Amanda Murphy , PhD

Professor, Director of AMSEC

Research Interests

Currently, Murphy group efforts are focused on two main areas: 

1) Development of new methods to chemically-modify silk-based materials for applications such as targeted drug delivery or tumor imaging.

2) Design and synthesis of conducting polymers and conducting polymer - biopolymer composites for use as artificial muscles, implantable electrodes and drug delivery vehicles.

Educational & Professional Experience

  • B.S. Plastics Engineering Technology and B.A. Chemistry, Western Washington University, 2001.
  • Ph.D. Organic Chemistry, University of California, Berkeley, 2006.
  • NIH Teaching Education and Critical Research Skills Postdoctoral Fellow, Tufts University, 2006-2007.
  • NIH Ruth Kirschstein Postdoctoral Fellow, Tufts University, 2007-2009.

Selected Awards & Honors

  • 2021 Henry Dreyfus Teacher Scholar

Recent Publications

*WWU undergraduate co-authors, #WWU M.S. co-author, ‡NSF-REU undergraduate co-authors

  • #Talusig, J.M.; Murphy, A.R. "Synthesis and Characterization of Highly Thiolated Silk Fibroin." Macromol. Chem. Phys., 2023, 2300340.  https://doi.org/10.1002/macp.202300340 

  • #Santen, R.M.; *Owens, K.M.; *Echague, K.C.; Murphy, A.R. “Chemical Modification of Silk Proteins via Palladium-Mediated Suzuki-Miyaura Reactions” Macromol. Chem. Phys., 2023, 2300307. (https://doi.org/10.1002/macp.202300307)

  • *Hausken, Kian; *Frevol, Romane; *Dowdle, Kimberly; *Young, Aleena; #Talusig, Jeremy; *Holbrook, Carolynne, *Rubin, Benjamin; Murphy, A.R. “Quantitative Functionalization of the Tyrosine Residues in Silk Fibroin Through an Amino-Tyrosine Intermediate.” Macromol. Chem. Phys., 2022, 223 (17), 2200119.

  • *Patamia, E.D.; #Ostrovsky-Snider,N.A.; Murphy, A.R. “Photolithographic Masking Method to Chemically Pattern Silk Film Surfaces,” ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces, 2019, 11(37), 33612-33619. 

  • *James, E.I.; ‡Jenkins, L.D.; Murphy, A.R. “Peptide-Thiophene Hybrids as Self-Assembling Conductive Hydrogels,” Macromol. Mater. Eng., 2019, 304, 1900285.

  • *Hagler, J.R.; *Peterson, B.; Murphy, A.R.; Leger, J.M. “Performance of biocompatible silk-polypyrrole actuators under biologically relevant conditions.” J. Appl. Polym. Sci., 2018, 135, 46922.

  • Tsui, J.H.; #Ostrovsky-Snider, N.A.; Yama, D.M.P.; *Donohue, J.D.; Choi, J.S.; Chavanachat, R.; *Larson, J.D.; Murphy, A.R.; Kim, D.H. “Conductive Silk-Polypyrrole Composite Scaffolds with Bioinspired Nanotopographic Cues for Cardiac Tissue Engineering” J. Mater. Chem. B, 2018, 6, 7185-7196 (cover article).

  • #Severt, S.Y.; *Maxwell, S.; *Bontrager, J.; Leger, J.M.; Murphy, A.R. “Mimicking muscle fiber structure and function through electromechanical actuation of electrospun silk fiber bundles,” J. Mater. Chem. B, 2017, 5, 8105 - 8114. 

  • *Blatz, T.J.; *‡Fry, M.M.; *James, E.I.; *Albin, T.J.; *Pollard, Z.; Kowalczyk, T.; Murphy, A.R. “Templating the 3D structure of conducting polymers with self-assembling peptides,” J. Mater. Chem. B, 2017, 5, 4690-4696.