报告内容摘要：

From the cellular level up to the body system level, to keep alive and perform various functionalities living organisms cooperatively perform selective localizing and transporting of specific biological species in the complex bio-fluids. These graceful capabilities arise from the coordination of the chemo-mechanical actions of their muscles and/or tissues with their environmentally vigilant cells, such as the molecular configuration changes and micro/macroscopic mechanical motions in response to a variety of signals. Inspired by these unique abilities, we have developed a series of dynamic material systems, which are based on stimuli-responsive hydrogel and its adaptively reconfigurable microarchitecture. This talk will introduce several novel functionalities that this broad-based platform has demonstrated, ranging from self-regulating of local condition, continuous catch-and-release of molecules for efficient in-line separation, novel optical sensing. First, we have applied the biological concept of homeostasis (e.g. self-regulation of blood sugar, pH, pressure, and temperature with warm-blooded animals) to the design of autonomous materials and created a synthetic homeostatic material, namely SMARTS (Self-regulated Mechano-chemical Adaptively Reconfigurable Tunable System). It achieved precise control of local temperature and demonstrated the real-time “sense-diagnose-respond” capability via its built-in chemo-mechanical feedback loop in such microscale soft material systems (Nature, 2012). Second, on the same platform, we successfully realized programmable and autonomous separation of biological and chemical target molecules from mixture solutions such as blood serum and waste water (Nature Chem, 2015). Further investigation with cancer cells and bacteria opens up the versatility of our “smart” integrative material for applications in biomolecule purification, concentration, and isolation. Third, with its interesting chemomechanically manipulated optical properties, such “smart” hydrogels demonstrates excellent performance on gaseous and liquid chemical and biological molecule sensing.  Last, the development of our novel optical 3-D printing systems and other recent research in our group about energy storage (lithium ion batteries) and harvesting will also be introduced. Overall, the dynamic material systems would have transformative impacts in areas ranging from medical implants that help stabilize bodily functions, to a low-coat high-throughput point-of-care diagnostic tool of diseased indicators in solution, and to smart devices that regulate energy usage.
 
 
报告人简介：

Ximin He is an assistant professor of Materials Science and Engineering and Graduate Faculty of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Chemical Engineering, and the Biodesign Institute of Arizona State University since 2014. Dr. He was postdoctoral research fellow in Wyss Institute of Bioinspired Engineering and School of Engineering and Applied Science with Professor Joanna Aizenberg at Harvard University. Dr. He received her PhD in Chemistry in the fields of Nanoscience and Organic Optoelectronics from University of Cambridge, Melville Laboratory for Polymer Synthesis, Cavendish Laboratory and Nanoscience Center. Dr. He graduated from the Chemistry Department of Tsinghua University in 2006. Dr. He’s research focuses biologically inspired functional smart materials, chemical and biological sensors, actuators, and lithium ion batteries with broad applications in materials science, biomedicine, environment, and energy. She has authored/co-authored 19 papers in leading archival journals and peer-reviewed conference proceedings, book chapters and has a number of pending U.S./U.K. patents. Dr. He is the recipient of the Harvard Postdoctoral Award for Professional Development, Gates Cambridge Scholarship, UK Overseas Research Scholarship, the Government Award for National Outstanding Students, and UK National Excellent Young Scientist Award. Her research on bioinspired homeostatic materials and novel nanostructured polymeric solar cells have garnered a number of regional and international awards and was featured in >100 international news outlets. The He research group welcomes (under)graduate students in Chemistry, Chemical Engineering, Materials Science and Engineering, and Biomedical Engineering to apply for PhD and Postdoc!
 
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