PharmSci Seminar presented by Albert Liu

Department: Pharmaceutical Sciences

Speaker: PharmSci Seminar Presented by Albert Liu, Ph.D. Assistant Professor, Chemical Engineering; Materials Science & Engineering; and Macromolecular Science & Engineering, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor

Title: There Is Plenty of Room in the Middle

Abstract: Biological systems are built with spatial hierarchies that span many orders of magnitude, from the molecular to the macroscopic, enabling control checkpoints not only at the nanometer scale but also at the micrometer level, as seen in organelles and cells. While bio-inspired materials engineering has made significant strides in nanoscale design with molecular precision as well as in macroscopic property tuning via systems-level control, the micrometer regime, corresponding to the sizes of cellular and subcellular biological units, remains relatively underexplored. Yet, this intermediate length scale offers unique opportunities to construct tissue-like hierarchical materials from micro-confined building blocks. Our research focuses on unlocking the full potential of this design space by examining how microscale confinement can govern nanoscale transport processes and enable the engineering of complex material systems with emergent properties. In this talk, I will discuss our recent work highlighting how microscale confinement can be harnessed to: (1) shape external electric fields to guide the electrophoretic transport of charged biomolecules into and out of biological cells; (2) bypass the sensitivity–specificity trade-off in multiplexed electrochemical sensor design; and (3) integrate diverse functions into microscale embodiments for controlled chemical release and distributed sensing in otherwise inaccessible environments. By establishing new degrees of control at the micrometer scale, our work lays the foundation for new classes of hierarchical materials and new modalities of human–matter interaction, opening pathways to next-generation technologies in robotics and healthcare.

Location: NCRC Building 10, South Atrium