 "Photo: Aaron Saunders/Echo editor-in-chief")
Darlene Taylor, assistant professor of chemistry at N. C. Central University, will join researchers from area universities to investigate a unique group of substances that scientists refer to as "soft matter."
Soft matter is matter that is — surprise, surprise — soft — something between crystalline solids and simple liquids.
Soft matter includes objects as common as balloons and soaps, and as complex as liquid crystals and polymers.
They are unique because materials in this state have the ability to assume many different forms.
The National Science Foundation has awarded a six-year, $13.6 million grant to provide a consortium of scientists, the Triangle Materials Research Science and Engineering Center, the opportunity to delve into this unique group of substances.
"I am very excited that we have this opportunity," Taylor said.
"They are really pulling the best of people from the institutions."
The grant is divided among scientists from NCCU, Duke University, N.C. State University and UNC–Chapel Hill.
Soft matter research could lead to the development of organic solar cells and medicines able to target specific sites and cut harmful side effects.
Taylor's research will be led by Ashutosh Chilkoti, a professor of biomedical engineering at Duke.
This research will examine peptides, short, linked chains of amino acids.
Taylor also is the principal investigator of a separate "seed" project.
She joins NCCU professors John Bang, associate professor in the environmental, earth and geospatial sciences department, and Liju Yang, assistant professor of pharmaceutical sciences.
The investigators will aim to develop ways of changing the structure and properties of polymers in terms of heat, electricity and mechanical force.
"I will be learning a lot from Dr. Taylor and my colleagues," said chemistry graduate student Uddhav Balami.
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