Photo of Melik Demirel

Melik Demirel

Lloyd and Dorothy Foehr Huck Chair in Biomimetic Materials
Director, Center for Research on Advanced Fiber Technologies

Affiliation(s):

  • Engineering Science and Mechanics

302B Earth and Engineering Sciences Building

mcd18@psu.edu

814-863-2270

Personal or Departmental Website

Research Areas:

Emerging Manufacturing Processes for Materials, Tissues, and Devices; Multiscale and Multiphysics Modeling, Computational Analysis; Nanoscience, Bionanoscience and Engineering

Interest Areas:

Bio-molecular materials, biosensors, protein physics, molecular modeling, computatonal materials science.

 
 

 

Education

  • BS, Engineering (Focus in Polymers), Bogaziçi University, 1996
  • MS, Engineering (Focus in Proteins), Bogaziçi University, 1998
  • Ph D, Materials Science and Engineering, Carnegie Mellon University, 2002

Publications

Journal Articles

  • Melik C Demirel, 2023, "Cephalopod inspired self-healing protein foams for oil-water separation", Iscience, 26, (12)
  • Burcu Dursun, Tarek El-Sayed Mazeed, Oguzhan Colak, Ramiz Boy and Melik C Demirel, 2022, "Enhancing sustainability and elasticity of synthetic fibers by tandem repeat proteins", Smart Material Structures, 31, (4), pp. 044001
  • Abdon Pena-Francesch, Huihun Jung, Madhusudan Tyagi and Melik C Demirel, 2022, "Diffusive Dynamic Modes of Recombinant Squid Ring Teeth Proteins by Neutron Spectroscopy", Biomacromolecules, 23, (8), pp. 3165-3173
  • Vurul Mert, Tarek Mazeed, Dong Li, Reginald Hamilton, Huajian Gao and Melik C Demirel, 2022, "Bioinspired stretchable molecular composites of 2D-layered materials and tandem repeat proteins", Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 119, (31)
  • R. Dubini, H. Jung, Melik C Demirel and P. Rovo, 2021, "Hydration-induced structural transitions in biomimetic tandem repeat proteins", Journal of Physical Chemistry, 125, (8), pp. 2134-2145
  • T. J. Kwak, H. Jung, Benjamin D Allen, Melik C Demirel and W-J Chin, 2021, "Dielectrophoretic separation of randomly shaped protein particles", Separation and Purification Technology, 262, pp. 118280
  • Y. Kikuchi, A. Pena Francesch, M. Vural and Melik C Demirel, 2020, "Highly Conductive Self-Healing Biocomposites Based on Protein Mediated Self-Assembly of PEDOT: PSS Films", ACS Applied Bio Materials, 3, (4), pp. 2507-2515
  • A. Pena-Francesch, H. Jung, Melik C Demirel and M. Sitti, 2020, "Biosynthetic self-healing materials for soft machines", Nature Materials, 19, (11), pp. 1230-1235
  • M Vural, H. Zhu, A. Pena Francesch, H. Jung, Benjamin D Allen and Melik C Demirel, 2020, "Self-Assembly of Topologically Networked Protein–Ti3C2T x MXene Composites", ACS Nano, 14, (6), pp. 6956-6967
  • T. J. Kwak, H. Huihun, Benjamin D Allen, Melik C Demirel and W-J Chin, 2020, "Dielectrophoretic separation of randomly shaped protein particles", Separation and Purification Technology, 262, pp. 118280
  • A. P. Francesh and Melik C Demirel, 2019, "Squid-Inspired Tandem Repeat Proteins: Functional Fibers and Films", Frontiers in Chemistry, 7, pp. 29
  • J A Tomko, A Pena-Francesch, H Jung, M Tyagi, Benjamin D Allen, Melik C Demirel and P E Hopkins, 2018, "Tunable thermal transport and reversible thermal conductivity switching in topologically networked bio-inspired materials", Nature nanotechnology, 13, pp. 959–964
  • A Pena-Francesch, H Jung , Michael A Hickner, M Tyagi, Ralph Colby and Melik C Demirel, 2018, "Mechanical Properties of Tandem-Repeat Proteins Are Governed by Network Defects", ACS Biomaterials Science & Engineering, 4, (3), pp. 884–891
