BRM meeting: everything about biomaterials
The Foundation for Fundamental Research on Matter, the Dutch Polymer Institute and the Top Institute Food and Nutrition organised a symposium last Tuesday in Utrecht about biomaterials. The aim of this Bio(-Related) Materials (BRM) meeting is to bring together academic and industrial experts in this field who carry out fundamental research into natural materials, varying from human tissues to silk. This knowledge can ultimately be used to improve existing biomaterials, to mimic these or to produce new materials with the desired properties.
In 2008, FOM started the Industrial Partnership Programme 'Bio(-Related) Materials' in collaboration with the Dutch Polymer Institute and the Top Institute Food and Nutrition. Now this programme is up and running they organised a BRM day to bring the field together and to inform each other about new developments. The theme for the day was 'Multi-scale physics of complex biopolymeric systems': research into the relationship between separate atoms, molecules, molecular clusters and entire fibres of the material.
The keynote speakers were Prof. Steven Eppell (Case Western), Prof. Peter Bolhuis (University of Amsterdam), Dr Arjen Bot (Unilever) and Prof. David Porter (Oxford). Four researchers from the BRM programme also gave presentations and a poster session was held. Co-organiser Pieter de Witte (programme coordinator at FOM) is extremely satisfied: "The event was well attended, about 75 people. The lectures were also really interesting. It’s fantastic to see just how many disciplines are related to physics and that researchers can interact well with each other despite their different backgrounds."
Next year another BRM meeting will be held. Keep an eye on the FOM Website for further information. Do you have questions or comments about the meeting? Then please contact Pieter de Witte.