Polymers Division - Calendar of Events

A Systems Approach to Regenerative Medicine & Tissue Engineering
Dr. Mohammad Heidaran from Mount Sinai School of Medicine
Monday, Oct 18, 2004, 2:00PM A312 Regenerative medicine is creating a multidisciplinary, technology-rich environment in which the discovery of biotherapeutic treatments is flourishing. At the heart of this approach is a huge unmet need for a better understanding of complex biological events to use as a blueprint for the development of sophisticated three-dimensional environments that best mimic the in vivo environment. Born out of this need, and in the context of post genomic challenges, a new field is evolving coined by some as Systems Biology. This new discipline promises an innovative approach to biology performed in a scale which has not done before. It should also allow researchers to link a complex array of multivariable intrinsic and extrinsic factors to cell phenotype and function. To accelerate the discovery of new therapeutics in Regenerative Medicine, in the past few years, I have been involved in the development of a unique higher throughput multidisciplinary platform that includes the latest state-of the-art technologies in biomaterial science, tissue engineering, stem cell biology and bioinformatics. Announcement in PDF For more information please contact Eric Amis.

Organic Semiconductor Devices: Molecular Design, Film Deposition, Morphology, and Architectures
Professor Howard Katz from Johns Hopkins University
Tuesday, Oct 19, 2004, 1:30PM Organic semiconductors are molecular solids consisting of conjugated core units packed so that the pi systems of neighboring molecules overlap, and charge carriers can move among them. They have unique functions, especially in thin film transistors, and may offer much less expensive process routes. This talk will describe the molecules, means of depositing them into thin films, and some device behaviors. The nanoscale structure that governs deposition mechanism and device performance will be illustrated. Applications to nonconventional electronics technologies will be considered. Announcement in PDF For more information please contact Eric Lin.

Extent of Organoclay Miscibility and The Physical Properties of Poly(L-lactic acid) Nanocomposite Films and Nanofibers
Vahik Krikorian from University of Delaware
Monday, Nov 1, 2004, 10:30AM A312 In this investigation the physical properties of a novel silicate layered nanocomposite based on a biocompatible/biodegradable polymer matrix was studied. Three types of commercially available organophilic clays were employed in order to concurrently study the effect of organic modifier miscibility with the polymer matrix on the over all mechanical properties of nanocomposites. The nanocomposites were fabricated via the exfoliation adsorption and fiber electrospinning techniques using Poly(L-lactic acid), PLLA, as the polymeric matrix. Changing the extent of exfoliation while the polymer matrix and reinforcement phase are intact, makes this system ideal for studying the effect of degree of exfoliation on overall mechanical and crystallization properties. Wide Angle X-ray Scattering (WAXS) data reveals that increasing the miscibility of the organic modifier with the matrix increases the tendency of the system to exfoliate and randomly distribute the silicate layers throughout the matrix. Mechanical properties of the fabricated nanocomposites both in the fiber mat form and solution cast films show significant improvements both in terms of toughness and stiffness when compared to neat PLLA. Announcement in PDF For more information please contact Chris Stafford.