Polymer seminars

Polymers and the “Real Crystal Ball” - Building New Polymers by Molecular Design. 

Tom McLeish, Alexi Likhtman and Ian Robinson, will present their insights into how molecular design can be used to improve polymers.  This will be followed by a discussion as to the challenges and opportunities presented for the building of new polymers by molecular design.

Debates will be held in both groups and in plenary form, with the aim of exploring the current possibilities. The final aim is to develop a shortlist of possible projects along with the necessary prerequisites needed to start, such as identification of project technical deliverables, partners, funding sources and potential market value. 

The free event will be held at the Polymer Engineering Laboratories at the University of Bradford.  Please see the flyer for further details and registration.

Event Flyer

Polymer IRC website

The Polymer Innovation Network and the Polymer IRC are running a free workshop on Clever Polymers, for packaging and labelling applications especially, at the National Motorcycle Museum in Birmingham, from 10am on Tuesday March 17.

After short introductory, open-ended presentations from the keynote speakers, the challenges and opportunities presented for smart polymers in packaging and labelling will be discussed. Working groups will then convene to develop a shortlist of possible projects and identify:

• What are the key technical deliverables?
• What are the key methodologies?
• What is the best source of funding?
• What is the timetable for assembling the proposal and launching?
• What is the potential market value?

Liam Sutton, Polymer Centre Manager and Director of FaraPack Polymers Ltd, will present one of the plenary talks. He will describe Smart polymers for future packaging applications.

Interested parties are invited to download the meeting flyer (link below) and to register with Glenys Bowles of the Polymer IRC via the contact form. More information on FaraPack Polymers is available via the subsequent link.

Clever Polymers flyer (400KB PDF)

www.farapackpolymers.com

Prof. Richard Jones of the University of Sheffield will present this year’s Albert Franks Memorial Lecture - What Next for Nanotechnology? - at the Royal College of Physicians in London on Wednesday 18th March at 6:30 pm.

Early applications of nanotechnology have exploited the exciting new properties that matter exhibits at the nanoscale. Increasingly we will see new applications with considerably more functionality. Some of these will exploit quantum properties in increasingly sophisticated ways, while others will emulate the intricate mechanisms of cell biology.

Many of these potential applications will help us meet the pressing needs of society in areas such as energy and medicine, though attention needs to be paid to addressing potential risks, and the broader societal and ethical implications of nanotechnologies, in order to retain public support.

Registration is free via the Institute of Nanotechnology:

Registration

More information on Richard Jones

A seminar by Professor Steve Evans from the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Leeds, at the Department of Chemistry (Sheffield), lecture theatre 1. All welcome.

Chemistry Dept. Lecture Theatre 1

Seminar by Dr Jason Davis from the Inorganic Chemistry Laboratory at the University of Oxford.

The generation of functionally-active biomolecular monolayers is important in both analytical science and biophysical analyses. Our ability to monitor the redox-active state of immobilised proteins or enzymes at a molecular level, from which stochastic and surface-induced variations would be apparent, is impeded by comparatively slow electron transfer kinetics and associated signal:noise difficulties.  We demonstrate herein that, by covalently tethering an appropriate dye to the copper protein azurin, a highly oxidation-state sensitive FRET process can be established which enables redox switching to be optically monitored at protein levels down to the zeptomolar limit.  The surface-potential induced cycling of emission enables the redox potential of clusters of a few hundred molecules to be determined.

The interfacing of biomolecule with electrode is also analysed at the single molecule level by combinations of conductive probe AFM and electrochemical STM where conductance switches across an order of magnitude can be measured.  Finally, progress towards the femtomolar detection of protein binding events at suitably engineered surfaces will be discussed

by Professor Wilhelm Huck of the Melville Laboratory for Polymer Synthesis, University of Cambridge

The natural world uses macromolecules to store and exchange information, provide structural integrity, convert chemical to mechanical energy and efficiently catalyze chemical transformations. To bridge the gap between biology and nanofabrication, we focus on surfaces that achieve properties through complex structures delicately crafted at the nanometre scale and use of responsive macromolecules that adapt to external stimuli. The past decade has witnessed an explosion of techniques to control structure and properties of polymer thin films on the nanometre scale. These developments pave the way to functional responsive surfaces of controlled lateral and vertical composition, for applications in optoelectronics, memory storage devices and displays, and bio-responsive materials.

Chemistry Department: Lecture Theatre 6

A nanotechnology brainstorm led by Dr Giuseppe Battaglia. Speakers so far: Professor Richard Jones, Professor Tony Ryan, Professor Gill Tozer.

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