Rate My Professor Leah Casabianca

Leah Casabianca is a Professor in the Department of Chemistry at Clemson University. She earned her B.S. in Chemistry from Rice University in 2002 and her Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry from Georgetown University in 2008 under the supervision of Prof. Angel C. de Dios. She completed postdoctoral fellowships at the University of Illinois at Chicago with Prof. Yoshitaka Ishii in Analytical Chemistry from 2008 to 2010, focusing on solid-state NMR of materials, and at the Weizmann Institute of Science with Prof. Lucio Frydman in Chemical Physics from 2010 to 2013, working on dynamic nuclear polarization of rare nuclei. Casabianca joined the Clemson University faculty in 2014 as an assistant professor, was promoted to Associate Professor with tenure in 2020, and advanced to Full Professor in 2025.

Her research centers on developing nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) methods to investigate interactions between nanomaterials and biologically relevant molecules, including small molecules and macromolecules. This work employs experimental solution and solid-state NMR, calculated chemical shifts, and dynamic nuclear polarization. Applications include drug delivery systems, biomedical devices, materials science, and assessments of nanomaterials toxicity, such as interactions involving microplastics and environmental pollutants. She received the National Science Foundation CAREER Award in 2018 from the Division of Chemistry and the College of Science Rising Star in Discovery Award in 2018. Casabianca has authored over 50 peer-reviewed articles. Key publications include "Tutorial: Saturation Transfer Difference NMR for Studying Small Molecules Interacting With Nanoparticles" (2025, Magnetic Resonance in Chemistry), "1H and 19F NMR Toolbox for Examining Interactions between Fluorinated Compounds and Polystyrene Nanoparticles" (2025, Journal of Physical Chemistry B), "Effect of Plastic Type and Salt Concentration on Interactions between Nanoscale Plastic and Amino Acids in Solution Using Saturation-Transfer Difference NMR Spectroscopy" (2024, ACS ES&T Water), "Binding Between Antibiotics and Polystyrene Nanoparticles Examined by NMR" (2023, ACS Environmental Au), "Probing Driving Forces for Binding Between Nanoparticles and Amino Acids by Saturation-Transfer Difference NMR" (2020, Scientific Reports), and "Comprehensive Multiphase NMR Examination of Amino Acids Binding to the Dynamic Shell of Polystyrene Nanoparticles to Understand Environmental Hazards Associated with Nanoscale Plastic" (2022, ACS Applied Nano Materials). Her contributions have advanced understanding of molecular-nanoparticle interfaces in environmental and biomedical contexts.