Complex Coacervation: Principles and Applications - A Special Symposium at the 2015 American Chemical Society Fall Meeting; August 17-18, 2015; Boston, MA

University Of Massachusetts Amherst, Amherst MA

Investigators

Abstract

Non-Technical: This award by the Biomaterials program in the Division of Materials Research to University of Massachusetts at Amherst is to support students, postdoctoral scientists and junior faculty members to attend a conference titled "Complex Coacervation: Principles and Applications - A Special Symposium" at the 2015 American Chemical Society Fall Meeting in Boston, MA, August 16 to 21, 2015. The focus of this two-day symposium is on biomaterials, and this conference builds upon earlier successful smaller conferences on this topic held at American Chemical Society Meetings in 2009, 2012 and 2014. This conference is expected to provide a setting for the exchange of ideas and the generation of new approaches and technologies in such areas as: phase separation in biological and proto-biological systems; biomedical applications; and applications in food, personal care. The broader impact of this proposal is to increase the participation of students, postdoctoral scientists and underrepresented minority students in science and engineering areas. The conference format will provide students with various opportunities to attend state-of-art lectures by top scientists and meet with them, communicate and present their results, and participate in discussions. Technical: This two-day conference is designed to provide an introduction to charge-driven materials self-assembly in general and complex coacervation in specific. The event is expected to present recent developments in this area of research, emphasizing new trends and future directions for complex coacervates as a class of materials, and highlighting the wide variety of applications and science relevant to these types of materials. Since this field would greatly benefit from multidisciplinary interactions from chemists, biologists, physicists, and engineers, the conference program contain an excellent arrangement of both invited speakers and students. The conference is broken down into four areas: 1) theory and characterization; 2) phase separation in biological and proto-biological systems; 3) biomedical applications; and 4) applications in food, personal care, and drug delivery systems. The poster sessions are organized in such a way that students will be able to present their results and communicate with peers in the field. The conference format will provide various opportunities for students to attend state-of-art lectures of the top scientists, meet the scientists, communicate, present their results, and participate in discussions. In addition, this conference is expected to provide students with career and professional development opportunities.