MRSEC: Genetically Engineered Materials Science and Engineering Center

华盛顿大学MRSEC支持创新研究和教育，将现代分子生物学与最先进的化学合成相结合，构建混合材料，展示传统生物或化学途径无法实现的特性。通过设计模块化生物分子组件，使其具有定制的识别、结构和信息特性，并将其与特定的分子和无机纳米级组件相连接，MRSEC将赋予材料以光子/电子/催化/化学功能，这些功能可以根据外部刺激的需要进行重组、定位和重新配置。该中心将在研究生和本科生教育和推广方面开展协调活动，建立一个对分子仿生学有共同兴趣的国际实验室网络，并与工业和国家实验室合作，将基础发现转化为新的产品现实。MRSEC将对西雅图地区的印第安人开展一项独特的外展计划。MRSEC由一个跨学科研究小组组成——多肽作为功能性杂交材料的基因工程构建模块——将创建具有定制功能的基于蛋白质的分子构建模块，并将其用于合成和组装具有新颖或改进性能的纳米结构杂交材料。该中心目前有来自纽约大学和伊斯坦布尔技术大学这两所合作大学的7个系的10名高级研究员、4名博士后和5名研究生。Mehmet Sarikaya教授是MRSEC的负责人。

The University of Washington MRSEC supports innovative research and education that integrates modern molecular biology with state of the art chemical synthesis to construct hybrid materials exhibiting properties that cannot be achieved through either traditional biological or chemical routes. By engineering modular biomolecular components with tailored recognition, structural, and informational properties and interfacing them with specific molecular and inorganic nanoscale components the MRSEC will impart materials with photonic / electronic / catalytic / chemical functionality that can be reorganized, addressed, and reconfigured on demand in response to external stimuli. The center will develop coordinated activities in graduate and undergraduate education and outreach, establish an international network of laboratories sharing a common interest in molecular biomimetics, and partner with industry and national laboratories to translate fundamental discoveries into new products realities. The MRSEC will conduct a unique outreach program to Native Americans in the Seattle area.The MRSEC, consisting of one Interdisciplinary Research Group - Polypeptides as genetically engineered building blocks for functional hybrid materials - will create protein-based molecular building blocks with tailored functionalities and use them for the synthesis and assembly of nanostructured hybrid materials exhibiting novel or improved properties. Participants in the Center currently include ten senior investigators, four postdoctoral associates, and five graduate students from seven departments and two partner universities - New York University and the Istanbul Technical University. Professor Mehmet Sarikaya directs the MRSEC..