Seminar Date: Tuesday, May 14, 2024
Time: 11:00 am
Location: 67-3111 & Zoom
Talk Title: Sensing with Precision: Programmable Materials and Interfaces Enhanced by Sequence-Defined Polymers
Zoom recording (available for 30 days)
Abstract:
Designing smart (bio)interfaces with the capability to sense and react to changes in the local environment offers intriguing possibilities for new surface-based sensing devices and controlled delivery of therapeutics. Polymer brushes make ideal materials for designing such adaptive and responsive interfaces, given their wide variety of functional and structural possibilities, as well as their outstanding ability to respond to physical, chemical, and biological stimuli. Unlike bulk polymers, which often suffer from prolonged response times, these thin polymeric coatings, characterized by a unique brush-like molecular arrangement, enable rapid responses without significantly altering or compromising the physical properties of underlying cores or substrates. By integrating these systems with sensing and reporting motifs/entities, efficient transduction mechanisms can be facilitated, making them well-suited for use in biosensing applications. Although polymer brushes have emerged as valuable sensing elements for bio-detection and there is a growing body of literature highlighting the integration of polymer brushes with nanomaterials, endeavors to exert control over their microstructures have, thus far, been limited. Polymer scientists have traditionally focused on the synthesis and study of surface-tethered macromolecules, primarily described by their statistical nature and which offer limited control over functionality, architecture, sequence, and composition. Furthermore, existing systems often rely on complex readout processes to quantify the brush response, such as phase transitions and conformational changes induced by a specific stimulus, thereby limiting their practical applications. In this talk, I will outline how we’ve employed bio-inspired approaches and sequence-defined polymers to develop smart coatings, enabling us to interpret the brush response more effectively, extending beyond mere height quantification. Additionally, I will emphasize the significance of developing well-defined polymeric interfaces with a broad range of responsiveness, as these materials are crucial for unlocking innovative transduction mechanisms in smart surfaces, enhancing the functionality of coatings, and managing intricate nano-bio interactions.
Bio:
Gozde Aktas Eken is a research associate at Cornell University in the Materials Science and Engineering Department. With a background in polymer chemistry, bioengineering, and biochemistry, her research focuses on developing adaptive materials and interfaces through the fusion of macromolecular engineering and lithography techniques. After receiving her PhD, she joined Christopher Ober’s research group in 2021. Currently, Dr. Eken is leading efforts to engineer the next generation of bioinspired adaptive interfaces capable of sensing, responding to, and visually representing changes in environmental conditions and specific target molecules.
