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VERSION:2.0
PRODID:icalendar-ruby
CALSCALE:GREGORIAN
X-WR-CALNAME:Soft Materials Innovation for Health and Sustainability
X-WR-TIMEZONE:Eastern Time (US & Canada)
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTAMP:20260715T221702Z
UID:tag:localist.com\,2008:EventInstance_39271867448500
DTSTART:20220323T160000Z
DTEND:20220323T170000Z
DESCRIPTION:Polymers and water are the major components that constitute mos
 t living species on the earth\, ranging from animals\, plants\, and fungi 
 to bacteria. Polymers are also pervasive and indispensable in almost every
  aspect of our daily life\, ranging from food\, clothing\, housing\, and h
 ealthcare to transportation\, communication\, and entertainment. Furthermo
 re\, over 6% of global electricity generated from coal is used to make pla
 stics\, and microplastics are already ubiquitous in global biosphere. Intr
 igued by their ubiquity and impacts\, MIT Zhao Lab is focused on the study
  and development of soft materials and systems\, mainly constituted of pol
 ymers and water. In this talk\, I will first discuss a general strategy to
  design new soft materials that possess extreme physical\, chemical\, and 
 biological properties – via bioinspired and rational design of unconvent
 ional polymer networks. Then I will illustrate the impacts of soft materia
 ls innovation on health and sustainability with examples: i). bioadhesives
  capable of instant strong adhesion on diverse wet dynamic tissues and dev
 ices for future wound sealing\, hemostasis\, bioelectronics\, and wearable
  devices\; ii). magnetic soft robots capable of teleoperated and autonomou
 s neurovascular surgery for remotely treating stroke which is globally #1 
 cause of long-term disability and #2 cause of death\; iii). hydrogels capa
 ble of solar-driven atmospheric water harvesting that can potentially addr
 ess the worldwide lack of safe drinking water for 2 billion people. I will
  conclude the talk with a vision for the future development and impacts of
  soft materials and systems – aided by and synergized with technologies 
 such as artificial intelligence\, synthetic biology\, and precision medici
 ne.
GEO:42.3783;-71.117081
LOCATION:Pierce Hall\, 209
SUMMARY:Soft Materials Innovation for Health and Sustainability
URL;VALUE=URI:https://events.seas.harvard.edu/event/soft_materials_innovati
 on_for_health_and_sustainability
CATEGORIES:Colloquia / Seminar / Lecture
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