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MATERIALS SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING

SEMINAR

 

Biologically Functional Sol-Gel Materials to Control, Mimic, and Sense Living Cells

 

by

 

Dr. Jenna Rickus

Agricultural and Biological Engineering

Weldon School of Biomedical Engineering

Physiological Sensing Facility at the Bindley Bioscience Center

 

ABSTRACT

 

Over the past 15 years, the sol-gel method of producing porous silica has proven to be a powerful platform for developing hybrid materials with biological functionality. A wide range of living and non-living biological components have been integrated into such materials. In this talk I will discuss our work using sol-gel materials as a platform for mimicking, directing and interfacing with mammalian cells.  I will present our recent results on mimicking cells in nonliving systems using liposome-doped nanocomposites as well as the fundamental characterization of the sol-gel neuronal biointerface including the impact of nanotopography on protein conformation at the interface.  Finally I will introduce a new method for the combinatorial presentation of multiple cell signaling peptides with quantitative control of peptide concentration at the surface.  The application of these new materials to cell-based therapies and hybrid cell-silicon implantable devices for neurological disorders will be discussed.

 

 

DATE:       Friday, December 8, 2006

TIME:        3:30 PM – Refreshments

                  3:45 PM – Seminar

PLACE:     MSEE B012

 

Short Bio: 

 

Dr. Rickus is an assistant professor of biological engineering at Purdue University with joint appointments in Agricultural and Biological Engineering and the Weldon School of Biomedical Engineering. She has been jointly trained in the biological sciences and engineering.  She has a B.S. in Biochemistry and a B.S. in Agricultural and Biological Engineering from Purdue.  She received her Ph.D. in 2003 from UCLA in Neuroscience and Neuroengineering where she co-trained under mentors in materials science and cellular and molecular neurobiology.  She recently co-founded and currently co-directs the Physiological Sensing Facility in the Bindley Bioscience Center http://www.purdue.edu/dp/psf/.  Her research involves the integration of hybrid materials with biological components to sense and actuate living cells, tissues, and organisms.