Conference: 'Self-Assembly' - The Future

这次分子自组装领域的专家特别会议是为了促进对新兴技术中这些概念的基础研究和实施的深入讨论，并确定未来的前景和需求。预计这些讨论将促进跨学科和国际合作，以促进这一重要领域的知识和应用状况。分子自组装在医学、信息技术、生物工程和绿色化学等领域的先进应用中处于核心地位，并有望在推动快速崛起的纳米技术领域的增长方面发挥重要作用。为了实现这些技术提供的潜力，有必要从实验和理论两个角度促进对自组装系统的理解，并制定关于这些现象的应用和技术开发的最有前途的领域的愿景。这次会议的目的是聚集一批跨越一系列适当学科(化学、物理、化学工程、材料科学和生化物理)的著名科学家，以促进确定在广泛领域的高级应用背景下促进我们对自组装现象的理解的前景和需要，并促进跨学科和国际合作。主办方将为大会提供激动人心、鼓舞人心的氛围。除了介绍最近的进展外，发言者还将被要求展望并提出短期和中期应处理的重大问题，以期以最有效的方式促进这一领域的发展。通过这种方式，我们打算催化新的合作，这将为该领域未来的研究计划提供基础。在自组装的一般标题下，无论是在整体解决方案中还是在界面上，都适合广泛的主题，这些问题将在会议上讨论。将讨论的一些具体主题不仅包括表面活性剂体系中自组装的机理方面，结合能概念的作用，以及弱力和长程力的性质，而且还包括如何加深对这些原理的理解，以加速基于自组装原理的新功能材料的开发，以及这些材料的新应用。分子水平上相互作用的许多细节，如生物膜中的脂-蛋白相互作用和磷脂/表面活性物质的相互作用仍不是很清楚。当前感兴趣的一个相关主题是液体和固体的界面和整体性质的空间和时间控制，这在例如微流体应用中是至关重要的，这将需要更好地理解自组装的动态方面，并开发实现这些目标的方法。新的询问技术是促进所有这些胶体和界面科学领域进步的关键，也将是本次会议的另一个焦点。

This special meeting of experts in the field of molecular self-assembly is to promote intensive discussions on, and to identify future prospects and needs for, fundamental research on and implementation of these concepts in emerging technologies. It is anticipated that these discussions will catalyze cross-disciplinary and international collaborations to advance the state of knowledge and application of this important field. Molecular self-assembly lies at the heart of advanced applications in areas as diverse as medicine, information technology, bio-engineering and green chemistry, and is poised to play a significant role in fueling the growth of the rapidly-emerging field of nanotechnology. To realize the potential offered by these technologies, there is a need to advance the understanding of self-assembled systems, from both experimental and theoretical perspectives, and to develop a vision as to the most promising areas for applications and technology development of these phenomena. The purpose of this meeting is to bring together a group of eminent scientists spanning a range of appropriate disciplines (chemistry, physics, chemical engineering, materials science and biochemical physics) to stimulate identification of the prospects and needs for advancing our understanding of self-assembly phenomena in the context of advanced applications in a wide range of areas, and to promote inter-disciplinary and international collaborations. The organizers will provide an exciting and inspirational atmosphere for the conference. As well as describing recent advances, the speakers will be asked to look forward and raise significant issues that should be addressed in the short and intermediate term for the most effective way for furthering this area. In this way we intend to catalyze new collaborations, which will provide the foundation for future research programs in the area.A wide range of topics fit under the general heading of self-assembly, both in bulk solution and at interfaces, and these will be addressed at the meeting. Some specific topics, which will be discussed are not only the mechanistic aspects of self-assembly in surfactant systems, the role of binding energy concepts, and the nature of weak and long-range forces, but also how a deeper understanding of these principles can accelerate the development of new functional materials based on self-assembly principles, and of new applications of these materials. Many of the details of interactions at the molecular level such as lipid-protein interactions in biological membranes and phospholipid/surfactant interactions are still not well understood. A related topic of current interest is the spatial and temporal control of the interfacial and bulk properties of both liquids and solids, which is of crucial importance in microfluidic applications, for instance, and which will require a better understanding of the dynamic aspects of self-assembly and development of methods to accomplish these goals. New interrogative techniques are key to facilitating advances in all these areas of colloid and interfacial science, and will be another focal point of this conference.