UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. (Penn State News) — A wide range of biologically inspired materials may now be possible by combining protein studies, materials science and RNA sequencing, according to an international team of researchers.

"Biological methods of synthesizing materials are not new," said Melik C. Demirel, professor of engineering science and mechanics, Penn State. "What is new is the application of these principles to produce unique materials."

The researchers looked at proteins because they are the building blocks of biological materials and also often control sequencing, growth and self-assembly. RNA produced from the DNA in the cells is the template for biological proteins. Materials science practices allow researchers to characterize all aspects of how a material functions. Combining these three approaches allows rapid characterization of natural materials and the translation of their molecular designs into useable, unique materials.

"One problem with finding suitable biomimetic materials is that most of the genomes of model organisms have not yet been sequenced," said Demirel who is also a member of the Materials Research Institute and Huck Institutes of Life Sciences, Penn State. "Also, the proteins that characterize these materials are notoriously difficult to solubilize and characterize."

The team, lead by Ali Miserez, assistant professor, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, looked at mollusk-derived tissues that had a wide range of high-performance properties including self-healing elastomeric membranes and protein-based polymers. They combined a variety of approaches including protein sequencing, amino acid composition and a complete RNA reference database for mass spectrometry analysis. They present their results in a recent issue of Nature Biotechnology.

Cliff Lissenden, professor of engineering science and mechanics, and his research team are featured in this month's edition of International Innovation*, a leading global research publication. The team is tackling the challenges of structural health monitoring in the United States and attempting to make advancements in infrastructure sustainability with use of ultrasonic guided waves.

Click here for the full article and an interview with Dr. Lissenden.

*International Innovation, published by Research Media, is the leading global dissemination resource for the wider scientific, technology and research communities, dedicated to disseminating the latest science, research and technological innovations on a global level. More information and a complimentary subscription offer to the publication can be found at: www.international-innovation-northamerica.com.

Cliff Lissenden, professor of engineering science and mechanics, will attend the 9th International Workshop on Structural Health Monitoring September 10-12 at Standford University. Dr. Lissenden will present research and chair a session titled "Guided Waves in Structures for SHM."

This month, Osama Awadelkarim, professor of engineering science and mechanics, travels to Taibah University in Al Madinah, Saudi Arabia, to discuss ongoing research collaborations.

Following his visit to Taibah University, Dr. Awadelkarim will act as a PhD external examiner at Sultan Qaboos University in Muscat, Oman.

Joseph Cusumano, professor of engineering science and mechanics, and his students attended the American Society of Mechanical Engineers 2013 International Design Engineering Technical Conferences in Portland, Oregon, August 4-7. The conference is the flagship international meeting for design engineering and included 14 conferences this year.

Dr. Cusumano led a technical session, titled Nonlinear Resonances, Phenomena, and Interactions, for the 9th International Conference on Multibody Systems, Nonlinear Dynamics, and Control and co-chaired a Vibration Control session for the 25th Conference on Mechanical Vibration and Noise. For each session, the groups reviewed technical publications and student competition papers.

Akhlesh Lakhtakia, the Charles Godfrey Binder Professor of Engineering Science and Mechanics, traveled to India for a conference on Metamaterials and Photonoic Nanostructures, hosted by the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur (IITK), August 16-17.

The two-day conference was organized by the Department of Physics at IITK and the Instruments Research and Development Establishment at Dehradun. The program included presentations of state-of-the-art developments in metamaterials and nanophotonics and, with a plan to identify new applications and technologies, identified the emerging themes in these areas.

Dr. Lakhtakia presented a talk titled “Surface multiplasmonics and Dyakonov-Tamm waves,” that focused on multiple surface plasmon polariton waves and Dyakonov-Tamm waves when a periodically non-homogenous sculptured thin film is a partnering material.

Dr. Akhlesh Lakhtakia, Charles Godfrey Binder Professor in Engineering Science and Mechanics, traveled to Whistler, British Columbia in mid-June to present an invited talk at the Optical Society of America’s 2013 Optical Interface Coatings conference. He will be presenting on “Bountiful Surface Waves with Sculptured Thin Films.”

Dr. Akhlesh Lakhtakia, Charles Godfrey Binder Professor in Engineering Science and Mechanics, recently published a book with John Polo and Tom Mackay entitled “Electromagnetic Surface Waves: A Modern Perspective.” The book focuses on surface multiplasmonics, Tamm waves, Dyakonov waves and Dyakonov-Tamm waves, using a 4x4 matrix approach.

Dr. Tony Huang, Professor in Engineering Science and Mechanics, was selected to receive an American Asthma Foundation Scholar Award. This award is targeted at investigators at nonprofit institutions in the United States who are within 10 years of their first independent faculty appointment. Each year, less than 10 researchers are selected across the USA to receive this award. Each awardee will also receive a $450,000 research fund for three years.

Dr. Albert E. Segall , Professor of Engineering Science and Mechanics, received the Society of Tribologists and Lubrication Engineers Fellow award at the 2013 Annual Meeting and Exhibition in Detroit, MI. He was also a session chair of the Tribotesting I session and presented a paper on “Wear and Reparability Evaluations of a New Class of Super Self-Lubricating hBN-Ni Coatings”.