November 27 - December 4, 2020
November 27 - December 4, 2020 (Virtual)
2020 MRS Spring/Fall Meeting

Symposium F.SM01-Lessons from Nature—From Biology to Bioinspired Materials

Materials produced by living organisms often demonstrate superior characteristics such as multifunctionality and dynamic properties that serve specific functions and various survival demands. Living systems therefore serve as a rich source of inspiration to scientists and engineers who aim to design materials with similar properties. This Symposium will focus on the discussion of the mechanisms and strategies that Nature revealed and will address some of the most pressing current materials challenges. In turn it will be discussed how the lessons from nature can be implemented in to various synthetic materials. Common themes will include but are not limited to bio-inspired and biomimetic strategies for controlling materials’ mechanical properties, optical properties, chemical feedback, and energy harvesting.

Topics will include:

  • Adaptive and dynamic materials and structures
  • Multifunctional materials and structures
  • Bio-inspired surfaces and coatings
  • Multiscale characterization of biological materials
  • Theory and modeling of novel properties of biological materials and bio-inspired materials
  • Application and design of bio-inspired materials (e.g. optics, sensing, actuation, medicine)

Invited Speakers:

  • Lia Addadi (Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel)
  • Joanna Aizenberg (Harvard University, USA)
  • Anna Balazs (University of Pittsburgh, USA)
  • Katia Bertoldi (Harvard University, USA)
  • Leila Deravi (Northeastern University, USA)
  • Giuseppe Falini (University of Bologna, Italy)
  • Peter Fratzl (Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces, Germany)
  • Ryan Hayward (University of Colorado Boulder, USA)
  • Michael Klein (Temple University, USA)
  • LaShanda Korley (University of Delaware, USA)
  • Virgil Percec (University of Pennsylvania, USA)
  • Sarah Perry (University of Massachussets Amherst, USA)
  • John Rogers (Northwestern University, USA)
  • Howard Stone (Princeton University, USA)
  • Andre Studart (ETH Zürich, Switzerland)
  • Samuel Stupp (Northwestern University, USA)
  • Vladimir Tsukruk (Georgia Institute of Technology, USA)
  • Silvia Vignolini (University of Cambridge, United Kingdom)
  • Steve Weiner (Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel)

Symposium Organizers

Sung Hoon Kang
Johns Hopkins University
USA

Boaz Pokroy
Technion–Israel Institute of Technology
Israel

Nicolas Vogel
Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg
Germany

Lauren Zarzar
The Pennsylvania State University
USA

Topics

biomaterial biomimetic (assembly) colloid composite crystal nanostructure optical self-assembly structural