(143a) Nano-Enabled Intelligent Living Soft Materials for Sustainable Healthcare and Environment Applications

An important pillar of sustainable development is the creation of intelligent multifunctional materials derived from renewable resources for real-life applications. Developing innovative nanotechnologies using natural materials and green chemistry may bring us closer to this objective. Within this approach, living soft materials, which encompass cellular and/or acellular components, play a pivotal role. This talk aims to showcase my research endeavors —past, ongoing and potential future— including the nano-/micro-engineering, chemical functionalization, and characterization of biomaterials. The research visions will be structured around two main themes: acellular and cellular living soft materials. First, my expertise in advanced biomaterial development across various platforms encompassing nano-/micro-particles, bulk/granular hydrogels, conventional/Pickering emulsions, cryo-/aerogels, and organo-/emulgels will be presented. Specifically, I will discuss how newly emerged hairy nanocelluloses as one of the most promising sustainable materials of modern times with tunable surface chemistry and unique architecture address persistent healthcare and environmental challenges. Accordingly, new generations of nano-enabled anti-antibiotics to combat the antibiotic resistance in the healthcare sector and highly selective nano-adsorbents for the recovery of globally limited rare earth and precious metals in the environment sector will be introduced. Next, this talk delves into sustainable chemistry and nano-engineering strategies aimed at transforming static soft biomaterial platforms into stimuli-responsive, acellular analogs. In this regard, insights into hybridizing granular and bulk hydrogels via dynamic covalent chemistry to yield extracellular matrix-mimetic and tissue-mimetic platforms will be shared. The last segment of this presentation will cover the specific challenges associated with cell-laden soft materials and explore the novel exciting aspects of integrating living organisms, particularly bacteria and mammalian cells, in a single platform.