Biological and biomimetic materials

Zoltán Varga

The objective of the course is to familiarise students with the main types of materials that make up the living world and are produced and received by living organisms. It describes the differences between synthetic and biological materials and discusses the structure, the most important physico-chemical properties, and the functions of the most abundant substances in the living world. It covers the chemical and nanotechnological basis for producing materials that improve the quality of life and the structural and physico-chemical background to diagnostic tests. A project-work connecting to the course covers modern materials testing methods that play an important role in the structural analysis of biological materials, such as small-angle X-ray scattering, vibrational spectroscopy and electron microscopy.