Jason DeRouchey | University of Kentucky College of Arts & Sciences

Jason DeRouchey

Associate Professor

Jason DeRouchey is an Associate Professor in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Kentucky. He received his B.S. degree in Chemistry from the University of Texas at Dallas in 1996. Professor DeRouchey then obtained a MS and PhD in Polymer Science and Engineering at the University of Massachusetts-AmHerst. He first began working with questions of dynamics and DNA as a Alexander von Humboldt Fellow working with Joachim Rädler at the Institute of Experimental Physics at the Ludwig Maximilians Universität (LMU) Munich. Dr. DeRouchey then joined the Laboratory of Physical and Structural Biology at the National Institute of Child Health & Human Development (NICHD) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) as a IRTA fellow working with V. Adrian Parsegian.

Contact Information

derouchey@uky.edu

387 Chemistry-Physics Building

859-323-2827

Education

B.S. Chemistry, University of Texas at Dallas Ph.D., Polymer Science & Engineering, University of Massachusetts

Research Interests

Biophysical Chemistry
Supramolecular Self-Assembly
DNA condensation and damage
Environmental Impacts of Nanomaterials
Amyloid Proteins
Nanomaterial Transport in Complex Media
Gene Delivery

Affiliations

Analytical
Biological
Chemistry
Physical

Research

Our laboratory is broadly interested in understanding physical processes in biological relevant systems. We perform physical biological chemistry studies to understanding the forces, structures, and dynamics that govern the interaction of biologically significant macromolecular assemblies to address problems in biology and biomedicine. Using interdisciplinary methodologies in chemistry, physics, and medicine, we focus currently on issues related to five topics (i) understanding DNA self-assembly in sperm chromatin (ii) improved delivery of nucleic acids for therapeutics (iii) Synthesis and characterization of engineered hydrogels for enhanced mitochondrial transplantation and (iv) self-assembly of proteins with engineered nanomaterials. Learning the strength, specificity, and reversibility in associates of biologically important macromolecules, typically in crowded environments, is crucial to our understanding of gene and cellular function and for effective and rational drug design.

For more information, please visit the DeRouchey Group website.

Graduate Training

Polymer Science and Engineering

Selected Publications

Selected Publications:

Zhang, X., Hansing, J., Netz, Roland R. & DeRouchey, Jason E. (2015) Particle Transport through Hydrogels Is Charge Asymmetric. Biophysical Journal, 108 (3), 530-539, doi:10.1016/j.bpj.2014.12.009.
Moonschi, F. H., Effinger, A. K., Zhang, X., Martin, W. E., Fox, A. M., Heidary, D. K., DeRouchey, J. E. & Richards, C. I. (2015) Cell-Derived Vesicles for Single-Molecule Imaging of Membrane Proteins. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed., 127 (2), 491-494, doi:10.1002/ange.201408707.
An, M., Hutchison, J. M., Parkin, S. R. & DeRouchey, J. E. (2014) Role of pH on the compaction energies and phase behavior of low generation PAMAM-DNA complexes. Macromolecules, 47 (24), 8768–8776, doi:10.1021/ma5020808.
An, M., Parkin, S. R. & DeRouchey, J. E. (2014) Intermolecular forces between low generation PAMAM dendrimer condensed DNA helices: role of cation architecture. Soft Matter, 10 (4), 590-599, doi:10.1039/c3sm52096j.
DeRouchey, J., Hoover, B. & Rau, D. C. (2013) A comparison of DNA compaction by arginine and lysine peptides: a physical basis for arginine rich protamines. Biochemistry, 52 (17), 3000-3009, doi:10.1021/bi4001408
DeRouchey, J. E. & Rau, D. C. (2011) Role of Amino Acid Insertions on Intermolecular Forces between Arginine Peptide Condensed DNA Helices: Implications for Protamine-DNA Packaging in Sperm. Journal of Biological Chemistry, 286 (49), 41985-41992, doi:10.1074/jbc.M111.295808.
DeRouchey, J. E. & Rau, D. C. (2011) Salt Effects on Condensed Protamine-DNA Assemblies: Anion Binding and Weakening of Attraction. Journal of Physical Chemistry B, 115 (41), 11888-11894, doi:10.1021/jp203834z.
DeRouchey, J., Parsegian, V. A. & Rau, D. C. (2010) Cation Charge Dependence of the Forces Driving DNA Assembly. Biophysical Journal, 99 (8), 2608-2615, doi:10.1016/j.bpj.2010.08.028.
Hoenig, D., DeRouchey, J., Jungmann, R., Koch, C., Plank, C. & Rädler, J. O. (2010) Biophysical Characterization of Copolymer-Protected Gene Vectors. Biomacromolecules, 11 (7), 1802-1809, doi:10.1021/bm1002569.
DeRouchey, J., Schmidt, C., Walker, G. F., Koch, C., Plank, C., Wagner, E. & Rädler, J. O. (2008) Monomolecular assembly of siRNA and poly(ethylene glycol)-peptide copolymers. Biomacromolecules, 9 (2), 724-732, doi:10.1021/bm7011482.
Pelisek, J., Gaedtke, L., DeRouchey, J., Walker, G. F., Niko, S. & Wagner, E. (2006) Optimized lipopolyplex formulations for gene transfer to human colon carcinoma cells under in vitro conditions. Journal of Gene Medicine, 8 (2), 186-197, doi:10.1002/jgm.836.
DeRouchey, J., Walker, G. F., Wagner, E. & Rädler, J. O. (2006) Decorated rods: A "bottom-up" self-assembly of monomolecular DNA complexes. Journal of Physical Chemistry B, 110 (10), 4548-4554, doi:10.1021/jp.053760a.
DeRouchey, J., Netz, R. R. & Rädler, J. O. (2005) Structural investigations of DNA-polycation complexes. European Physical Journal E, 16 (1), 17-28, doi:10.1140/epje/e2005-00003-4.
DeRouchey, J., Thurn-Albrecht, T., Russell, T. P. & Kolb, R. (2004) Block copolymer domain reorientation in an electric field: An in-situ small-angle X-ray scattering study. Macromolecules, 37 (7), 2538-2543, doi:10.1021/ma034739f.
Thurn-Albrecht, T., DeRouchey, J., Russell, T. P. & Kolb, R. (2002) Pathways toward electric field induced alignment of block copolymers. Macromolecules, 35 (21), 8106-8110, doi:10.1021/ma020567v.
Xu, T., Kim, H. C., DeRouchey, J., Seney, C., Levesque, C., Martin, P., Stafford, C. M. & Russell, T. P. (2001) The influence of molecular weight on nanoporous polymer films. Polymer, 42 (21), 9091-9095, doi:10.1016/s0032-3861(01)00376-7.
Thurn-Albrecht, T., Steiner, R., DeRouchey, J., Stafford, C. M., Huang, E., Bal, M., Tuominen, M., Hawker, C. J. & Russell, T. (2000) Nanoscopic templates from oriented block copolymer films. Advanced Materials, 12 (11), 787-791, doi:10.1002/(sici)1521-4095(200006)12:11<787::aid-adma787>3.3.co;2-t.
Thurn-Albrecht, T., DeRouchey, J., Russell, T. P. & Jaeger, H. M. (2000) Overcoming interfacial interactions with electric fields. Macromolecules, 33 (9), 3250-3253, doi:10.1021/ma991896z.
Boal, A. K., Ilhan, F., DeRouchey, J. E., Thurn-Albrecht, T., Russell, T. P. & Rotello, V. M. (2000) Self-assembly of nanoparticles into structured spherical and network aggregates. Nature, 404 (6779), 746-748, doi:10.1038/35008037.