Event
MSE Seminar Series: Lia Stanciu
Friday, September 30, 2011
1:00 p.m.
Room 2110 Chemical and Nuclear Engineering Bldg.
JoAnne Kagle
301 405 5240
jkagle@umd.edu
Working at the Interface: Hybrid Biological-Inorganic Materials
Lia Stanciu
Purdue University
Todays advances in Materials Science, Chemistry and Life Sciences resulted in emerging research that combine information and expertise stemming from the traditional body of knowledge of each of these fields and bring them together in an attempt to understand how inorganic materials, polymers, and biological materials interact and can further combine to result into technological and human health relevant applications. This seminar will present the results of our investigation of biological structures, such as enzymes, proteins and biopolymers, and their interaction with inorganic materials, as well as their relevance for applications sensing, catalysis and human health. The goal of one research thrust is to create generic approaches for the fabrication of biofunctional materials to be used in the design of highly stable and sensitive biosensors. On the other hand, results of the investigation of the surface and facet-dependent photocatalytic and electrocatalytic properties of enzyme-like metal oxide particles will be presented. Structural insights into the self-assembly of amyloidogenic proteins into fibrils, as well as functionalization strategies for natural biopolymers will also be included.