Sydney Brake

Sydney Brake, a graduate research assistant in Dr. Soledad Peresin's lab at Auburn University, obtained her Bachelor of Science in Materials Engineering from Auburn University which led her to studying applications of renewable bio-based polymers. She is pursuing her Master's and Ph.D. in the College of Forestry and Wildlife working on cellulose dissolution and regeneration techniques for the formation of functional, biodegradable textiles that will be used for developing insecticidal nets for malaria control. To accomplish this, she has studied available long-lasting insecticide nets, cellulose solvents and spinning processes, surface chemistry of cellulose and its interactions with common insecticides using Quartz Crystal Microbalance with Dissipation and Surface Plasmon Resonance, stability of insecticides in solvents using Nuclear Magnetic Resonance, and various characterization and imaging techniques that can be used on thin films of cellulose as well as textiles.