• Pitt
  • Health Sciences
  • UPMC
Regenerative Medicine at the McGowan InstituteRegenerative Medicine at the McGowan InstituteRegenerative Medicine at the McGowan InstituteRegenerative Medicine at the McGowan Institute
  • Home
  • Our People
    • Faculty/Staff Bios
    • Core Faculty Publications
    • Administrative Resources
  • Our Technologies
  • About Us
    • Welcome
    • Video
    • Mission Statement
    • What Is Regenerative Medicine?
    • Executive Committee
    • Contact Us
    • Clinical Site
  • Our Research
    • Focus Areas
      • Tissue Engineering and Biomaterials
      • Cellular Therapies
      • Medical Devices and Artificial Organs
      • Clinical Translation
    • Matrix
    • Centers
    • Laboratories
    • Clinical Trials
    • Initiatives
  • Media
    • Current News
    • News Archive
    • Video
    • Podcasts
    • Newsletter
    • Grant of the Month
    • Publication of the Month
    • Media Contact
    • Video Links
  • Professional Development
    • Seminar Series
    • Special Events
    • Student Interest Groups
    • CATER
    • Post-Doctoral Opportunities
    • Career Opportunities
    • Wiegand Summer Internship
    • Admissions
    • Summer School
    • 2022 Scientific Retreat

Oscillating Gel Gives Synthetic Materials the Ability to “Speak”

    Home Computations and Modeling Oscillating Gel Gives Synthetic Materials the Ability to “Speak”

    Oscillating Gel Gives Synthetic Materials the Ability to “Speak”

    By The McGowan Institute For Regenerative Medicine | Computations and Modeling, News Archive | Comments are Closed | 8 January, 2013 | 0

    Oscillating Gel Gives Synthetic Materials the Ability to “Speak”

    Self-moving gels can give synthetic materials the ability to “act alive” and mimicAnna primitive biological communication, University of Pittsburgh researchers, led by McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine affiliated faculty member Anna Balazs, PhD, have found.  In a paper published recently in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the Pitt research team demonstrates that a synthetic system can reconfigure itself through a combination of chemical communication and interaction with light.

    Dr. Balazs, principal investigator of the study and Distinguished Professor of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering in Pitt’s Swanson School of Engineering, has long studied the properties of the Belousov-Zhabotinsky (BZ) gel, a material first fabricated in the late 1990s and shown to pulsate in the absence of any external stimuli.

    In a previous study, the Pitt team noticed that long pieces of gel attached to a surface by one end “bent” toward one another, almost as if they were trying to communicate by sending signals. This hint that “chatter” might be taking place led the team to detach the fixed ends of the gels and allow them to move freely.

    Dr. Balazs and her team developed a 3-D gel model to test the effects of the chemical signaling and light on the material. They found that when the gel pieces were moved far apart, they would automatically come back together, exhibiting autochemotaxis—the ability to both emit and sense a chemical, and move in response to that signal.

    “This study demonstrates the ability of a synthetic material to actually ‘talk to itself’ and follow out a given action or command, similar to such biological species as amoeba and termites,” said Dr. Balazs. “Imagine a LEGO® set that could by itself unsnap its parts and then put itself back together again in different shapes but also allow you to control those shapes through chemical reaction and light.”

    “We find this system to be extremely exciting and important because it provides a unique opportunity to study autochemotaxis in synthetic systems,” said Olga Kuksenok, PhD, a member of the research team and research associate professor in the Swanson School’s Department of Chemical Engineering.

    Illustration:  University of Pittsburgh.

    Read more…

    University of Pittsburgh News & Media Relations News Release

    University of Pittsburgh Swanson School of Engineering News

    Futurity.org

    Product Design & Development

    Abstract (Reconfigurable assemblies of active, autochemotactic gels.  Pratyush Dayal, Olga Kuksenok, and Anna C. Balazs.  Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the U.S.A.; January 8, 2013, Vol. 110, No. 2, 431-436.)

    Print Friendly, PDF & Email
    No tags.

    The McGowan Institute For Regenerative Medicine

    More posts by The McGowan Institute For Regenerative Medicine

    • site map
    • links
    • contact
    • subscribe to our newsletter
    © Copyright 2021 McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine
    A program of the University of Pittsburgh and the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center
    • Home
    • Our People
      • Faculty/Staff Bios
      • Core Faculty Publications
      • Administrative Resources
    • Our Technologies
    • About Us
      • Welcome
      • Video
      • Mission Statement
      • What Is Regenerative Medicine?
      • Executive Committee
      • Contact Us
      • Clinical Site
    • Our Research
      • Focus Areas
        • Tissue Engineering and Biomaterials
        • Cellular Therapies
        • Medical Devices and Artificial Organs
        • Clinical Translation
      • Matrix
      • Centers
      • Laboratories
      • Clinical Trials
      • Initiatives
    • Media
      • Current News
      • News Archive
      • Video
      • Podcasts
      • Newsletter
      • Grant of the Month
      • Publication of the Month
      • Media Contact
      • Video Links
    • Professional Development
      • Seminar Series
      • Special Events
      • Student Interest Groups
      • CATER
      • Post-Doctoral Opportunities
      • Career Opportunities
      • Wiegand Summer Internship
      • Admissions
      • Summer School
      • 2022 Scientific Retreat
    Regenerative Medicine at the McGowan Institute