Deducing Bioinspired and Supramolecular Materials Design
Principal Investigator:
Subhasish Chatterjee
Co-PIs:
Dhairavi Shah, Dhaara Shah, Nicole Portal, Leila Asgarkhani, Jonelle Brown, Susel Suarez, Andrew Banaag
Abstract:
Molecular self-assembly and cooperative assembly are critical in developing complex materials associated with many biological functions, such as structural coloration, photosynthesis, and microbial virulence. Chemically heterogeneous materials, including melanin pigments and light-responsive protein-pigment complexes, have augmented cross-disciplinary research interests in decoding nature-inspired materials design. Notably, molecular assembly techniques can generate unique nanomaterials such as carbon-based quantum dots and biosynthetic disordered pigments. Correspondingly, our work aims to decipher the structural characteristics of (bio)chemically diverse systems, linking their supramolecular architecture with material properties.
Description of Research:
The interdisciplinary research theme, driven by synergistic experimental and computational studies, focuses on the fundamental structural and dynamical properties of bioinspired soft materials at the molecular and nanoscale levels, underpinning the connection between molecular biophysics, structural biology, and systems chemistry as an emerging field of bio-inspired materials with potential applications in biotechnology and nanoscience. The ongoing work involves chemically heterogeneous biosynthetic and organic material systems such as melanin pigments, carbon-based quantum dots, and light-responsive protein-pigment complexes with an elusive structural design. The experimental components delve into deducing their molecular frameworks by applying spectroscopic techniques, whereas complementary studies involve computational modeling, molecular dynamics, and density functional theory applications. While working in this emerging research area, our student researchers in the group apply analytical and biophysical experimental techniques, computer simulations, and (bio)materials synthesis strategies.