Graduate Students Undergraduate Students Viola Vogel, PhD Associate Professor adjunct with Physics Director, Center for Nanotechnology Dr. phil. My research program is focused on investigating how to control the assembly of molecular building blocks into supramolecular complexes with predictable architecture. Biology has evolved the most sophisticated, molecularly engineered devices, which are far more elaborate in their expressed function than most products made by mankind.
Function is obtained naturally via self-assembly in an aqueous environment.
Success will lead to dramatic advances in science, engineering and medicine. It will also allow delineation of novel design criteria for the next generation of advanced materials and nano-engineered devices. Whereas major progress has been made in understanding how chemical factors control biorecognition and signaling, little is known how mechanical forces acting on individual molecules can be utilized to control ligand binding. Guided by theoretical predictions, we are exploring how the forced unfolding of proteins can be utilized to regulate biorecognition processes, and how this knowledge can be applied for biomedical applications. Cells assemble proteins on their surfaces into highly organized extracellular matrices and their function is tightly linked to the hierarchical matrix architecture.