Fibrous Protein Nanocomposites Conference

This multidisciplinary conference on "Fibrous Protein Nanocomposites for Tailored Hybrid Biostructures and Devices" will address the state of the art in the design, synthesis and characterization of hybrid bio-nano- materials and devices for electronic and nanomedicine applications.

The conference will be held in the island of Crete, a renowned destination since the antiquity situated at the crossroads of the Mediterranean Sea, exposed to the diverse cultures of three continents. In a metaphorical manner, the conference aims at exposing the audience to several different disciplines (materials science, biology and engineering) focusing on various aspects of fibrous nanocomposites.

Conference Focus

Fibrous nanostructured objects such as polymer /composite electrospun mats, carbon nanotubes, and protein-based nanofibers and nanotubes recently attracted much interest for their integration in future generations of micro and nano devices with promising industrial applications. Carbon nanotubes have been the subject of the most intense investigation; however, they present limitations due to their extreme conditions of manufacturing and their production cost. Protein and peptide-based-nanofibers present an attractive alternative since they can assemble under mild conditions, they can be considerably less expensive to manufacture, and are more easily configurable, i.e. they allow the attachment or engineering of additional functionalities. Protein nanofibers that are resistant to extreme conditions are the most suitable candidates, since they can be easily interfaced with the world of "hard materials".

Electrospun nanofibers of hybrid materials are a class of bio-nano-composites that also allow for versatile design, ease of manufacturing, and diversity of applications in a complementary fashion. Both the nanoelectronics and nanomedicine fields will eventually require the integration of protein nanofibers-based design and manufacturing (e.g., nanocircuitry templating, protein structures such as those binding bone to collagen in tissue scaffolding, etc.) and electrospun nanofiber-based synthesis and processing (active components in sensing, actuation, nanocues in templating, drug delivery systems, etc.). Engineered proteins, discriminating biosensing, and nanowire electrodes are some of the key themes of the conference; their integration is expected to lead to advanced disease monitoring tools and active scaffolds in tissue engineering. The hybrid and/or multilayered fibrous biological materials may find applications as 3D structuring templates in nanoelectronics and tissue/organ scaffolding, and as active components of theragnostics and power systems.

Preliminary Conference Outline

Designer self-assembling peptide materials

Natural and designed protein materials

Various properties of peptide materials

Peptide and protein scaffolds in tissue regeneration and tissue engineering

Hybrid and composite peptide/inorganic materials and applications

Manufacturing / biofabrication

Theoretical studies and multi-scale modeling

Plenary Speaker

Ehud Gazit, Tel-Aviv University

Confirmed Invited Speakers (May 17, 2012)

Georgios Archontis, University of Cyprus, Cyprus

Nurit Ashkenasy, Ben Gurion University, Israel

Alexander Bittner, CIC Nanogune, Spain

Maria Farsari, IESL/FORTH, Greece

Mustafa Guler, Bilkent University, Turkey,

Stavros Hamodrakas, University of Athens, Greece

Charlotte Hauser, IBN Singapore

Zhanglin Lin, Tsingua University, China

Markus Linder, VTT Finland

Maite Paternostre, Saclay, France

Darrin Pochan, University of Delaware, USA,

Alberto Saiani, University of Manchester, UK

Thomas Scheibel, University Of Bayreuth, Germany

Candan Tamerler, University of Washington, USA

Tell Tuttle, University of Strathclyde, UK

Takafumi Ueno, Tokyo Istitute of Technology, Japan

Antonio Villaverde, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Spain,

Salvador Ventura, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Spain

Senior post-doc from Dek Woolfson Lab, University of Bristol, UK

Conference Publication

A program book including abstracts of all presentations will be distributed to attendees at the conference

Program Committee

Chair: Prof. Perena Gouma

Director of the Center for Nanomaterials and Sensor Development,

Department of Materials Science and Engineering,

SUNY at Stony Brook, USA

Co-Chairs

Prof. Anna Mitraki

Department of Materials Science and Technology,

University of Crete

Dr. Shuguang Zhang

Laboratory for Molecular Design,

Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA

International Organizing Committee

Prof. Thomas Webster, Brown University, USA

Prof. Roger Narayan, University of North Carolina/North Carolina State University, USA

Prof. Robert Langer, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA

Prof. Wojtek Wlodarski, RMIT University, Australia

Prof. Namita Roy Choudhury, Ian Wark Research Institute, University of South Australia

Prof. Charlotte Hauser, Institute of Bioengineering and Nanotechnology, Singapore

Prof. Alex Bittner, CIC nanoGUNE Consolider, Spain

Prof. Thomas Scheibel, University of Bayreuth, Germany

Prof. Rena Bizios, The University of Texas at San Antonio, USA

Provided by Engineering Conferences International