Accueil  >  Séminaires  >  Surfing Energy Landscapes in Self-Assembling Systems: From trapped states to fueled matter with programmable lifetimes
Surfing Energy Landscapes in Self-Assembling Systems: From trapped states to fueled matter with programmable lifetimes
Par Andreas Walther (Albert-Ludwigs-University Freiburg)
Le 26 Juin 2018 à 11h00 - Salle de séminaires 5ème étage, Tour 32-33

Résumé

Synthetic self-assembling systems have largely been developed with a focus on equilibrium structures. Such structures have become switchable by integration of responsive elements, which is the basis of present-day smart materials technology. However, biology and life itself offer thought-provoking alternatives by organizing self-assembling systems outside or even far-from-equilibrium. This leads to fueled and feedback- controlled systems that are dynamic, display temporal and spatial evolution, and behave in a highly adaptive manner with tailored responses in complex sensory landscapes.

The key features to evolve present-day equilibrium self-assembling materials to such life-inspired, non- equilibrium materials systems are the consideration of kinetic control mechanisms, the integration of energy dissipation schemes to provide energy for work generation and for autonomous operation, as well as the integration of regulatory networks and feedback loops to orchestrate their behavior and adaptive properties.

In this talk I will present concepts for self-assembling, life-inspired material systems that form by managing energy landscapes and allow to arrive at trapped or fueled non-equilibrium states. The first part will deal with the pathway-controlled formation of mesostructured all-DNA colloids, protocells and their superstructures as formed by sequence-defined multiblock copolymers. High levels of structural complexity can be achieved therein by orchestrating kinetic concerts between antagonistic phase-separation and DNA duplex hybridization events. The second part will focus on a platform concept, which allows to program self- assembling systems of different building blocks (polymers, peptide, DNA) with lifetimes by installation of internal feedback mechanisms and energy dissipation schemes to maintain structures only as long as a chemical fuel is present. This will be showcased for different self-assembling systems and materials applications.