Events Calendar

Self-Assembly of Hierarchical Materials for Medicine and Energy

Samuel Stupp SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA LECTURE SERIESWinter Quarter 2010JOINTLY SPONSORED BY USC, UCSD, UCLA AND CALTECHBoard of Trustees Professor of Materials Science, Chemistry, and Medicine and Director, Institute for BioNantechnology in Medicine (IBNAM)Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Department of Chemistry, Department of Medicine and Institute for BioNanotechnology in Medicine Northwestern University Evanston, Il 60208 One of the grand challenges in materials science is the development of self-assembly pathways to highly functional structures across scales. Based on biological systems, soft matter and hybrid materials are natural targets in this context. Highly designed small molecules, polymers, biomacromolecules, ionic solutions, and nanoparticles are all potential building blocks for the development of these self-assembling functional materials. In addition to materials with useful combinations of physical properties and controllable shapes, it is also interesting to develop structures that have adaptable and self-repair capabilities. In this lecture I will review self-assembly pathways developed in our laboratory for supramolecular materials using designed molecules. One of the pathways to be described generates a large diversity of bioactive one-dimensional nanostructures and networks that can signal cells to create new materials for regenerative medicine. The driving force for self-assembly in these systems includes hydrogen bond formation, hydrophobic collapse of molecular segments in aqueous environments, and both attractive and repulsive electrostatic forces. A second system to be described involves the self-assembly of polymers and small molecules into membranes or cell-like capsules with hierarchical structures that may find biomedical and energy applications. In these systems, self-repair of large defects occurs readily by re-exposure to building blocks and diffusion barriers can form by contact of two liquids in millisecond time scales. Other systems to be described include the formation of oriented structures with minimal mechanical force, and the formation of hierarchical hybrid materials with electronic properties of interest in energy targets.

Location: Seaver Science Library, (SSL) Rm 150

Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

Contact: April Mundy