| Biological materials are specially adapted to fulfill specific tasks and are mechanically optimized. Even today, some of them still surpass artificially produced materials in many respects. In this course, selected biomaterials will be presented and their structure, mechanical properties and design strategies explained. This is an interdisciplinary course for graduate students interested in the study of biological and bio-inspired materials. The course provides basic knowledge about the design principles and properties of biological materials with respect to their physical chemical properties. The students will become familiar with the basic building blocks and construction principles of soft biological materials. Thus, they are able to describe structure and function of selected biological materials in detail, recognize common principles and draw conclusions for potential transfer of natural materials design to technical materials.
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After completion of the course the student should have the knowledge and ability
- to describe the basic design principles of biological materials (k2)
- to describe different design strategies adopted by nature to build functional soft materials (k2)
- to describe the structure and properties of different classes of biomaterials (k2, k3, k4)
- to answer questions to about by discussing and interpreting selected examples of organic biological materials based on cellulose, chitin or peptides structures (k3, k4)
- propose how such strategies can be pursued to develop novel bio-inspired materials with specific properties (k3, k4)
- to present orally, in a clear and synthetic manner a topic in the field of biological materials and write a report based on the content of selected scientific articles related to a selected topic (k3, k6)
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This course is designed to impart basic knowledge
- about the design principles and properties of biological materials with respect to organic base materials
- self-assembly and hierarchical structuring in nature
- relationship between structure, property and function
- biosynthesis of organic matrix materials
- optical and mechanical properties of soft materials
By writing a paper based on actual literature and preparing an oral presentation, the students will also train their soft skills.
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