BEGIN:VCALENDAR
VERSION:2.0
PRODID:-//Memento EPFL//
BEGIN:VEVENT
SUMMARY:Polymers at hard and soft surfaces
DTSTART:20161115T160000
DTSTAMP:20260417T004110Z
UID:fa0b1d7cd411048779dcef58c43965e46cb00d90eaab96961c75c7a7
CATEGORIES:Conferences - Seminars
DESCRIPTION:Prof. Harm-Anton Klok\, EPFL\nThin polymer coatings are of gre
 at importance to control the interactions of synthetic materials with othe
 r materials\, the environment as well as biology. Examples include\, but a
 re not limited to\, lubrication\, wear\, corrosion as well as marine biofo
 uling. Modern polymer science offers unprecedented opportunities to chemic
 ally engineer the properties of surfaces and interfaces. The first part of
  this presentation will focus on synthetic\, “hard” surfaces and intro
 duce surface-initiated radical polymerization techniques and “polymer br
 ushes” (chain-end tethered monomolecular assemblies of densely grafted p
 olymer chains) and discuss the scope and possibilities of these concepts t
 o chemically modify surfaces and interfaces. Several showcases will be pre
 sented that illustrate the use of these tools to develop thin polymer film
 s that possess sensory properties or which can be used to control fluid fl
 ow\, to template the controlled growth of metallic or non-metallic inorgan
 ic films on complex\, 3D structured substrates as well as to guide and con
 trol cell adhesion.\n\nThe second part of this presentation will discuss t
 he modification of biological surfaces\, more specifically the membrane of
  living cells with synthetic polymers. Engineering living cells with synth
 etic polymers is attractive for cell based therapies. Chemical modificatio
 n of cell surfaces\, in contrast to synthetic surfaces\, is challenging\, 
 since they are fluid and dynamic and since chemistries are required that d
 o not impart the viability and functionality of the cells. Results from pr
 eliminary experiments will be discussed in which living cells have been de
 corated with model polymer nanoparticles.\n\nBio: Harm-Anton Klok is Full 
 Professor at the Institute of Materials at the Ecole Polytechnique Fédér
 ale de Lausanne (EPFL) (Lausanne\, Switzerland). His research interests in
 clude polymer nanomedicine as well as polymer surface and interface scienc
 e. He studied chemical technology at the University of Twente (Enschede\, 
 The Netherlands) and received his Ph.D. from the University of Ulm (German
 y). After postdoctoral research at the University of Twente and at the Uni
 versity of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign (USA)\, he joined the Max Planck
  Institute for Polymer Research (Mainz\, Germany). In November 2002\, he w
 as appointed to the faculty of EPFL.\n\nHe has been Director of the Instit
 ute of Materials since 2012\, and is also Director of the Molecular and Hy
 brid Materials Characterization Center at EPFL.
LOCATION:SV 1717 https://plan.epfl.ch/?room==SV%201717
STATUS:CONFIRMED
END:VEVENT
END:VCALENDAR