Graduate Student Seminar
October 03, 2025
12:45 p.m. ET
7500 Wean Hall
Biomimetic Routes to Grow, Shape & Assemble Polymeric Materials: Theory and Simulation
In biological morphogenesis, neighboring soft and stiff domains can each grow at separate times, so growth of one domain can influence the subsequent growth of the next. To isolate physicochemical processes affecting morphogenesis, we model mm-sized polymer gels undergoing biomimetic growth. Via our model, we pattern the top of thin gel layers with a stiff geometric cross, which encompasses twice the fraction of crosslinkers than the non-patterned, majority of the gel. We find that the temporal sequence in which the respective patterned and non-patterned domains are grown greatly affects the gel’s final equilibrium structure. For example, at ambient pressure, growing the stiffer cross first and the softer layers second yields a concave bowl-like morphology, while growing the soft region first and the cross last produces the opposite, convex shape. Having simulated the growth and shaping of the gels, we then develop computational models to determine how the surrounding fluid can be driven to flow and autonomously join the disconnected pieces into regular three-dimensional shapes (e.g., pyramids, tetrahedrons, and cubes). Here, the fluid itself performs the work of construction and thus, this process does not require extensive external machinery. Formed in an aqueous solution, the assembled structures could be compatible with biological environments, and thus, potentially useful in medical and biochemical applications.
Anna C. Balazs, Distinguished Professor of Chemical Engineering, John A. Swanson Endowed Chair
University of Pittsburgh.
Balazs received her B.A. in physics from Bryn Mawr College and her Ph.D. in materials science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1981. Balazs is a Fellow of the American Physical Society, the Royal Society of Chemistry, and the Materials Research Society. She received the Gutenberg Research Award, Mainz Germany (2025), American Physical Society Polymer Physics Prize (2016), the Royal Society of Chemistry S F Boys-A Rahman Award (2015), the American Chemical Society Langmuir Lecture Award (2014) and the Mines Medal from the South Dakota School of Mines (2013). She is a member of the National Academy of Science and the National Academy of Engineering.