Polymer Chemistry and Biopolymer

Ali Akbar Heidari is a visiting lecturer at Universities of Tehran and Qom, and also, an R&D expert in a pharmaceutical company in Iran. He holds a BSc in Applied Chemistry from University of Qom, and an MSc in Polymer Chemistry and a Ph.D. in Polymer Chemistry from University of Tehran. Ali Akbar has 5 years of working as visiting lecturer and 1 year of working as R&D expert. He has published many articles and reviews in the field of polymer membranes, supercapacitors, sensors, and Li-ion batteries. He has presented four abstracts on polymer membranes in the University of Tehran at the 2 nd International Conference on Nanotechnology and Nanoscience and 12th International Seminar on Polymer Science and Technology.

The common theme that defines our research relates to synthetic polymer chemistry and how it might be used in creating well defined polymer structures. A large part of our work is devoted metathesis reactions, where the research has been mechanistic in nature. We immerse ourselves in the chemistry associated with creating new polymers, and we also find ourselves interested in modeling well known materials, like polyethylene, to better understand their behavior.

Sandrine Gerber holds a PhD in Organic Chemistry and the habilitation from the University Pierre et Marie Curie (France). Currently, she is Deputy Director of the Institute of Chemical Sciences and Engineering and Head of the Group for Functionalized Biomaterials at the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (Switzerland). The research activities of her group focus on the design, synthesis and evaluation of functionalized nanomaterials and biomaterials for therapeutic applications as cancer imaging probes and cell transplantation devices. She has published more than 80 papers in reputed journals and received several awards, including the Prize Eugène Schueller and the Werner Prize.

Francesca Costantini Researcher at School of Aerospace Engineering, Sapienza University of Rome; Research Activity: Development of the polymer chain reaction (PCR) and SELEX in Lab-on-Chip systems respectively for purposes diagnosici and for the selection of new aptamers. Teaching: Faculty of Civil and Industrial Engineering, Engineering Degree Course Nanotechnologies, Sapienza University of Rome. Activity: "Macromolecular Structures" course (Basic biochemistry applied to engineering).

Qibing Pei is Professor of Materials Science and Engineering and Professor of Mechanical Engineering at the University of California, Los Angeles. He specializes in synthetic polymers and composites for electronic, electromechanical, and photonic applications, with over 200 peer-reviewed journal publications and 44 issued US patents. He directs the UCLA Soft Materials Research Laboratory. He received a B.S. degree in chemistry from Nanjing University and a PhD in polymer science from the Institute of Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Science. He is a Fellow of SPIE, member of ACS and MRS, Associate Editor of Smart Materials & Structures, and Advisory Board Member of Soft Robotics, Advanced Electronic Materials, and Scientific Reports.

Richard J. Spontak was a research scientist with Procter & Gamble before he joined the NCSU faculty in 1992. Spontak has over 104 publications in peer-reviewed journals, and his work has been featured on the cover of Microsc. Res. Tech. and Langmuir. Spontak conducts studies to improve the current understanding of microstructural polymer systems, which are of scientific interest as self-assembling polymers and commercial value as adhesives, (bio)compatibilizing agents, nanotemplates, and membranes. His group’s efforts are at the cutting edge of block copolymer research: e.g., they have obtained the first 3D images of the bicontinuous gyroid (Ia3d) and sponge (L3) morphologies. They characterize polymers with electronspectroscopic microscopy, and dispersions/gels with freeze-fracture replication and cryo-TEM techniques. Use of these tools has expedited the study of block copolymers and their blends/gels, and has helped to elucidate novel polymer gelation mechanisms, PDLC composition/morphology relationships, and interpolymer complexation. Other areas of interest include polymer alloying through mechanical attrition, transmission electron microtemography, and modification of polymer solutions via salting-in.

Vakhtang Barbakadze has his expertise in isolation and structure elucidation of a new series of plant polyethers, which are endowed with pharmacological properties as anti-cancer agents. He has completed his Ph.D and D.Sci. in 1978 and 1999. He is the head of Department of plant biopolymers and chemical modification of natural compounds at the Tbilisi State Medical University Institute of Pharmacochemistry. 1996 and 2002 he has been a visiting scientist at Utrecht University, The Netherlands, by University Scholarship and The Netherlands organization for scientific research (NWO) Scholarship Scientific Program, respectively. He has published more than 100 papers in reputed journals.

Sophie Monge is full Professor at the Institute Charles Gerhardt of Montpellier, Institute for Molecular Chemistry and Material Sciences, at the University of Montpellier (France). Her research interests focus on the synthesis of well-defined (co)polymers bearing phosphorus atom, also showing stimuli-responsive properties in some cases. The developed materials in her research projects are mainly used in environmental or health fields. She has published more than 70 papers and patents, and supervised more than 30 PhD students and postdoctoral research associates.

Mónica A. Silva is a Chemical Engineering by formation and works with polymeric membranes and nanoparticles at 2C2T, University of Minho, Guimarães, Portugal (PT). She has 2 years of experimental work in the area of membranes processing. Mónica has also been involved in membranes wastewater application. The work with membranes permitted her the participation in three international conferences and the publication of two papers in recognized peer reviewed journals. Meanwhile, she is studying new applications of the membranes in the Biomedical Engineering area.

Michael Fischlschweiger is full professor at Clausthal University of Technology. He is heading the Chair of Technical Thermodynamics and Energy Efficient Material Treatment at the Institute for Energy Process Engineering and Fuel Technology. He holds a BSc and MSc in Polymer Engineering & Science and a PhD in Materials Mechanics and Numerical Mathematics from the University of Leoben, Austria. The doctoral theses was conducted jointly between the Centre des Matériaux (MINES ParisTech) and the University of Leoben. Additionally, he holds a PhD in Thermodynamics from Technical University of Berlin. His major research focus is on theoretical and experimental thermodynamics for developing resource efficient materials, processes and products.