Background and interest
I am an associate Proffesor in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, Israel. Previously I was a postdoctoral fellow and a Fulbright scholar in the laboratory of Prof. Joanna Aizenberg at the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences Harvard University and Bell Labs.
My research focuses on biomineralization and bio-inspired surface engineering. I study the structure of biominerals on the atomic, nano and meso-scales using state-of-the-art high-resolution characterization techniques such as high-resolution synchrotron diffraction and aberration corrected TEM. Based on the strategies that organisms use to produce natural materials, his lab also develops novel bio-inspired materials, such as semiconductors whose band gap can be tuned by the incorporation of intracrystalline biological molecules; controlling the short range order of nano-amorphous materials and fabrication of superhydrophobic/superoleophobic surfaces for various applications.
Description of research in NanoHeal:
I will work with ESR7 to study the incorporation of different biological molecule and small organic molecules into the structure of calcite in a similar way one observes in natural materials. We will study the properties, structure and meachniams of formation of these nano-hybrid composites.
Together with ESR8 we will study the microstructure and nano-structure of grain contacts of cements and step formation on particle surfaces. Both ESRs will collaborate with other partners and other work packages: (WP1 and WP2).
Roles in NanoHeal:
- Partner
- Supervisor of ESR7 and ESR8
- Leader of work package 4