Calcite Growth in Hydrogels: Assessing the Mechanism of Polymer Network Incorporation into Single Crystals

Thursday, December 10, 2009 at 8:24am

Scientists have long marveled at how biological crystals of calcite grow together with other organic materials to form, for example, shells and sea urchin spines. Biologists and materials scientists would love to know exactly how to re-create such natural composites in the lab.

Lara Estroff, assistant professor of materials science and engineering, and colleagues have taken a deep, detailed look at the way lab-created calcite crystals, similar to those found in nature, grow in tandem with proteins and other large molecules, and they report their findings in the Nov. 27 issue of the journal Science. The journal also features the work as a "Perspective" written by Kansas State University's Mark Hollingsworth.

Read the entire story in the Cornell Chronicle

Other related articles:

Physics World

Chemical and Engineering News

Science

Calcite Growth in Hydrogels

Crosslinking of cell-derived 3D scaffolds up-regulates the stretching and unfolding of new extracellular matrix...

Thursday, December 10, 2009 at 8:17am

The December 2009 issue of Integrative Biology features the research of Assistant Professor Delphine Gourdon, "Crosslinking of cell-derived 3D scaffolds up-regulates the stretching and unfolding of new extracellular matrix assembled by reseeded cells".

Gourdon explains, "The work describes one way of tuning cells behavior by controlling their physical and biochemical microenvironment. More specifically, we show how the crosslinking of cell-derived scaffolds affects both the quantity and the elasticity of the new extracellular matrix assembled by cells, after their re-incorporation in the crosslinked scaffolds. These results have far-reaching implications for tissue engineering and disease physiology."

To read the full article, see the December issue of Integrative Biology

Prof. Gourdon's Cover of Integrative Biology

Chekesha Liddell promoted to Associate Professor

Thursday, December 10, 2009 at 7:42am

MS&E is very pleased to announce that Chekesha Liddell has been promoted to Associate Professor.

The Liddell Group’s research centers on the creation and characterization of nano- and meso-scale inorganic colloids with tailored morphology and composition, as well as the fabrication of three-dimensional structures derived from these colloidal building blocks. The objective is to fashion artificial crystal structures using inorganic particles by focusing on non-spherical shapes. Reducing the symmetry in such structures promotes a significantly higher level of control of light waves. This work has important implications, which could lead to faster and more efficient computing hardware.

The Department congratulates Chekesha and looks forward to continued success in the future.

Assoc. Prof. Chekesha Liddell

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Cornell Materials Science & Engineering's Notes

Calcite Growth in Hydrogels: Assessing the Mechanism of Polymer Network Incorporation into Single CrystalsDec 10, 2009

Crosslinking of cell-derived 3D scaffolds up-regulates the stretching and unfolding of new extracellular matrix...Dec 10, 2009

Chekesha Liddell promoted to Associate ProfessorDec 10, 2009

Three MS&E Students Assist with 2009 Solar Decathlon ProjectOct 6, 2009

Prof. Christopher K. Ober receives Gutenberg Research AwardAug 31, 2009

Asst. Prof. Richard Hennig receives teaching awardAug 31, 2009

'Cornell dots' make the world's tiniest laserAug 19, 2009

Prof. Christopher Ober Named ACS FellowJul 28, 2009

Senior Thesis AwardsJun 25, 2009

Rachel Dorin receives NSF Graduate Research FellowshipMay 28, 2009

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