Julia Ortony

  • Assistant Professor in Materials Science and Engineering
  • B.S. Chemistry, University of Minnesota, 2005
  • Ph.D. Materials Chemistry, University of California, Santa Barbara, 2011

Environment; Materials Chemistry; Nanotechnology; Polymers; Self Assembly; Surfaces, Interfaces, and Thin Films

Julia Ortony

Research

Professor Ortony’s research group focuses on molecular materials, with an emphasis on molecular design, synthesis, and advanced characterization of materials that self-assemble in water. The Ortony group uses self-assembly to create nanostructures with tuned dynamic and mechanical behavior for applications related to environmental sustainability and human health.

Recent News

Profs. Hosler, Lechtman, and Ortony receive J-WAFs awards

May 30, 2018

This year, seven new projects led by eleven faculty PIs across six MIT departments will be funded with two-year grants of up to $200,000, overhead free. The winning projects include a silk-based food safety sensor; research into climate vulnerability and resilience in agriculture using…  

Publications

2021

T. Christoff-Tempesta et al., “Self-assembly of aramid amphiphiles into ultra-stable nanoribbons and aligned nanoribbon threads”, Nature Nanotechnology. Springer Science and Business Media LLC, 2021.

2020

W. R. Lindemann, Evans, E. D., Mijalis, A. J., Saouaf, O. M., Pentelute, B. L., and Ortony, J. H., “Quantifying residue-specific conformational dynamics of a highly reactive 29-mer peptide”, Scientific Reports, vol. 10, no. 1. Springer Science and Business Media LLC, 2020.

2018

T. Christoff-Tempesta, Lew, A., and Ortony, J., “Beyond Covalent Crosslinks: Applications of Supramolecular Gels”, Gels, vol. 4. p. 40, 2018.

2017

E. Deiss-Yehiely, Ortony, J. H., Qiao, B., Stupp, S. I., and de la Cruz, M. O., “Ion condensation onto self-assembled nanofibers”, Journal of Polymer Science Part B: Polymer Physics, vol. 55. pp. 901-906, 2017.
J. H. Ortony et al., “Water Dynamics from the Surface to the Interior of a Supramolecular Nanostructure”, Journal of the American Chemical Society, vol. 139. pp. 8915-8921, 2017.
E. Deiss-Yehiely, Ortony, J. H., Qiao, B., Newcomb, C. J., Stupp, S. I., and de la Cruz, O., “Ion condensation onto self-assembled nanofibers”, Polymer Science, vol. 55. pp. 901-906, 2017.
J. H. Ortony et al., “Water dynamics from the surface to the interior of a supramolecular nanostructure”, Journal of the American Chemical Society, vol. 139. pp. 8915-8921, 2017.

2016

F. Tantakitti et al., “Energy landscapes and functions of supramolecular systems”, Nature Materials, vol. 15. pp. 469-476, 2016.

2014

J. H. Ortony et al., “Internal dynamics of a supramolecular nanofibre”, Nature Materials, vol. 13. pp. 812-816, 2014.
C. J. Newcomb et al., “Cell death versus cell survival instructed by supramolecular cohesion of nanostructuresl”, Nature Communications, vol. 5. 2014.
J. H. Ortony et al., “Fluidity and water in nanoscale domains define coacervate hydrogels”, Chemical Science, vol. 5. pp. 58-67, 2014.

2013

J. H. Ortony, Hwang, D. S., Franck, J. M., Waite, H., and Han, S., “Asymmetric Collapse in Biomimetic Complex Coacervates Revealed by Local Polymer and Water Dynamics”, Biomacromolecules, vol. 14. pp. 1395-1402, 2013.
N. Stephanopoulos, Ortony, J. H., and Stupp, S. I., “Self-assembly for the synthesis of functional biomaterials”, Acta Materialia, vol. 61. pp. 912-930, 2013.

2011

J. H. Ortony et al., “Self-Assembly of an Optically Active Conjugated Oligoelectrolyte”, Journal of the American Chemical Society, vol. 133. pp. 8380-8387, 2011.
J. H. Ortony et al., “Probing the hydration water diffusion of macromolecular surfaces and interfaces”, New Journal of Physics, vol. 13. 2011.

2008

J. H. Ortony, Yang, R., Brzezinski, J. Z., Edman, L., Nguyen, T. -Q., and Bazan, G. C., “Thermophysical properties of conjugated polyelectrolytes”, Advanced Materials, vol. 20. p. 298 - +, 2008.