CAREER: Bio-Membrane Mediated Colloidal Assembly

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This Career Award from the Biomaterials Program in the Division of Materials Research to the University of Oregon will support studies that aim to quantify and control interactions among microparticles to enable the self-organization of structurally complex colloidal crystals. Such superstructures have long been of interest as models of phenomena such as crystallization and defect dynamics, and are technologically important due to intriguing optical properties. The proposed experiments adopt a biomimetic approach to self-assembly, creating colloidal particles functionalized with two-dimensionally fluid bio-membranes. These studies are expected to expand paradigms of colloidal assembly by co-opting tools of biological self-organization, using functionalization of microparticles with lipid and protein membranes to control colloidal crystal formation. Several attributes make bio-membranes appealing mediators of inter-particle interactions: the variety and specificity of protein linkages; the ease with which lipid composition can control electrostatic properties; and the two-dimensional fluidity of membranes, which confers on their constituents the ability to reorganize their distribution as the context demands. The project could define an experimental route to both creating and characterizing the interactions among membrane-derivatized microspheres. Activity-coupled educational programs described in the project will use explorations of contemporary biophysical and biomaterial topics as tools to promote higher education in the sciences to middle-school students from socioeconomically disadvantaged backgrounds and to improve non-science-major college students' understanding of science and scientific thinking. To engage and educate non-science-major college undergraduates, the PI will create a unique course exploring the physical properties of biological materials through readings, discussions, and laboratory exercises. Exposure to diverse contemporary subjects can change students' perceptions of the nature of the sciences and the relevance of scientific concepts to the everyday world. A coupled educational agenda will use activities that spotlight current, cross-disciplinary science, including the sort exemplified by the proposed research program, to impact the education of a wide spectrum of students. To address the low rate of college enrollment by students from socioeconomically disadvantaged backgrounds, as part of this project, a Physics Day Camp will be developed that would provide disadvantaged secondary school students with information about access to higher education, an introduction to the culture of scientific inquiry, and activity-based science education.