Mission Heading link
The Institute for Functional and Regenerative Materials fosters and grows the collaborative work of researchers across colleges to accelerate, advance and apply the discovery of materials with direct applications to improving our lives, environment, and health.
First Workshop on Functional and Regenerative Materials Heading link
The IFRM will hold its first workshop on functional and regenerative materials featuring invited speakers from across Chicago and the country, a poster session for student researchers, and stake-holders meeting for PIs interested in pursuing research opportunities and grants in partnership with the IFRM. Lunch will be provided. 🥪
Thursday, January 23, 2025 | 9:00 AM – 4:00 PM
UIC Herman Auditorium
Molecular Biology Research Building
900 S. Ashland Ave.
Institute Announcement in UIC News Heading link
The pilot Institute for Functional and Regenerative Materials brings together faculty from the colleges of engineering, liberal arts and sciences, dentistry, pharmacy and medicine. Their focus will draw on UIC’s interdisciplinary expertise and world-class research facilities to design and test new materials that have promise for medical treatments, environmental remediation and energy storage.
The initiative’s research will combine functional imaging — developing new advanced microscopy techniques to characterize the structure of adaptive, smart and biological materials — with the invention of functional biomaterials. These novel materials could be used to regenerate tissue, heal wounds, treat disease or create new laboratory models to test drugs.
The group will soon begin a search for postdoctoral researchers, and they plan to start a symposium and speaker series later this year. The pilot institute is co-directed by Eben Alsberg, Richard and Loan Hill Chair of biomedical engineering; Luisa DiPietro, professor of periodontics; and Robert Klie, professor and head of physics.
New COE Dean Lola Eniola-Adefeso Offers Inaugural IFRM Seminar Heading link
Newly appointed UIC College of Engineering Dean Lola Eniola-Adefeso exemplifies that approach by applying her engineering background to major medical challenges. Her expertise in designing new particles and biomaterials for drug delivery made her the ideal inaugural speaker for the Institute of Functional and Regenerative Materials seminar series.
The institute is one of four pilot institutes launched by the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research in 2023, and consists of faculty from the colleges of engineering, liberal arts and sciences, dentistry, pharmacy and medicine. This multifaceted team is working to accelerate, advance and apply the discovery of materials with direct applications to improving our lives, environment and health.
The seminar series is part of the IFRM’s mission to build collaboration across disciplines. The first installment highlighted the value of approaching medicine through an engineering lens with Eniola-Adefeso’s research on targeted, anti-inflammatory particle therapeutics.