Making materials ‘smart’

Imagine a substance so “smart” it can stir chemicals in a “lab on a chip,” separate  blood components, and be woven into projectile-resistant fabric.

“What I’m interested in are systems that self-assemble. We want to properly design objects so that when combined, these objects will arrange themselves together automatically,” said Lisa Biswal, assistant professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering at Rice University.

Biswal works with paramagnetic colloids – particles containing random traces of iron oxide – that organize into linear chains under the influence of an external magnetic field. She is researching methods for linking colloids, using proteins, DNA or other molecules, so they remain in chains even when a magnetic field is removed.

“The idea is to create flexible structures that can bend but stay together. Fantastic new structures with different functionalities can be created with these particles,” Biswal said.

Visit Lisa Biswal's lab page.