The David L. Weaver Endowed Lectures in Biophysics and Computational Biology
Professor Joanna Aizenberg Harvard University, School of Engineering and Applied Science “Novel biomimetic ‘spiny’ surfaces in medical applications” Dr. Aizenberg’s lecture will discuss the ability of organisms to respond to various stimuli, thereby providing an inspiration for modern engineering and science that seek to develop a new generation of materials with dynamic, adaptive properties. She will describe the synthesis, fabrication and characterization of new hybrid nano/micro-structures that mimic the echinoderm skin. She will demonstrate that these surfaces can be reversibly actuated and assembled into a variety of previously unseen structures with uniform, periodic or chiral nano/micro-patterns. The application of these novel substrates as a multifunctional platform for controlling mammalian and bacterial cell patterning, differentiation and function will be described. Dr. Aizenberg pursues a broad range of research interests that include biomineralization, biomimetics, self-assembly, crystal engineering, surface chemistry, nanofabrication, biomaterials, biomechanics and biooptics. She received the B.S. degree in Chemistry in 1981, the M.S. degree in Physical Chemistry in 1984 from Moscow State University, and the Ph.D. degree in Structural Biology from the Weizmann Institute of Science in 1996. She then went to Harvard University where she did postdoctoral research with George Whitesides on micro/nanofabrication and near-field optics. In 2007 Aizenberg joined the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences. Dr. Aizenberg’s research is aimed at understanding some of the basic principles of biomineralization and the economy with which biology solves complex problems in the design of functional inorganic materials. She then uses biological principles as guidance in developing new, bio-inspired synthetic routes and nanofabrication strategies that would lead to advanced materials and devices. Aizenberg is one of the pioneers of this rapidly developing field of biomimetic inorganic materials synthesis. Wednesday, April 24, 2013 4:00PM – 5:00PM 1005 GBSF Lecture will be streamed live to the Comprehensive Cancer Center rm 1101 on the UCDHS campus. Reception to follow The lecture is free and open to the community. The series honors the memory of David L. Weaver, a distinguished biophysicist and professor at Tufts University for whom the endowment was established in 2006. Its objective is to bring prominent scientists to UC Davis whose original research has been widely recognized as having a major impact in the fields of Biophysics and Computational Biology. |
The University of California, Davis Genome Center Presents