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SUMMARY:IEM Distinguished Lecturers Seminar: Power Sources Inspired by Ele
 ctric Fish
DTSTART:20260225T121500
DTEND:20260225T130000
DTSTAMP:20260416T081330Z
UID:0c89b50b80852fc2883f28f2f400c8ae408b3255661e5b549817fc82
CATEGORIES:Conferences - Seminars
DESCRIPTION:Prof. Michael Mayer\, Adolphe Merkle Institute\, University of
  Fribourg\, Switzerland\n*** Drinks and pizza at 11:45 in the lobby of BM 
 5202 ***\n\nThis is a Joint Seminar with the EPFL Energy Center\n\nAbstrac
 t\nThis talk will present attempts to design and assemble a biocompatible 
 artificial electric organ that may be implanted into living organisms to g
 enerate electrical power. The inspiration for this work stems from the ele
 ctric organs of strongly electric fish such as the electric eel and the to
 rpedo ray.[1\, 2] The talk will demonstrate that stacking hydrogel compart
 ments with alternating high and low salt concentrations between appropriat
 e hydrogel membranes enables powering a microcontroller and small electric
 al devices.[1\, 2] It will introduce self-assembled block-copolymer membra
 nes with macroscopic areas\, which are stabilized by an aqueous two-phase 
 system and provide an excellent barrier against the movement of ions.[3] T
 hese membranes are able to self-heal and can be rendered ion-selective by 
 adding a molecular ion carrier. We use these membranes to present a first 
 prototype of an artificial electric organ[3] and report on our ongoing eff
 orts to power such artificial electric organs continuously.[4] The talk wi
 ll conclude by discussing obstacles and possible future strategies for ach
 ieving the ultimate goal of converting metabolic energy into electricity i
 nside living organisms.\n \n\n\n\n\nFigure: Electric Organ of the electri
 c “eel” Electrophorus electricus showing so-called electrocyte cells (
 a) and the ionic transport processes at the membranes of these cells (b).
   Hydrogel lenses with different salt concentrations and different immobi
 lized charges (c) mimic the electric organ and set up an electric potentia
 l difference when they are brought in contact with each other (d).\n\n\n[1
 ]   T.B.H. Schroeder\, A. Guha\, A. Lamoureux\, G. VanRenterghem\, D. Sep
 t\, M. Shtein\, J. Yang\, M. Mayer\, Nature\, 2021\, 552\, 214-218\n[2]  
  A. Guha\, T.J. Kalkus\, T.B.H. Schroeder\, O.G Willis\, C. Rader\, A. Ian
 iro\, M. Mayer\, Adv. Mat.\, 2021\, 33\, 2101757\n[3]   C.C.M. Sproncken\
 , P. Liu\, J. Monney\, W.S. Fall\, C. Pierucci\, P.B.V. Scholten\, B. Van 
 Bueren\, M. Penedo\, G.E. Fantner\, H.H. Wensink\, U. Steiner\, C. Weder\,
  N. Bruns\, M. Mayer\, A. Ianiro\, Nature\, 2024\, 630\, 866-871\n[4]   C
 . Pierucci\, L. Paleari\, J. Baker\, C.C.M. Sproncken\, M. Folkesson\, J. 
 Paul Wesseler\, A. Vracar\, A. Dodero\, F. Nanni\, J.A. Berrocal\, M. Maye
 r\, A. Ianiro\, RSC Appl. Polym.\, 2025\, 3\, 209-221.\n\nBio\nMichael May
 er is Professor of Biophysics at the Adolphe Merkle Institute of the Unive
 rsity of Fribourg in Switzerland.  He received a Ph.D. in Biophysical Che
 mistry with Horst Vogel at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in La
 usanne (EPFL)\, followed by postdoctoral research in Biological Chemistry
  with George M. Whitesides at Harvard University.  In 2004\, he started a
  faculty position in Biomedical Engineering and later in Biophysics at the
  University of Michigan.  After attaining the rank of Full Professor in 
 2015\, his group moved to the University of Fribourg\, where he is curren
 tly the vice-director of the Adolphe Merkle Institute.  His research dr
 aws inspiration from nature to solve problems in biophysics\, ranging from
  studying the conformational dynamics of single unmodified enzymes during 
 activity to characterizing protein complexes relevant to neurodegenerative
  diseases and engineering biocompatible electrical power sources.
LOCATION:BM 5202 https://plan.epfl.ch/?room==BM%205202 https://epfl.zoom.u
 s/j/64413140571
STATUS:CONFIRMED
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