Conference Sessions & Session Chairs

Biological and bioinspired materials are complex as they naturally contribute to environments that “grow and develop.” In this session, we will curate and discuss topics related to the crystallization of biological or biomimetic materials as well as self-assembly mechanisms. This includes, but will not be limited to: assembly and / or function of organic (e.g., polysaccharides, proteins, peptides, peptoids, polymers, DNA and RNA) materials, and nucleation, growth and phase transformations in biological or biomimetic materials as well as the subsequent impact on performance. In addition, interactions at the inorganic-organic interface, biomimetic crystallization, bioinspired synthesis, in silico modeling of crystallization of biological structures and synthetic materials, as well as methods to characterize these biological materials and interfaces will be discussed. Past investigations into these biological interfaces and materials are limited by the sensitivity of standard methodologies, lacking the necessary temporal and spatial resolutions. Moreover, multiple techniques may be required to understand the organization and activity of these materials in their native states. To concisely characterize and measure properties of these model systems, novel toolsets are required to accurately access ranges of time- and length- scales which are physiologically-relevant. In this interdisciplinary session, state-of-the-art experimental procedures and theoretical approaches will be discussed and thereby further the understanding of fundamental principles as well as the possibilities for various applications. Plenary talks and posters will be organized into three correlated topics in this session: (A) Biological and Biomimetic materials (B) Energy and Environmental Materials (C) Fundamentals of Bio-crystallization If there are any questions/suggestions regarding this session, please do not hesitate to contact the organizers.