Symposium SS: Structure/Property Relationships in Biological and Biomimetic Materials at the Micro-, Nano-, and Atomic-Length Scales

2012 MRS Spring Meeting logo

Structure/Property Relationships in Biological and Biomimetic Materials at the Micro-, Nano-, and Atomic-Length Scales

Biological materials are of great interest to the materials science community, and they serve as an idea park for countless biomimetic and synthetic studies and investigations.  Nature often produces, or makes use of, constructs that are superior to (or more cost-effective than) man-made equivalents.  Understanding the underlying architectural principles, synthetic formation routes, the chemistry/physics involved, and the engineering advantages is of great interest to many researchers and numerous research institutes worldwide.  Specific questions relate to the superior characteristics of such materials and their formation processes, ranging from control over crystal nucleation, timely phase transformation, re-orientation, co-alignment, and polymorphism.  A common finding in biologically formed materials is that often the materials of interest emerge only after fine tuning of the microstructure at different length scales, frequently extending from precisely placed atomic, nanometer-size formations and up to the micrometer- and even the millimeter-length scales.  Consequently, structure and properties are usually governed by the intricate details of how these—usually nanocomposite materials—are laid out.  A key to understanding structure/function relations in the natural settings and in synthetic materials that they inspire lies in the precise characterization of the materials at various length scales.

This symposium will focus on the structure and properties of biological materials, as well as biomimetically produced materials and reconstituted biological tissues.  Contributions discussing all aspects of characterizations of biological or bio-inspired materials at the micron and submicron resolutions are encouraged, including studies on the structure, chemistry, biology, physics, and dynamics of the formation of the underlying structural elements.  A strong focus on state-of-the-art characterization and synthesis approaches is anticipated, as well as presentations of novel techniques and applications.  Specific examples include (but will not be limited to) biomineralization and recrystallization, scaffold design and formation, micrometer and nanometer imaging of dynamics in biological or bio-inspired systems, molecular imaging, etc.

Session topics will include:

  • High-resolution characterizations of biominerals and biomimetic materials
  • Biological and bio-inspired materials
  • Structure and mechanisms/dynamics of self-assembly
  • Biomineralization
  • Natural and synthetic mineralization
  • Crystallization and stabilization of transient phases

A joint session with Symposium RR: Molecules to Materials—Multiscale Interfacial Phenomena in Biological and Bio-inspired Materials is being considered.

A tutorial on high-resolution synchrotron methods for the characterization of biological and biomimetic materials is tentatively planned. Further information will be included in the MRS Program that will be available online in January.

Invited speakers include:

Lara Estroff (Cornell Univ.), Peter Fratzl (Max Planck Inst. of Colloids and Interfaces, Germany), Pupa Gilbert (Univ. of Wisconsin-Madison), Himadri Gupta (Queen Mary, Univ. of London, United Kingdom), Hiroaki Imai (Keio Univ., Japan), Derk Joester (Northwestern Univ.), Grayson Marshall (Univ. of California, San Francisco), Fiona Meldrum (Leeds Univ., United Kingdom), Oskar Paris (Leoben Univ., Austria), Jens Rieger (BASF, Germany), Nico Sommerdijk (Eindhoven Univ. of Technology, Netherlands), Ruikang Tang (Zhejiang Univ., China), Tony Tomsia (Lawrence Berkeley National Lab), Daniel Vielzeuf (CNRS, Marseille, France), Ingrid Weiss (INM - Leibniz Inst. for New Materials, Germany), Shu-Hong Yu (Univ. of Science and Technology of China), Emil Zolotoyabko (Technion - Israel Institute of Technology, Israel).

Symposium Organizers

Paul Zaslansky
Julius Wolff Institut
Berlin-Brandenburg Center for Regenerative Therapies
Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin
Augustenburger Platz 1
13353 Berlin, Germany
Tel 49-30-450-559-589
Fax 49-30-450-559-969
paul.zaslansky@charite.de

Boaz Pokroy
Technion - Israel Institute of Technology
Dept. of Materials Engineering
Rm. 616, De-Jur Bldg.
Haifa 32000, Israel
Tel 972-4-829-4584, Fax 972-4-829-5677
bpokroy@tx.technion.ac.il 

Nobumichi Tamura
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Advanced Light Source
MS 2R0200
1 Cyclotron Rd.
Berkeley, CA 94720
Tel 510-486-6189, Fax 510-486-7696
ntamura@lbl.gov 

Stefan Habelitz
University of California, San Francisco
Division of Biomaterials and Bioengineering
Dept. of Preventive and Restorative Dental Sciences
San Francisco, CA 94143-0758
Tel 415-514-0818, Fax 415-476-9513
stefan.habelitz@ucsf.edu 

Limin Qi
Peking University
College of Chemistry
100871 Beijing, P. R. China
Tel 86-10-62751722, Fax 86-10-62751708
liminqi@pku.edu.cn  

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