Seminar 4/10/2013 - Carole Perry, Nottingham Trent Univ: Bioinspired Approaches to Functional Materials and Studies of the Abiotic-Biotic Interface
Abstract: Biological organisms are a constant source of inspiration for the development of new materials. For the research presented in this talk, spiders, mussels, sponges and plants have been our source of inspiration for the generation of new materials or new routes to materials.
Starting from a consideration of the structure and form of minerals produced by living creatures I will show how our study of silica bio-minerals has led to the development of novel, low temperature routes to functional materials with potential application in cell culture, bone regeneration and optics.
Using plants as a source of inspiration I will discuss how we have developed several approaches to fabricate superhydrophobic materials using biology as our muse.
Spiders have been our starting point for the development of strong multifunctional materials- an example of materials that support bone growth will be described.
For all the experimental systems we study, the interface between the bio-component and the abiotic material is a very important factor in determining the properties of the composite materials formed. A brief view of our approach to exploring these interactions will be given.
Bio: Carole C. Perry is a professor of chemistry at Nottingham Trent University, in the United Kingdom. Her research interests lie where biology, chemistry, and physics intersect, and are directed in particular toward understanding how biomolecules and inorganic materials interact in aqueous media. Her research group has recently published a detailed study on how subtle differences in the surface chemistry of nanoparticulate silica determine the binding affinity of peptides. Perry received her BA and DPhil degrees from the University of Oxford. She has been a visiting research fellow at Scripps Institution of Oceanography and the Weizmann Institute of Science, IL and guest professor at the Universität Karlsuhe, DE and the Université Pierre et Marie Curie, FR. She also served as an elected trustee and council member of the Royal Society of Chemistry and chaired Heads of Chemistry UK. She is currently the Edward, Frances and Shirley B. Daniells Fellow and Wyss Fellow at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, Harvard University, a visiting professor in Civil and Environmental Engineering at MIT and a research professor in the Institute for lasers, photonics and biophotonics at the University of Buffalo, New York.
All seminars are held on Wednesdays from 12:00 noon-1:00 p.m. in the Bowen Hall Auditorium Room 222. A light lunch is provided at 11:30 a.m. in the Bowen Hall Atrium immediately prior to the seminar.
Location: Bowen Hall Auditorium
Date/Time: 04/10/13 at 12:00 pm - 04/10/13 at 1:00 pm
Category: PRISM/PCCM Seminar Series