Examples of Academic and Industrial Research Using Microscopy to Address Interfacial and Colloidal Phenomena

In this colloquium, I will discuss four discrete research areas from my academic and industrial research. While in academia, I focused on the creation and characterization of molecular sized devices. A substantial part of that research involved the development of instrumentation to characterize the interactions between molecules, protein assemblies, viral particles and sometimes cellular surfaces. One key technique that we developed was combinatorial atomic force microscopy. This method is based on an inverted AFM design wherein an array of substrate-based tips are used to interrogate a cantilever-supported sample. The combinatorial aspect comes to play when the tip array and the cantilever are both patterned with opposing libraries, thereby allowing measurement of the molecular interactions between each of the possible combinations. As I moved to industry the focus shifted toward development of novel medical devices and therapies. One of these projects involved the development of surface active antimicrobial coatings where the antimicrobial agent does not elute from the device. The literature is filled with examples of immobilized antimicrobial coatings, with seemingly excellent efficacy; however, upon inspection of these coatings and of the microbiological methods it is apparent that very few of these surfaces are actually efficacious as described. This project demonstrated a disconnect that happens in interdisciplinary projects when researchers with different backgrounds work independently as opposed to in a truly collaborative manner. In another project, we were developing materials used to stop bleeding during surgery. We used correlative microscopy methods to study the microstructure and mechanical properties of the materials. This information was used by our computational and engineering team to better optimize the performance. Finally, I will briefly share some examples of how we use forensic analysis to solve various kinds of failure modes common to manufacturing of medical products.