  • A Pena-Francesch, H Jung, Michael A Hickner, M Tyagi, Benjamin D Allen and Melik C Demirel, 2018, "Programmable Proton Conduction in Stretchable and Self-Healing Proteins", Chemistry of Materials, 20, (3), pp. 898-905
  • V Ozbolat, M Dey, B Ayan, A Povilianskas, Melik C Demirel and Ibrahim Ozbolat, 2018, "3D printing of PDMS improves its mechanical and cell adhesion properties", ACS Biomaterials Science & Engineering, 4, (2), pp. 682-93
  • Melik C Demirel, M Vural and Mauricio Terrones Maldonado, 2018, "Composites of proteins and 2D nanomaterials", Advanced Functional Materials, 28, (27), pp. 16
  • H Jung, C J Szwejkowski, A Pena-Francesch, J A Tomko, Benjamin D Allen, Sahin Ozdemir, P Hopkins and Melik C Demirel, 2017, "Ultrafast Laser-Probing Spectroscopy for Studying Molecular Sructure o Protein Aggregates", Analyst, 142, (9), pp. 1434-41
  • V Sariola, A Pena-Francesch, H Jung, M Cetinkaya, C Pacheco, M Sitti and Melik C Demirel, 2015, "Segmented molecular design of self-healing proteinaceous materials", Scientific Reports, 5, pp. 13482
  • A Pena-Francesch, S Florez, H Jung, A Sebastian, I Albert, H Gao and Melik C Demirel, 2014, "Materials fabrication from native and recombinant thermoplastic squid proteins", Advanced Functional Materials, 24, (47), pp. 7401-9
  • A Pena-Francesch, B Akgun, A Miserez, W Zhu, H Gao and Melik C Demirel, 2014, "Pressure sensitive adhesion of an elastomeric protein complex extracted from squid ring teeth", Advanced Functional Materials, 24, (39), pp. 6227-33
  • P A Guerette, S Hoon, Y Seow, M Raida, A Masic, F T Wong, V H Ho, K W Kong, Melik C Demirel and A Pena-Francesch, 2013, "Accelerating the design of biomimetic materials by integrating RNA-seq with proteomics and materials science", Nature biotechnology, 31, (10), pp. 908
  • M J Hancock, K Sekeroglu and Melik C Demirel, 2012, "Bioinspired directional surfaces for adhesion, wetting, and transport", Advanced Functional Materials, 22, (11), pp. 2223-34
  • N A Malvadkar, K Sekeroglu, W J Dressick and Melik C Demirel, 2010, "Noncovalent mechanism for the conformal metallization of nanostructured parylene films", Langmuir, 26, (6), pp. 4382-91
  • Melik C Demirel, P. Kao, N. Malvadkar, H. Wang, M. Poss and D. L. Allara, 2009, "Bio-Organism Sensing Via Surface Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy on Controlled Metal/Polymer Nanostructured Substrates", BIOINTERPHASES, 4, pp. 35-41
  • M. Cetinkaya and Melik C Demirel, 2009, "Bridging Experiments and Simulations in Oblique Angle Polymerization", J. CHEMICAL VAPOR DEPOSITION, 15, pp. 1-5
  • R. Gullapalli, Melik C Demirel and P. J. Better, 2008, "Molecular dynamics simulation of long-chain carbocyanine dyes in a DPPC lipid bilayer", PHYSICAL CHEMISTRY CHEMICAL PHYSICS, 10, pp. 1-13
  • M. Vural, O. Colak, TES Mazeed, Reginald Felix Hamilton, L. Dong, H. Gao and Melik C Demirel, , "Bioinspired Stretchable Molecular Composites of 2D-Layered Materials and Tandem Repeat Proteins", Proceedings of National Academy of Sciences
  • B. Dursun, TES Mazeed, O. Colak, R. Boy and Melik C Demirel, , "Enhancing Sustainability and Elasticity of Synthetic Fibers by Tandem Repeat Proteins", Smart Materials and Structures

Research Projects

Honors and Awards

  • Outstanding Research Award, Penn State Engineering Alumni Society, 2013
  • Young Investigator Award, Office of Naval Research, US Department of Defense, 2007
  • Humboldt Research Fellowship, Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, 2005
  • Microfiber Innovation Challenge, Conservation X Labs, 2022
  • Member of National Academy of Inventors, National Academy of Inventors, 2019

Service

Service to Penn State:

Service to External Organizations: