Profile

Dr. Teresa Rapp trained as an inorganic chemist with expertise in photocleavable ruthenium compounds with applications spanning protein engineering and biomaterial design. She completed her postdoctoral training at the University of Washington as a Washington Research Foundation Postdoctoral Fellow with the DeForest Lab in Chemical Engineering, where she advanced next-generation photochemistries for biomaterial applications. She earned her PhD in Chemistry from the University of Pennsylvania in Prof. Ivan Dmochowski’s laboratory, where she innovated several new ruthenium-based photochemistries. Through a collaboration with Prof. Jason Burdick, she harnessed these chemistries to create rapidly degradable hydrogels, as featured in her Cover Article for Cover in Chemistry – A European Journal. Dr. Rapp earned her B.S. in Chemistry from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, working with Profs. Gragson and Imoos in chemical education and copper-sensing molecules. In her free time Dr. Rapp enjoys the beautiful Eugene summers by hiking and backpacking, as well as hosting backyard BBQs and baking scrumptious desserts.