The Biomaterials Design Lab at American University is a student run and student driven research lab. The two research thrusts of this lab are to: 1) Develop novel biocompatible materials that are structured with gold nanoparticles and proteins and 2) Design new plastic and clay composites for chemical separations. I will discuss the lab's synthesis of a fibrous material that is made from aggregated proteins that surround gold nanoparticles. This material shows order from the nanometer up through the centimeter scale. I will aslo discuss the synthesis of poly-lactic acid plastics that contain exfoliated clays. Finally, I will describe the manner in which we have institutionalized this research as a major part of our undergraduate curriculum at American.

Novel nanostructured materials and plastics from an undergraduate-led laboratory

245th National Meeting (2013)

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.