

• 1/22/2012: The new heated vial rocker for making nanosheets is finally completed and is ready to report for lab duty! See the movie: "HeatRocker Instrument" (4 min).

• Journal of Visualized Experiments published a video protocol (14 minutes): "Solid-phase Submonomer Synthesis of Peptoid Polymers and their Self-Assembly into Highly-Ordered Nanosheets", November 2011.
  ---> Preview here (1 min)! <---

• Check out our movie: "Shaken, not Stirred" which sums up our recent JACS paper on how nanosheets are formed, October, 2011 (2.5 min).

• An excellent in-depth piece produced by NBC about Kent Kirshenbaum's research on peptoids: "Origami Chemistry: How to fold a molecule", September 2011.

• See Ron interviewed about his research by Alice Egan in "In Conversation With", November 2009 (1 hr).

• See the movie: "Self-Assembly of Bio-inspired Polymers" which premiered at the 2008 Nanofest Film Festival at the Molecular Foundry (5 min).

Pictures!

• Ron giving the Dow Distinguished Lecture at UC Santa Barbara 12/3/15.

• Prof. Rachel Segalman, Hannah Murnen & Ron in front of our Synapt G2 mass spectrometer:



• Ron & Ki Tae Nam in front of our custom robotic biopolymer synthesizer:



• Protein Nanotubes!

• with Tammy Chu and Byoung-Chul Lee: