Call for abstract for APS March 2016 Focus Session Physics of Bioinspired Materials, Deadline November 6 2015

Dear Colleagues,

The upcoming APS March Meeting 2016 will take place at Baltimore, MD during March 14-18 2016. Here, we would like to invite you to contribute to a focus session called “Physics of Bioinspired Materials”.  

Session title: 2.1.3 (same as 4.1.17) Physics of Bioinspired Materials (GSOFT/DBIO)

Link: http://www.aps.org/meetings/march/scientific/focus.cfm#213

Description of the topic: Natural materials are synthesized by gene-guided assembly of molecular components into hierarchical structures, and exhibit remarkable properties or functions under the activation of neuron or hormone. Human beings have long been inspired from the natural systems and distilled various principles to design bioinspired systems with superior properties. Recent years have witnessed a wave of renewed interest in designing bioinspired materials and structures especially accompanying with the rapid development of modern fabrication technology, such as nanofabrication and 3D printing. For example, a number of novel top-down or bottom-up fabrication approaches have been developed to tailor materials into bioinspired structures that enable unprecedented properties such as ultra-lightweight, ultra-tough, ultra-strong, ultra-stretchable, ultra-diffusive, and ultra-conductive. Moreover, various activation mechanisms have been introduced to trigger biomimetic movements or deformations, thus resulting in ultra-active, ultra-adaptable and stimuli-sensitive materials. Understanding the physics governing formation of novel bioinspired structures and their stimuli-responsive behaviors is the key challenge to advance their design and uncover their potential. The goal of this session is to create a platform for experts working on bioinspired materials, to discuss about the novel physics problems across different length scales and properties. We expect this session will become a unique forum that not only provides the physical understanding of bioinspired materials, but also offers physical insights to advance the design of future bioinspired systems for broad applications by addressing the current scientific and technological challenges.

Topics will include:

• Physics of self-assembly or self-organization approaches for bioinspired materials
• Physics oftop-down and/or bottom-up approaches for making hierarchical structures
• Physics of 3D printing of biomaterials or bioinspired structures
• Structure-function relationships in bioinspired materials/structures
• Physics of stimuli-responsive behaviors of bioinspired materials/structures
• Physics of bioinspired sensing and actuation
• Physics of bioinspired surfaces and interfaces

Abstract submission: http://abstracts.aps.org/

Deadline: November 6, 2015, 5:00 p.m. EST

We will try to organize a unique and successful session that brings together world-wide expects in the field of “physics of bioinspired materials”, and delivers high-quality talks to discuss the cutting-edge problems and challenges. We are looking forward to your contribution and participation. 

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us.  

Sincerely,

Sung Hoon Kang (Johns Hopkins University, Email:  shkang@jhu.edu)

Qiming Wang (University of Southern California, Email: qimingw@usc.edu)