Detailed Session Schedule

Nature is the largest laboratory that ever existed and ever will. In addressing its challenges through evolution Nature tested every field of science and engineering leading to inventions that work well and last. Nature has “experimented” with various solutions and over billions of years it has improved the successful ones. It has always served as a model for mimicking and inspiration to humans in their efforts to improve their life. Adapting mechanisms and capabilities from nature and using scientific approaches led to effective materials, structures, tools, mechanisms, processes, algorithms, methods, systems and many other benefits. The subject of copying, imitating, and learning from biology was coined Biomimetics by Otto H. Schmitt in 1969. This field is increasingly involved with emerging subjects of science and engineering and it represents the studies and imitation of nature's methods, designs and processes. Biologically inspired technologies are making it possible to consider developing such devices as prosthetics that feel and operate like the "real thing" as well as engineering robots that look and behave as human and animals. Mimicking Nature involves many challenges and requires significant technology advances. To promote advances in the field of electroactive polymers (EAP) that is know as artificial muscles, the author posed in 1999 an armwrestling challenge for a match between human and a robotic arm that is driven by these materials. A contest is now held annually and it is providing a measure of the advances in the field of EAP and the ability to mimic the performance of muscles. A review will be given of selected areas that were inspired by nature with emphasis on EAP and an outlook for potential future development in biomimetics. Program Guide and Abstracts 6 Blackledge, Todd A. Spider silk: a 400 million year experiment in materials science Department of Biology, University of Akron, Akron, OH 44325-3908, USA Abstract: Spider dragline silk has a number of enticing properties for the production of biomimetic fibers, in particular high tensile strength and extreme toughness. However, silk also plays an integral role in the ecology of spiders including protection against predators or the environment, capture of prey, dispersal, communication, and reproduction. Furthermore, orb-weaving spiders can produce at least seven different types of silk that are composed of different sets of proteins. The material properties of these silk fibers result from how the constituent proteins of silk fibers are assembled and Spider dragline silk has a number of enticing properties for the production of biomimetic fibers, in particular high tensile strength and extreme toughness. However, silk also plays an integral role in the ecology of spiders including protection against predators or the environment, capture of prey, dispersal, communication, and reproduction. Furthermore, orb-weaving spiders can produce at least seven different types of silk that are composed of different sets of proteins. The material properties of these silk fibers result from how the constituent proteins of silk fibers are assembled and interact with one another and are likely to have been shaped by natural selection on the ways in which each silk interacts with the environment. Therefore, the biomechanical study of spider silk can potentially link together research ranging from the evolution of silk genes through the ecological function of webs or other silk structures. Here, I discuss how research on the biological diversity of silks spun by spiders can facilitate efforts to synthesize biomimetic fibers. Program Guide and Abstracts 7 Bras, Bert. Inclusion of biologically inspired design into mechanical engineering design classes School of Mechanical Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology Abstract. In this talk, we will present our experiences with including biomimetic In this talk, we will present our experiences with including biomimetic principles into mechanical engineering design classes. The goals are 1) to expose engineering students and practitioners to biomimicry and 2) to gain insight into the efficiency and effectiveness of using biomimetic approaches to solving engineering design problems. Specifically, our experience with ME 4182 – Capstone Design will be highlighted. The initial experiment consisted of including biology undergraduate students as project consultants for the engineering design teams. Experiences from the engineering students (through surveys and informal feedback), biology students and faculty will be presented. Selected projects will be highlighted to illustrate the effectiveness, shortcomings, and barriers to biomimetic approaches. Lessons learned and suggestions for future experiments, implementations and expansion will be given. Program Guide and Abstracts 8 Clark, Robert. Biologically Inspired Materials and Material Systems Duke University. Abstract. It is clear that our biological and medical community is now at a point of incredible opportunity. The collective biological sciences (biological, biophysical, biochemical, biocomputational, and biomedical) have generated a plethora of information regarding complex biological systems, especially at the microcellular and nanomolecular levels. It is time to bring these research advances into the core curriculum for all students interested in careers that require a more detailed and mechanistic understanding of the biological world, disease, and medicine. It is clear that our biological and medical community is now at a point of incredible opportunity. The collective biological sciences (biological, biophysical, biochemical, biocomputational, and biomedical) have generated a plethora of information regarding complex biological systems, especially at the microcellular and nanomolecular levels. It is time to bring these research advances into the core curriculum for all students interested in careers that require a more detailed and mechanistic understanding of the biological world, disease, and medicine. We recognized several years ago that a more rigorous mapping of engineering onto the biological sciences might yield more mechanistic information about nature’s own technologies. Our approach is to recognize that Biology (Nature) itself can be viewed as an “engineered system” and that much of Biology’s systems function (and dysfunction) at cellular (micro) and molecular (nano) scales. At these scales we explore a more formal “Mapping of Engineering onto Biology,” for both health and disease, and new technological innovation. This defines our approach towards bioinspiration. Framing this approach, we recognize: (1) Biology as a series of cellular products, nano-components, energy-consuming processes, and functioning devices that are “manufactured” with a limited set of materials, that nevertheless overcome the same physical and chemical limitations (force, temperature, pressure, E-fields, time, solubility, diffusion, etc.) as other inorganic materials, but do it to support life; (2) disease, either due to defects in manufacturing, (genetic-based) or toxic insult (environmental-based), as an opportunity to detect and characterize what has changed compared to the “normal state”; (3) medicine, as a tool for prevention or cure, again at the gene-based manufacturing level, or by drug or biocompatible-prosthetic intervention. This mapping framework is directed towards organizing and generating extensive information that at present is missing concerning the physical and chemical properties of cellular, intracellular, and membrane components that will lead to a greater understanding of how the molecular machines that drive healthy processes are built and function. From this knowledge, we can then understand failures in these components that lead to disease or gain inspiration in the design of new materials and devices for humanity. Such an approach places existing (and future) knowledge, especially of cell and molecular biology, fairly and squarely in the realm of engineering materials and design methodology. It is, then, a formal Engineering Design Methodology, and a better understanding of the complex relationships between cellular and molecular material’s composition, structure, properties and performance (CSPP), that is the cornerstone of our reverse and forward engineering exercises – motivated by basic questions in the biological sciences. The Center for Biologically Inspired Materials and Material Systems at Duke University was founded to establish an integrative educational and research environment for students, faculty, and staff. The structure of the Center, mechanisms for fostering research and collaborative educational activities, and a few examples of results from these efforts will be