Event
Distinguished Seminar in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering: David A. Weitz, Harvard University
Tuesday, February 4, 2014
11:00 a.m.-12:15 p.m.
Room 1201, Physics Building
Sheryl Ehrman
301 405 1935
sehrman@umd.edu
Dripping, Jetting, Drops and Wetting: The Magic of Microfluidics
David A. Weitz
Mallinckrodt Professor of Physics and Applied Physics
Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences
Reception with light refreshments: 11:00 a.m.–11:15 a.m.
Seminar: 11:15 a.m.–12:15 p.m.
Directions and parking information
This talk will discuss the use of microfluidic devices to precisely control the flow and mixing of fluids to make drops, and will explore a variety of uses of these drops. These drops can be used to create new colloid-scale materials that are difficult to synthesize with any other method. These materials have great potential for encapsulation and release and for drug delivery. I will also show how the exquisite control afforded by the microfluidic devices provides enabling technology to use droplets as microreactors to perform biological reactions at remarkably high rates using very small quantities of fluids. I will demonstrate how this can be used for new fundamental and technological applications.
About the Speaker
Weitz received his Ph.D. from Harvard. He worked at Exxon Research and Engineering as a research physicist for nearly 18 years, and then became a Professor of Physics at the University of Pennsylvania. He moved to Harvard in 1999, and is currently Professor of Physics and Applied Physics. He is also the director of Harvard's Materials Research Science and Engineering Center. His research group focuses on soft matter science, biophysics and biotechnology.
