Speaker
Dr
Christina Efthymiou
(Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand and Uppsala University, Sweden)
Description
Biomaterials widely presented in nature, like protein filaments in muscles, elastin in lungs, collagen in bones, cellulose fibers in fruits, and keratin in wool, self-assemble resulting in hierarchical structures that define their properties and uses. These hierarchical structures emerge from molecular and supra-molecular self-assembly systems organized on multiple length- and time-scales on the mesoscale. The study of such hierarchical structures at the mesoscale, where protein and carbohydrate self-assemblies like fibrils and tubes exist, is the particular interest of our research. Results from this study provide the knowledge to allow understanding the relationship between the architecture of fibril networks and their macroscopic properties, in order to connect the top (macroscale) to the bottom (microscale) and finally to understand how hierarchical systems, such as gels, are formed. This is achieved by measuring those properties using a combination of techniques; small-angle X-ray scattering for determining the molecular level self-assembly of the proteins and the resulting gel structure, cryo-scanning electron microscopy for investigating the 3D structural changes on the mesoscopic level, and bulk rheology for investigating the structural and kinetic changes on a macroscopic level.
Primary author
Dr
Christina Efthymiou
(Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand and Uppsala University, Sweden)
Co-authors
Prof.
Kathryn McGrath
(Victoria University of Wellington, MacDiarmid Institute for Advanced Materials and Nanotechnology, New Zealand)
Prof.
Martin Williams
(Massey University, Institute of Fundamental Sciences, New Zealand)
