seminar - Tues 5/11, 4-5pm, Allen 101X - Michel Maharbiz - Building interfaces from the synthetic to the organic: cyborg beetles, antibody zippers and other things

Tuesday, May 11, 4:00-5:00
Allen 101X Auditorium

Building interfaces from the synthetic to the organic:
cyborg beetles, antibody zippers and other things

Prof. Michel Maharbiz
Dept. of EECS, UC Berkeley

Abstract:
The ongoing miniaturization of computation, sensing and communication
coupled with advances in the understanding of biological process will
fuel a push to engineer systems at the interface of the organic and the
solid-state. In this talk, I'll give a brief overview of efforts in my
group in these directions, with an intent to delve deeply into two
topics: so-called 'cyborg insects' (or the remote radio control of
insect flight) and antibody zippers, a nanochemomechanical device
recently developed in my group.

Bio:
Michel M. Maharbiz is an Associate Professor with the Department of
Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at the University of
California, Berkeley. He received his Ph.D. from the University of
California at Berkeley for his work on microbioreactor systems under
Prof. Roger T. Howe (EECS) and Prof. Jay D. Keasling (ChemE). His work
let to the foundation of Microreactor Technologies, Inc. which was
recently acquired by Pall Corporation. Dr. Maharbiz has been a GE
Scholar and an Intel IMAP Fellow. Professor Maharbiz's current research
interests include building micro/nano interfaces to cells and organisms
and exploring bio-derived fabrication methods. His group is also known
for developing the world's first remotely radio-controlled cyborg
beetles; this was named one of the top ten emerging technologies of 2009
by MIT's Technology Review (TR10). Michel's long-term goal is
understanding developmental mechanisms as a way to engineer and
fabricate machines.