Description:

"Self-assembly of new structures and materials with DNA-coated colloids"

Presented by David Pine

Abstract: Coating colloidal particles and clusters with DNA, we program interactions between colloids, using their shape to make crystal structures that have previously been difficult or even impossible to make. Some of the structures have no known atomic equivalent. Use of different materials allows the structures to be modified after being assembled leading to new open structures with interesting optical and mechanical properties.

Biography: David Pine is Silver Professor of Physics and Chair of the Department of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering at New York University. His research interests focus broadly on self-assembly of mesoscale materials, with particular interests in colloids, emulsions, and polymers. Recent projects include the development of patchy colloids, DNA-coated colloids, lock-and-key colloids, light-activated colloidal swimmers, and random organization of driven particle suspensions far from equilibrium. He is also interested in the optical properties of soft materials, and was one of the original developers of diffusing-wave spectroscopy, a light scattering technique for probing the dynamics of optically dense multiply-scattering materials. He has taught at Haverford College, worked at Exxon Corporate Research, and held faculty positions at UCSB in chemical engineering and materials and at New York University in physics. He also holds an appointment as Fellow Professor of Polymer Science & Engineering at Sungkyunkwan University in South Korea.