Highlights index

Researchers have figured out how a jumbo squid’s hard, razor-sharp beak can slice through the soft tissue of its prey–without tearing off from the stress. The work solves a longstanding mystery over a problem akin to anchoring a knife blade in Jell-O, according to the authors of the new study.

For the first time, a traveling exhibit promoting the MRSEC program and the Materials Research Facilities Network was presented at the 2008 NOBCChE (National Organization of Chemists and Chemical Engineers) meeting in Philadelphia.

Close-packed nanocrystal monolayers can be self-assembled by simple drop casting into ultra-thin free-standing membranes. Researchers at the University of Chicago MRSEC have shown that these membranes are remarkably strong, with a Young’s modulus on the order of several GPa, yet highly flexible. The arrays remain intact and able to withstand tensile stresses up to temperatures around 370K. The purely elastic response of these membranes, coupled with exceptional robustness and resilience at elevated temperatures makes them excellent candidates for a wide range of sensor applications.

The Ismagilov and Mrksich groups at the University of Chicago MRSEC have recently established that a microfluidic system utilized in conjunction with surface immobilization chemistries can be used to pattern surfaces with well-defined gradients of adhesion molecules for the attachment of cells. The image shows the patterned surface after placement in a suspension of B16F10 mouse melanoma cells and fixing and immunostaining with antibody against vinculin (found in the focal adhesion structures integrating the cytoskeleton with the extracellular matrix). Each gradient microisland contained a nonuniform distribution of active ligands for cell adhesion.

The general technique of preparing gradients of immobilized species with specific patterns is expected to be an important tool for understanding the influence of nonuniform microenvironments on cell function, including polarization and migration.

The annual 3-day program is held in late January to showcase the materials research capabilities of UCSB. The MROP has evolved from a polymer-focused program to a broad materials-themed event over the past 6 years, and features a combination of “latest and greatest” research presentations by UCSB senior students, post-docs, and faculty as well as […]

Brian J. Andaya, a former participant in the MIT Research Experience for Undergraduates program, is one of authors on a recently published paper in PNAS (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA). During his summer as an REU student, Brian worked in the lab of Professor Paula Hammond and assisted with the research that led to this discovery.

While electronics have become much smaller and more powerful, an elusive goal has been to “print” these tiny devices rapidly over very large areas.

PCCM is partnering with the Cornell, Northwestern, and MIT MRSECs to create an innovative new online collaborative research community of REU students across the country in the NSF-sponsored NSDL MatDL “Soft Matter Wiki” pilot program of the Materials Digital Library (MatDL), part of the National Science Digital Library (NSDL) project.