| Description | Controlling Interfacial Interactions and Enhancing Materials Design Using Bio-enabled Approaches Understanding the structure-function relationships of biological materials can enable approaches in the design of materials for use in a variety of applications including biosensors and catalysis. Biological systems exemplify the utilization of specifically designed templates for building and tuning materials properties. Biomimetic approaches that involve the use of proteins, peptides and other biomacromolecules have been investigated by researchers to create hybrid materials. Our research activities are aimed at understanding of how biomolecules interact with abiotic surfaces, investigating structure-function relationships of biomaterials, and how they can be used in the creation of functional materials. In this talk I will describe some our recent work on understanding peptide interactions with materials as well as our studies work on tuning the structure of a biopolymer and its effect on electronic properties. Rajesh R. Naik
Research Team Leader, Biological Materials Research
Functional Materials Division, Materials and Manufacturing Directorate
Air Force Research Laboratory Dr. Rajesh R. Naik is the research team leader for biological materials research in the Functional Materials Division, Materials and Manufacturing Directorate, Air Force Research Laboratory, Air Force Materiel Command, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio. In this position, he provides technical vision and strategy and for the biological materials research program. He also leads research efforts in biomimetic materials and sensors. Dr. Naik joined AFRL in 1999 as a visiting scientist, and became a federal employee in 2004. At that time he was assigned the position of Biotechnology Group Leader; and in 2007, he was appointed the technology advisor for biotechnology in the Nanostructure and Biological Materials Branch. Dr. Naik also served as the Chair for AFRL’s Bio-X Strategic Technology Team from 2008-2011. Scientifically, Dr. Naik has research interests in the area of bionanotechnology and biomimetics with focus on biosensing, bioelectronics, nanostructured materials and protein engineering. He has published over 180 peer-reviewed articles |
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