[Nhcoll-l] Research into sustainable, nature-inspired materials

[James and Judy Bryant]

A new, grant-funded project is seeking participants for a collaborative network to assist in providing access to samples of species that demonstrate extreme performance of biological structures. The principle investigator is David Kisailus, Ph.D., of the Biomimetics and Nanostructured Materials Lab at the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of California, Irvine.

Dr. Kisailus’s previous work in this area has included studies of mechanical robustness (such as resistance to abrasion in the radulae of chitons; impact resistance in the dactyl club of mantis shrimps; and resistance to crushing in the exoskeleton of ironclad beetles) as well as potential multifunctionality (e.g., thermal resistant plants). For this project, subject matter could potentially be drawn from preserved materials (natural history collections) as well as from fresh specimens (including from zoos and aquaria).

The project, entitled “MURI: Evolution of Synthetic Pathways and Designs in Extreme Biological Structures”, intends to understand architectures and material components in, how they form, and potential translation to bio-inspired structures. The project looks to further understand: 1) fundamental science of synthesis-structure and structure-function relationships in these materials; and 2) the fundamental mechanisms of self-assembly of structurally robust biological architectures that demonstrate multifunctionality, such as thermal and radiation resistance. The project will also include investigating translation via additive manufacturing of ceramic-polymer based materials, as well as the development of next generation advanced materials.

Please direct your questions and expressions of interest to:



David Kisailus, Ph.D.
Henry Samueli Faculty Excellence Professor and Kavli Fellow of the National Academy of Sciences
Member of UNESCO Chair in Materials and Technologies for Energy Conversion, Saving and Storage (MATECSS)
Biomimetics and Nanostructured Materials Lab
Department of Materials Science and Engineering
University of California, Irvine
mailto:david.k at uci.edu
https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-kisailus-33a9304/



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