Core Faculty:

F. Hadley Cocks, Professor - A wide variety of areas in materials science, including crystal growth, mechanical properties of kidney stones, lunar science, diffraction optics, materials for radiation detection, and radiation shielding.

Piotr E. Marszalek, Professor - Marszalek began AFM research in 1997, the year, which marked great progress in AFM-based single-molecule force spectroscopy of proteins and polysaccharides. From the very beginning of my AFM work I experienced a particular appeal to polysaccharides research. This is because the wealth of information contained in their AFM measured force-extension relationships with totally unanticipated deviations from the entropic elasticity of simple polymers prompted me to believe that many interesting and quite fundamental observations can soon be made by studying polysaccharides elasticity. Protein mechanics is, in my opinion, another area of great potential because investigating the elastic properties of individual proteins promises to make significant contributions to the understanding of mechanotransduction, which is a process that underlies such important and basic phenomena as a sense of touch and hearing in all organisms. In addition, investigating mechanical unfolding and refolding reactions of individual proteins can contribute to elucidating the mechanism of protein folding, which is fundamental to all biology. More recently I initiated a new area of research by applying the AFM-based technology to study DNA damage and repair. While my polysaccharide and protein research is extremely rewarding by continuously offering quite fundamental observations and discoveries to be made, the new DNA research promises in addition even a greater scientific fulfillment through its possible contributions to medicine and human health.

David Needham, Professor - Dr. Needham’s research program combines the fields of materials science with colloid and surface chemistry focusing on “Biological and other Soft Wet Materials.” The program is in the general area of forming, coating and encapsulation of solid, liquid and gaseous particles in the colloidal size range (10 nanometers to 10 micrometers). It deals more specifically with the material properties of 2-phase micro and nanosystems, such as surfactants, lipid monolayers, lipid bilayer membranes, micelles, liposomes, hydrogels, wax particles, emulsions, microdroplets, gas bubbles, microcrystals, microglasses, polymer microspheres, and blood and cancer cells. It is also concerned with the adhesion and repulsion between particle surfaces involving molecular structures at interfaces including repulsive interactions due to the presence of grafted water-soluble polymers and specific interactions between receptors-ligand pairs. Such materials property measurements and inter particle interactions require specialized experimental equipment. and the principal experimental approach is that of micropipet manipulation to manipulate individual and pairs of micro particles and cells in controlled solution environments. Previous NIH/NCI research grants, focused on experiments and theory concerning: 1) molecular exchange and defect formation in lipid vesicle membranes, (specifically involving the partitioning of amphipathic molecules like surfactants, drugs, pH sensitive polymers, and fusogenic peptides); and 2) Novel thermally sensitive drug delivery system for treatment of solid tumors. Research topics currently under investigation include: lipid and surfactant monolayers at gas bubble, and liquid emulsion surfaces; diffusion-solubility, crystallization and solidification of polymers, lipids, proteins, inorganic crystals and drugs from 2 phase microsystems, including degradable PLGA polymer microspheres. The latter is currently funded through an NIH grant entitled, “Microsphere Engineering for Proteins as Drugs.” Particular applications of these materials and materials processing concepts are in drug delivery, specifically, the temperature-triggered drug release in solid tumors, and lately formulations of more hydrophobic drugs as emulsions and of proteins in polymer microspheres. Information gained in this work is directed towards, for example, improved image contrast agents, drug delivery systems that use lipids and polymers to create micro- and nano-capsules and monolayer coatings. The temperature-sensitive liposome systems are being tested pre-clinically and now clinically with collaborators in the Duke Medical Center, specifically with Dr. Mark Dewhirst in Radiation Oncology. New research is focusing on organic-inorganic nano composites derived from simple surfactants, and new bilayer model systems for studying and using single protein channel activity with collaborators at Oxford University, UK.

Benjamin B. Yellen, Assistant Professor -Theoretical and experimental studies on concentration gradients arising in ionic fluids and magnetic liquids.

Xuanhe Zhao, Assistant Professor (effective 7/1/10) - Dr. Zhao's current research centers on soft active materials (SAMs), which include dielectric elastomers, hydrogels, magnetic polymers, and muscles. By integrating experiment and theory, Zhao is studying the behaviors of SAMs driven by multiple thermodynamic forces (e.g., stress, electric field, magnetic field, chemical potential), and exploring applications in various areas such as drug delivery, tissue engineering, energy harvesting, robotics, microfluidics, and water treatment.

Pei Zhong, Associate Professor - Ultrasound-targeted gene delivery and activation; synergistic combination of high-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) and immunotherapy for cancer treatment; innovations in shock wave lithotripsy (SWL) technology; and mechanics and bioeffects of acoustic cavitation.