The metamorphosis of silk fibers - a technological transformation of biomaterials
Event details
| Date | 06.06.2014 |
| Hour | 14:00 |
| Speaker | Prof. Fiorenzo Omenetto, Tufts University |
| Location | |
| Category | Conferences - Seminars |
The use of biologically derived materials is increasingly finding application and utility in the technological domains. Among natural materials, silk has proven particularly interesting for its properties - specifically, the ability to exist in more than one form (either metastable or stable). This material polymorphism offers the opportunity to explore multiple applications that hinge on the ability to control silk’s structure, morphing a natural fiber into multiple technologically relevant formats.
This talk will describe the transformation process of native silk fibers into engineered materials and their applications. Such materials embody a confluence of form and function, and enable a series of approaches in the optical and electronic domains that operate at the interface of biology and technology.
Bio: Fiorenzo G. Omenetto is the Frank C. Doble Professor of Engineering, and a Professor of Biomedical Engineering at Tufts University. He also holds an appointment in the Department of Physics. His research interests cover nonlinear optics, nanostructured materials (such as photonic crystals and photonic crystal fibers), nanofabrication, and biopolymer-based technological applications.
He has proposed and pioneered the use of silk as a material platform for photonics, optoelectronics, and high-technology, and is actively investigating novel applications that rely on this technology base. Applications of this material platform have recently been featured in MIT's Technology Review's magazine as one of the "top ten technologies likely to change the World". Prof. Omenetto was formerly a J. Robert Oppenheimer Fellow at Los Alamos National Laboratories, a Guggenheim Fellow, and is a Fellow of the Optical Society of America and a Fellow of the American Physical Society.
This talk will describe the transformation process of native silk fibers into engineered materials and their applications. Such materials embody a confluence of form and function, and enable a series of approaches in the optical and electronic domains that operate at the interface of biology and technology.
Bio: Fiorenzo G. Omenetto is the Frank C. Doble Professor of Engineering, and a Professor of Biomedical Engineering at Tufts University. He also holds an appointment in the Department of Physics. His research interests cover nonlinear optics, nanostructured materials (such as photonic crystals and photonic crystal fibers), nanofabrication, and biopolymer-based technological applications.
He has proposed and pioneered the use of silk as a material platform for photonics, optoelectronics, and high-technology, and is actively investigating novel applications that rely on this technology base. Applications of this material platform have recently been featured in MIT's Technology Review's magazine as one of the "top ten technologies likely to change the World". Prof. Omenetto was formerly a J. Robert Oppenheimer Fellow at Los Alamos National Laboratories, a Guggenheim Fellow, and is a Fellow of the Optical Society of America and a Fellow of the American Physical Society.
Practical information
- General public
- Free
Organizer
- Prof. Christian Enz
Contact
- Isabelle Schafer