Thursday, January 16, 2025 2:45pm to 3:45pm
About this Event
3415 Colorado Avenue, Boulder, CO 80309
https://www.colorado.edu/chbe/news/chemical-and-biological-engineering-seminar-seriesSpeaker: Yuanwei Li, Stanford Science Fellow, Stanford University
Seminar: Architecting Light at the Nanoscale: Chemical Pathways to Nanophotonics and Biosensing
Host: Laurel Hind
Seminar Abstract
Nanophotonics leverages the remarkable ways in which light interacts with matter at the nanoscale, unlocking transformative opportunities in sensing, catalysis, and beyond. However, a key challenge remains in inversely designing and synthesizing nanophotonic structures with functionalities precisely tailored to specific applications. In this talk, I will introduce two complementary strategies for advancing nanophotonic design and applications by engineering light-matter interactions. First, I will present a bottom-up approach that develops anisotropic nanoparticle synthesis and DNA-mediated assembly to construct custom photonic crystals. This method enables the programming of structure-function relationships in nanomaterials, leading to extraordinary optical phenomena such as perfect absorption and negative refraction. Next, I will explore the intersection of light and life, focusing on the development of nanophotonic biosensing platforms. By integrating modular DNA aptamer probes with photonic resonators, we establish optical sensors capable of multiplexed, continuous monitoring of metabolites and nucleic acids, paving the way for early diagnostics and personalized therapeutics. Together, these approaches illustrate how the integration of chemical synthesis, crystal engineering, and precision nanofabrication can yield nano-architected photonic materials to address key challenges in health and sustainability.
Biosketch
Yuanwei Li is a Stanford Science Fellow working with Prof. Jennifer Dionne at Stanford University. She focuses on developing new photonic platforms for biosensing and photocatalysis. She received her PhD in Chemical and Biological Engineering from Northwestern University as a Ryan Fellow, under the guidance of Prof. Chad Mirkin. Her graduate research focused on the programmable assembly of nanoparticles into colloidal crystals with tailored chemical, optical, and mechanical properties by design. Her work has been published in Nature, Science, and Science Advances. For her research, Yuanwei received the MRS Graduate Student Award, Outstanding Research Award by the International Institute for Nanotechnology, the SPIE Optics and Photonics Education Scholarship, and has been named a Rising Star in Chemical Engineering by MIT.
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