Tobias Weidner, Aarhus University

Tobias Weidner is an Associate Professor for Chemistry at Aarhus University in Denmark and holds an affiliate appointment in the Department of Chemical Engineering at the University of Washington (Seattle). He received his PhD in Physics from the University of Kassel in 2006 and has held postdoc positions at the University of Heidelberg with Michael Zharnikov and the University of Washington with David Castner. Before coming to Aarhus Dr. Weidner has been a Group Leader at the Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research in Germany. His research interests include a wide range of biological surfaces including biomineralization, membrane proteins and artificial biomaterials. He also enjoys interdisciplinary studies of animal adhesion as well as atmospheric and marine interfaces. The Weidner lab uses ultrafast sum frequency generation vibrational spectroscopy to probe the structure and orientation of surface bound proteins and biomolecules and develops methods to follow molecular motions with sub-picosecond time resolution. Dr. Weidner’s group also employs complementary UHV and synchrotron-based surface analysis such as XPS and NEXAFS spectroscopy.

Joe Baio, Oregon State University

Joe Baio is currently an Associate Professor in the School of Chemical, Biological and Environmental Engineering at Oregon State University. His research interests center around two threads: the characterization of biological interfaces, and the development of biomimetic materials. Dr. Baio’s work to date has impacted disciplines as diverse as cell biology, bio-sensor research, and material science. He earned a PhD in chemical engineering from the University of Washington and prior to his appointment at Oregon State, Dr. Baio was a National Science Foundation Postdoctoral Fellow at the Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research.

Fang Cheng, Dalian University of Technology

Fang Cheng is a full professor of Chemical Engineering and Pharmacy Science at Dalian University of Technology. He received his PhD in David G. Castner’s group in Chemical Engineering at the University of Washington, Seattle, in 2008 and earned post-doctorate training in Daniel Ratner’s group in Bioengineering. Professor Cheng is an expert in biosurface science and characterization, where his research is mainly focused on self-assembled monolayers and biomacromolecule immobilization, surface reaction and surface-initiated polymerization, enzyme catalyst and biosensing.

Caitlin Howell, University of Maine

Caitlin Howell is an Associate Professor of Biomedical Engineering at the University of Maine. She earned her PhD in Physical Chemistry at the University of Heidelberg, Germany, studying the organization and orientation of biological molecules and cells at abiotic surfaces using spectroscopic techniques. She then completed a postdoc as a Technology Development Fellow at the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University where she designed and tested bio-inspired surfaces for use in industry and medicine and worked toward moving those technologies to market. Her current research focus is on the development of new surface-based strategies for controlling biological systems at interfaces and the scale-up and technology transfer of those systems into commercial markets.