Events Calendar

AME - Department Seminar

Speaker: Janna Nawroth, Postdoctoral Researcher at the California Institute of Technology

Talk Title: How to Build a Jellyfish: Translating Biological Mechanisms for Fluid Transport to Engineered Materials

Abstract: Insights into biological mechanisms for fluid transport have the potential to advance technology for robotics and medical implants. A major challenge is to link structure to function, i.e., to understand and replicate the dynamic interactions between living cells, elastic substrates, and the fluid environment. My approach is to learn from the design of simple aquatic invertebrates that pump, filter, and mix fluid across a wide range flow regimes. In a proof-of-concept study I have reverse-engineered a juvenile jellyfish, a model system for muscle powered pumps at intermediate Reynolds numbers. Using an iterative optimization strategy, I identified key determinants of propulsive and feeding performance in jellyfish, including actuator layout, substrate elasticity, and body geometry, and translated them to tissue-engineered materials. Constructs were assembled by seeding rat cardiac muscle cells onto flow-optimized silicone bodies. Guided by microfabricated surface cues, the cells self-organized into a swimming muscle capable of synchronous contraction. Optimally designed constructs achieved propulsion and generated "feeding" currents quantitatively and qualitatively comparable to real jellyfish. I will summarize the design lessons learned in the process and discuss general implications for tissue-engineering and soft robotics.

Biography: Janna Nawroth completed her undergraduate studies in Molecular Biotechnology and Bioinformatics at the University of Heidelberg, Germany. Prior to joining the PhD program in biology at Caltech, she spent two years at the Yale school of Medicine conducting master's degree research in neuroscience. She received her PhD degree in 2012 from Caltech where she was co-advised by both John Dabiri at Caltech and Kit Parker at Harvard University while conducting cross-disciplinary research on design and fabrication of muscle-powered fluid pumps. She is currently a post-doctoral researcher in the Dabiri lab, working on neuronal control and fluid transport in marine invertebrates such as squid and jellyfish.

More Info: http://ae-www.usc.edu/seminars/2-13-13-Nawroth.shtml

Location: Seaver Science Library (SSL) - Room 150

Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

Contact: Jorge Castilla

Event Link: http://ae-www.usc.edu/seminars/2-13-13-Nawroth.shtml