Asst. Prof. Ali Miserez joined the School of Materials Science and Engineering in July 2009. He received his Master and Ph.D. degrees from the Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne (EPFL) in Switzerland in 1998 and 2003, respectively, with specialization in Metallurgy, Advanced Composites Materials, and Fracture Mechanics. In 2004, Dr. Miserez was awarded a post-doctoral fellowship from the Swiss National Science Foundation to carry out research at the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB). At UCSB he expanded his research interests towards biomimetics, bio-inspired materials, and structure/biochemistry/properties relationships of hard and soft tissues. For his research on bio-inspired materials, he was awarded an advanced researcher fellowship from the Swiss NSF. As a research associate at UCSB, he was also supported by the National Institute of Health (NIH).
Dr. Miserez is especially interested in structural protein-based biological materials from the tissues of marine organisms. Such structures often feature unique combinations of biomechanical and physico-chemical characteristics, which can be exploited for designing novel materials in restorative applications or tissue engineering. Research in Dr. Miserez's lab has a strong multidisciplinary approach, encompassing mechanical behaviour of materials, wear and abrasion at the nano-scale, biochemistry of natural materials, and protein chemistry of structural proteins. We seek to discover and understand the fundamental biochemical, structural, and biosynthesis mechanisms of natural materials, with a long-term vision to mimick them to create novel, clean, and bio-inspired materials at a low energy cost.
Dr. Miserez's is the author or co-author of about 20 peer-reviewed publications published in well-respected journals in the fields of Materials Sciences such as "Acta Materiala", "Advanced Materials", or "Science". His recent work on the graded-mechanical and -biochemical properties of Cephalopod beaks was featured in numerous popular media such as National Geographic and BBC international. |
- Bio-Inspired Materials: Lessons from Biopolymeric Tissues of Marine Organisms
- Biomimetic-Based Antifouling Coatings as a Route to Imporve Energy Efficiency of Ships and Port Structures
- Frontiers in Physical and Life Sciences: Bio-inspired and Biomimetic Materials (NRF-NRFRF2011-06)
- Next-Gen Sequencing and Proteomics of Natural Biopolymers
- Potential Marine Antifouling Agents : Synthesis and Formulation of Novel Halogeneatd Cyclopent - 2 - ones
- Potential Marine Antifouling Agents: Synthesis and Formulation of Novel Halogenated Cyclopent-2-ones
- Self-Assembly Mechanisms of 3D Protein-Based, Robust Marine Biopolymer
| Selected Publications | - Weaver JC, Wang Q, Miserez A,Tantuccio A, Stromberg R, Bozhilov, KN, Maxwell P, Nay R, Shinobu T, DiMasi H, Kisailus D. (2010). Analysis of an ultra hard magnetic biomineral in chiton radular teeth. Materials Today, 13(1-2), 42-52.
- Miserez A., Wasko S.S., Carpenter C., Waite J.H. (2009). Non-Entropic and Reversible Long-Range Deformation of an Encapsulating Bioelastomer. Nature Materials, Accepted.
- Miserez, A; Weaver, JC; Pedersen, PB; Schneeberk, T; Hanlon, RT; Kisailus, D; Birkedal, H. (2009). Microstructural and Biochemical Characterization of the Nanoporous Sucker Rings from Dosidicus gigas. Advanced Materials, 21(4), 401-406.
- Miserez, A; Weaver, JC; Thurner, PJ; Aizenberg, J; Dauphin, Y; Fratzl, P; Morse, DE; Zok, FW. (2008). Effects of laminate architecture on fracture resistance of sponge biosilica: Lessons from nature. Advanced Functional Materials, 18(8), 1241-1248.
- Miserez, A; Schneberk, T; Sun, CJ; Zok, FW; Waite, JH. (2008). The transition from stiff to compliant materials in squid beaks. Science, 319(5871), 1816-1819.
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