Dr. Krystyn Van Vliet

Biography

Professor Krystyn Van Vliet's research group focuses on the study of material chemomechanics, specifically exploring material behavior, interface mechanics, chemistry, physics, and biology. The group investigates thermodynamically metastable surfaces and interfaces, as well as stress-assisted chemical reaction kinetics, which are notoriously challenging to analyze through experimentation and simulation. A significant aspect of their work centers on understanding the mechanisms of cell-material interactions, which remains largely unexplored due to the biological complexity and lack of suitable experimental and computational tools. Their long-term goal is to predict and modulate key biological cell functions by drawing analogies between the coupled chemical and mechanical behaviors in more structurally straightforward, non-biological material interfaces and nanocomposites. The group employs interdisciplinary approaches that apply mechanical and chemical forces to map the relationships between environment, structure, and properties of engineered materials, thereby predicting the binding kinetics of individual molecules to living cells. Their findings suggest that the stiffness of materials and molecular ligands directly impacts the kinetics of ligand-receptor interactions at cell surfaces.

Research Interests

Experience