BEGIN:VCALENDAR
VERSION:2.0
PRODID:-//Memento EPFL//
BEGIN:VEVENT
SUMMARY:IMX Talks - (Super-) Selective Biomaterials: A balancing act of ri
 gidity and geometry at the nanoscale
DTSTART:20240110T130000
DTEND:20240110T140000
DTSTAMP:20260406T070057Z
UID:f9d4193244151c2f12a0667724c5c3847e8b646e820e5e99e43169bc
CATEGORIES:Conferences - Seminars
DESCRIPTION:Prof. Maartje Bastings\nBiomaterials have catalyzed a profound
  transformation of our lives over the last century. Following decades of s
 cientific innovations\, biomaterials have become smaller\, yet their funct
 ion increasingly complex. Where macroscopic materials interact with many c
 ells at once\, nanomaterials interact only with a fraction of the surface 
 of a single cell. Consequently\, where (specificity)\, when (selectivity)\
 , with how many (multivalency) and how strong (affinity) these interaction
 s take place\, becomes key in determining function. Engineering (super-) s
 elective materials is particularly relevant to advance drug delivery\, dia
 gnostics and personalized medicine.\n\nIn the Programmable Biomaterials La
 boratory (PBL)\, we are intrigued by the multivalency (strength in numbers
 ) principle and wondered if the selectivity between materials and the bio-
 interface could be controlled via the engineering of tailored multivalent 
 surfaces. We explored how structural rigidity vs flexibility and uniform c
 ontrol over nano-geometry interplay toward multivalent selectivity\, using
  DNA as programmable engineering tool. These DNA-based supramolecular macr
 omolecules self-organize into functional nanomaterials through natural bas
 e-pairing interactions\, providing the advantage that all nanomaterials ar
 e exact molecular copies. This allows to explore a new parameter space tow
 ard the engineering of selectivity\, compared to what is accessible for cl
 assic nanomaterials (e.g. polymers\, lipids\, composites\, metals)\, where
  properties as size\, shape\, number of functional sites\, and spacing of 
 molecules are inherently an average of the ensemble.\n\nIn this talk\, I w
 ill show that molecular flexibility at interfaces comes with a cost in sel
 ectivity and demonstrate that the selectivity of immune-modulating biomate
 rials can be controlled via mechanical and structural design. Excitingly\,
  we achieved super-selective interactions when functional binding units we
 re spatially and geometrically constrained\, a new concept we defined as 
 “Multivalent Pattern Recognition (MPR)”. I will show how geometric pat
 terns play a central role in cellular communication and how materials can 
 truly become cell-type selective when tailoring molecular patterns of inte
 rface molecules on DNA-based nanomaterials.\n\nBio: Maartje Bastings is a 
 biomaterials engineer\, who studied biomedical engineering and supramolecu
 lar chemistry with Bert (E.W.) Meijer at the Technische Universiteit Eindh
 oven\, The Netherlands. During her training she undertook research interns
 hips in polymer synthesis and self-assembly with Craig J. Hawker at the Ma
 terials Research Laboratory of the University of California\, Santa Barbar
 a and structural protein engineering with David A. Tirrell at the Californ
 ia Institute of Technology\, Pasadena. Following a 4-year postdoc position
  in DNA Nanotechnology with William M. Shih at Harvard University / Wyss I
 nstitute in Boston\, she started as Tenure Track Assistant Professor at EP
 FL\, leading the Programmable Biomaterials Laboratory (PBL) in 2017. Her l
 ab aims to engineer (super-) selective biomaterials and explores how the r
 elation of form and function at the nanoscale interplays toward exceptiona
 l control over interactions between synthetic materials and biology. \n 
LOCATION:MXF 1 https://plan.epfl.ch/?room==MXF%201 https://epfl.zoom.us/j/
 66911259488
STATUS:CONFIRMED
END:VEVENT
END:VCALENDAR