Abstract: Macromolecules, living in every quarter of our lives, are more controversial than they have ever been over the last century. They carry essential information that defines who we become and can serve as life saving vehicle. They are also the major waste contributor by volume and create environmental and potential health hazards. I am going to share our journey at the interfaces between synthetic and biological macromolecules and discuss how we see a viable path forward to synergize both families to establish a harmonious relationship with our mother land by leveraging emerging knowledge in biology, nanoscience and nanotechnology, in addition to basic science explorations.
Bio: Prof. Ting Xu received Ph.D from the Department of Polymer Science and Engineering at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst in 2004 and postdoc training at the University of Pennsylvania and NIST. She jointed University of California, Berkeley in 2007 in both the Department of Material Sciences and Engineering and Department of Chemistry.
Her research interests rest at the interface among polymer science, protein science, synthetic biology, and colloidal science and focus on rational design of functional materials for life science, environment and energy applications.
She is a fellow of American Physical Society, American Chemical Society and serves on the Board of Directors of Materials Research Society. She is an awardee of 2008 3M Nontenured Faculty Award; 2008 DuPont Young Professor Award; 2009 Office of Naval Research Young Investigator Award; 2010 Li Ka Shing Woman Research Award; 2011 Camille-Dreyfus Scholar-Teacher Award; 2011 ACS Arthur K. Doolittle Award; 2018 Bakar Fellow and 2021 Bakar Prize. She was named as one of “Brilliant 10” by Popular Science Magazine in 2009. Her team won the grand prize of the 2021 Create the Future Design Contest and the Breakthrough of the year 2022 in Science and Technology by the German Falling Wall Foundation.