Teacher: Audrey Gonzalez CCISD Professor Mentor: Zhengdong Cheng, PhD Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering

 What type of engineering is conducted in the lab? Chemical Engineering  What is the research? Soft condensed matter: colloids, droplets, and cells Liquid in liquid Gas in liquid Droplets Cell

Assistant professor, Chemical Engineering, Texas A&M Univ Postdoc, Exxon Mobil , Harvard University, Ma, Ph.D., Princeton University, 1999 M.S., Institute of High Energy Physics, Beijing, China, 1993 B.S., University of Science & Technology of China, Hefei, China, 1990

 (1) Colloidal Crystal Growth: Understanding colloid structure in order to Engineer Materials for Optical Computers  (2) Discotic colloids: Using colloids to make replications of disk like shapes like those in RBCs, TMV, and Histones  (3) Cell encapsulation: Creating protective “bubble” to encapsulate cells to release therapeutic substances for humans

 Colloidal crystals are 3 -D periodic structures formed from small particles suspended in solution  Band gaps can be created within the structure of crystal to create a “circuit” for light to travel through in order to engineer optical computers

 Crystals can be created by using a suspension of polymers (PNIPAM)  If there is a high volume fraction in suspension there are more crystals 89 min152 min 0 min4 min11 min 25 min

One method is to use the Belousov-Zhabotinsky reaction. This reaction is used to convert its chemical energy to mechanical energy to order crystal structure. Crystal with Grain Boundaries Single Crystal BZ reaction facilitated annealing of colloidal crystals How do you structure colloidal crystals?

Biosa G, Bastianoni S, Rustici M Chemical waves CHEMISTRY-A EUROPEAN JOURNAL 12 (13): APR Chemical waves

 Disk shapes like those found in RBCs, TMV, Histones, and Lipoprotien E4 found in Alzheimers can be replicated to better understand their function RBCsHistones Lipoprotein E4 Tobacco Mosaic Virus

Wax with 1% STADIS- 450 Flow Rate : 4ml/h Voltage: 2.8 kV Tang, K. Q.; Gomez, A., J. Colloid Interface Sci. 1996, 184,500.

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Uniform wax emulsion Place wax emulsion in freezing temperature to form discs

 Encapsulating cells of interest with therapeutic agent with a “bubble-like” semi- permeable membrane  Implant cell capsules into human  Cells release therapeutic substance such as insulin for diabetics.

 Method: Electrospray  Make “bubbles” of Alginic acid solution with Turgitol (surfactant) then drop into a solution of Calcium Chloride

One method is using Microfluidics Cells are joined together with semi-permeable membrane, “bubble”. Soft lithography (G.M. Whitesides, Harvard Univ.) Encapsulation of bacteria for screening purposes. Small diameter agarose bead (20µm), with a single bacteria encapsulated into.

 1. Using the Electrospray to create wax discs Why? To replicate form of RBCs and study flow of disk shaped objects  2. Make Agarose encapsulations and coat using layer by layer coating to form a protective layer around encapsulation Why? Coating is to create optimum mechanical strength that will allow for cell to survive in vivo and at the same time be able to secrete essential hormones needed by body

 (1) Colloidal Crystal Growth: Making colloidal crystals for optical computers by creating ordered structure through BZ reaction  (2) Discotic colloids: Making colloidal disks via electrospray to study shape and flow of RBCs and Lipoproteins in Alzheimers disease  (3) Cell encapsulation: Encapsulating cells to release therapeutic substances for humans using electrospray and microfluidics

 Dr. Zhengdong Chengdong  Grad student : Andres Mejia  Undergrad student : Lucas Kinard  NSF