Special Lecture: New Opportunities for Liquid Crystal Science: From Chemical Catalysis to Biological Systems

Liquid crystals are widely known for their use in flat panel display technology, but their remarkable fundamental properties hint at far greater opportunities.  This presentation will provide an overview of the properties of liquid crystals, and then explore these properties in two contexts.  The first is related to heterogeneous catalysis.  Here the presentation will describe how the ordering of liquid crystals at the surfaces of metal catalysts can amplify atomic-scale elementary steps of surface catalyzed reactions into the optical scale. Inspired by natures use of microtubules and catalytic motor proteins to drive the microscale actuation of living materials, this presentation will outline new principles for harnessing chemical energy to drive the motion of soft matter.  The second context will address the generation, management and transduction of dynamic mechanical forces, which is one of the central sciences of living biological systems.  The presentation will demonstrate how the unique mechanical properties of liquid crystals can be exploited to probe and influence the behaviors of bacterial and mammalian cells, and plant organelles. The outlook for potential technological impact on healthcare, agriculture and robotics will be discussed.  

See also

Google scholar: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=Mpq58BQAAAAJ&hl=en

Webpage: https://nlabbottcornell.weebly.com/