IFRM 2025 Winter Symposium

The development of functional materials often requires bridging disparate scientific domains. In this talk, I will present two complementary research directions that converge on a common theme: understanding and exploiting interfacial phenomena in nanoscale materials to enable transformative applications. First, I will discuss plasmon polariton imaging and dynamics in anisotropic and hyperbolic materials, including MXenes and layered transition metal oxychlorides. Our work reveals how interfacial structure, material loss, and electron confinement determine plasmon behavior in these systems, enabling directional energy transport and confinement of light below the diffraction limit, with applications ranging from nanoscale photonic circuits to enhanced spectroscopies. Our findings demonstrate when interfacial effects dominate material properties versus when bulk characteristics prevail, providing design principles for engineering functional plasmonic systems. Second, I will introduce photoemission electron microscopy (PEEM) as an emerging modality for high-throughput biological imaging, specifically for neural circuit mapping (connectomics). By illuminating osmium-stained ultrathin brain sections with UV light, PEEM combines parallel detection with solid substrate compatibility, achieving synaptic-resolution imaging at acquisition rates exceeding 10 gigavoxels per second. Importantly, PEEM’s photoemission-based contrast mechanism represents a direct application of the interfacial photoemission physics underlying our plasmonics work, opening new opportunities for materials chemistry: optimizing contrast agents, excitation wavelengths, and substrate materials to maximize photoelectron yield and quantum efficiency. Together, these projects illustrate how fundamental understanding of nanoscale interfaces, from plasmon confinement to photoelectron emission, enables both advanced photonic technologies and transformative biomedical applications. By connecting ultrafast photoemission dynamics with materials that confine and direct energy at the nanoscale, we demonstrate pathways toward functional materials that improve our environment, technology, and health.

Prof. Sarah King received her Bachelor of Science in Chemistry from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2010 and her Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley in Chemistry in 2015 as a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow under the direction of Prof. Daniel Neumark. She continued her scientific training as an Alexander von Humboldt Postdoctoral fellow at the Fritz Haber Institute of the Max Planck Society in Berlin, Germany from 2015-2018 working with Prof. Julia Stähler. Since 2018 Prof. King has been an Assistant Professor of Chemistry at the University of Chicago. Prof. King’s research focuses on developing advanced microscopy and spectroscopy techniques to investigate and intentionally tune charge and energy transport at interfaces. Prof. King has won numerous awards including a DOE Early Career Award, an NSF CAREER Award, a 2020 Beckman Young Investigator Award, a Cottrell Scholar Award, and was named a 2025 Sloan Research Fellow.

Imaging biological samples such as bacteria or viruses at the nanoscale has always been a challenge. Traditional electron microscopy techniques, such as cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM) or multi-step sample preparation processes, can take several days and often alter the natural state of the sample. The conventional methods involve multiple steps, including fixation, dehydration, drying, and staining, often using chemicals such as osmium acid and epoxy resins. While cryo-EM enables imaging under near-native conditions by rapidly freezing hydrated samples, it requires highly specialized equipment, is costly, and offers limited accessibility. Recent advances in monolayer liquid cell technology are changing this landscape. Liquid cells allow biological samples to be imaged directly in their native aqueous environment, with little or no chemical modification. The entire preparation takes only about ten minutes, while preserving the sample’s natural structure and surroundings. Using Streptococcus mutans (S. mutans) bacteria as a model system, we have successfully achieved nanometer-scale resolution imaging with both graphene- and MoS₂-based liquid cells. In this talk, I will share how this approach opens new opportunities for real-time visualization of biological dynamics in liquid environments, bringing us closer to observing life at the nanoscale as it truly exists.

Proloy Nandi is currently a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Institute for Functional and Regenerative Materials (IFRM), University of Illinois Chicago, working in the research group of Prof. Robert Klie. His research focuses on the fabrication of liquid cells using two-dimensional (2D) materials, their structural and functional characterization using probe-corrected Scanning Transmission Electron Microscopy (STEM), and the application of these liquid cells for imaging biological samples in their native aqueous environment.

Advances in regenerative medicine rely on materials that not only integrate mechanically but also actively guide biological healing. In this talk, I will present two complementary aspects of my group’s work on bone–biomaterial interfaces. First, I will discuss our development of self-ordered titania (TiO₂) nanotube coatings for orthopedic and dental implants, where nanoscale architecture enhances osteoblast adhesion, differentiation, and mineralization, while also enabling multifunctional properties such as antimicrobial activity and drug delivery. Second, I will share our recent discoveries using in situ liquid cell transmission electron microscopy (LC-TEM) to directly visualize hydroxyapatite mineralization in real time. These studies reveal the coexistence of classical and nonclassical nucleation pathways and clarify the role of amorphous calcium phosphate intermediates in bone-like mineral growth. Together, these insights bridge nanoscale design and mechanistic understanding, pointing toward a new generation of biomaterials that can direct cell fate, modulate immune responses, and accelerate functional bone regeneration.

Tolou Shokuhfar, PhD, is an Associate Professor of Bioengineering and Director of the In Situ Nanomedicine Laboratory at the University of Illinois Chicago. Her research focuses on the design and characterization of advanced biomaterials for regenerative medicine, with particular expertise in titania nanotube coatings for orthopedic and dental implants and in situ transmission electron microscopy of biomineralization processes. She has pioneered methods to visualize hydroxyapatite mineralization in real time and to engineer multifunctional implant surfaces that promote osseointegration, deliver therapeutics, and modulate immune responses. Dr. Shokuhfar is the recipient of numerous honors, including the NSF CAREER Award, the TMS Young Leaders Award, and UIC’s Teaching and Research Awards. She has authored more than 200 peer-reviewed publications, 7 book chapters and 2 authored text books. She holds U.S. patent, and serves on editorial boards and professional society leadership and chair committees. She has been the lead organizer of many symposiums including the Society for biomaterials and the 154 years old international TMS society. Her work bridges nanoscale science and translational medicine to create functional, regenerative platforms for human health.

Over the last decades, the field of three-dimensional (3D) printing, or additive manufacturing, has witnessed tremendous progress. 3D printing enables precise control over the composition, spatial distribution, and architecture of the printed constructs facilitating the recapitulation of the delicate shapes and structures of target patterns. More recently it has been further combined with cells and cell-laden biomaterials to offer the versatility to fabricate biomimetic volumetric tissues that are both structurally and functionally relevant. Nevertheless, conventional 3D printing and bioprinting techniques are limited in certain aspects. This talk will thus discuss our recent efforts in developing a series of advanced additive (bio)manufacturing strategies that take unconventional approaches to tackle some of these problems and improve their capacities towards diverse applications in biomedicine with a focus on regenerative medicine. These platform technologies will likely provide new opportunities in areas from constructing functional tissues and microtissue models for promoting personalizable medicine, all the way to minimally invasive surgical implications.

Dr. Zhang is currently Associate Professor in the Department of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and Associate Bioengineer in the Division of Engineering in Medicine at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital. Dr. Zhang is directing the Laboratory of Engineered Living Systems (www.shrikezhang.com), where the research is focused on innovating medical engineering technologies, including 3D bioprinting, organs-on-chips, microfluidics, and bioanalysis, to recreate functional tissues and their biomimetic models, for applications in regenerative medicine and personalized medicine. He is an author of >350 peer-reviewed publications citations >47,000, h-index=107). His scientific contributions have been recognized by >50 international, national, and regional awards.