INTELLECTUAL MERIT: Nature often produces materials that are superior or more cost-effective than man-made equivalents. Understanding the nano- and microstructural properties of biomaterials is therefore potentially of very high interest to applied material physics and is key for the fabrication of novel materials with improved properties. The goal of this symposium is to present, through a series of invited lectures from world leading experts in the field, an overview of the state-of-the art in the microstructural characterization of biological hierarchic materials and the potential for future research in the field. An excellent team of presenters has been assembled.
BROADER IMPACTS: The symposium also provides an attractive educational opportunity for participating students through a satellite tutorial on microstructural characterization techniques of biological materials, as well as ample opportunities for multidisciplinary interactions between veteran researchers and young investigators in the framework on the MRS meeting.
Symposium SS12 of the MRS focused on discussing topics related to the structure and properties of biological materials, as well as on biomimetically produced materials and reconstituted biological tissues. Our session, while covering a range of topics that were interdisciplinary in nature, aimed at highlighting a broad range of characterization methods of biological or bio-inspired materials at the micron and sub-micron resolutions, including studies on the structure, chemistry, biology, physics and dynamics of formation of the underlying structural lements. Presenters were asked to focus on state-of-the-art methods and synthesis approaches that they use and to share their experiences and expertise using novel techniques and applications. A large range of studies spanning biomineralization and recrystallization, scaffold design and formation, micrometer and nanometer imaging of dynamics in biological or bio-inspired systems were discussed in detail. A key emphasis of our specific symposium was to encourage a large international presence and to promote scientific exchange between scientific communities originating in very different cultures both in the USA and internationally. Biological materials are of great interest to the materials science community and they serve as an idea-park for countless biomimetic and synthetic studies and investigations. Nature often produces or makes use of constructs that are superior to (or more cost-effective than) man-made equivalents. Understanding the underlying architectural principles, synthetic formation routes, the chemistry/physics involved and the engineering advantages is of great interest to many researchers and numerous research institutes worldwide. Specific questions relate to the superior characteristics of such materials and their formation processes, ranging from control over crystal nucleation, timely phase transformation, re-orientation, co-alignment and polymorphism. A common finding in biologically formed materials is that often, the materials of interest emerge only after fine-tuning of the microstructure at different length scales, often extending from precisely placed atomic, nanometer-size formations and up to the micrometer and even the millimeter length scales. Consequently, structure and properties are usually governed by the intricate details of how these – usually nano-composite materials are laid out. A key to understanding structure/function relations in the natural settings and in synthetic materials that they inspire lies in the precise characterization of the materials at various length scales, and these were extensively discussed during our 5 day symposium.
