Institute of Colloid and Biointerface Science (ICBS)

Research Focus

The core activity of the Institute for Biologically inspired materials is to develop nanotechnology (fabrication and physical phenomena of materials on the nanoscale) and molecular self assembly tools for application to biological and medical problems and to create novel “smart” materials and structures inspired by assembly principles studied in biological systems. These goals cannot be achieved without developing our current fundamental understanding of the physics and chemistry of complex nanoscale systems.

In all areas we have a particular interest in the creation of nanoscale "building blocks" with asymmetric geometry, physical and chemical interactions, based on synthetic or biological units. Such building blocks exhibiting weak interactions assembled into confined fluids and gels are hallmarks of biology and life, but currently almost non-existent as engineered systems. We develop and research the interactions of such building blocks into superstructures to define new ways of creating materials with novel properties, inspired by Nature.