2009 George S. Attard

From left: Peter Schurtenberger, George Attard, Maria Miguel, Andrew Howe

Professor George S Attard from University of Southhampton has worked in quite diverse in that they span the traditional disciplines of physical chemistry/chemical physics, materials science, biochemistry and immunology. He and co-workers discovered the rich variety of liquid crystal phases formed by lyotropic liquid crystals provides a range of templates for the synthesis of oxide ceramics and metals with well-defined periodic porous architectures at the nanometre level. This resulted in a number of publications in Nature, Science and Angewandte Chemie. Later in his career Prof. Attard moved into Biophysics and Synthetic Biology where his research on biologically active materials is based in part on the recognition that when amphiphiles insert into biological membranes they have profound effects on the curvature elastic stress of these membranes.
    The implication of his work is that physical feedback signals that are based on the membrane elastic properties could represent a generic class of control mechanisms in metabolic and signalling pathways. During his scientific career he has shown that he is a bold and innovative researcher, which is never afraid of enter into unknown territory and at the same time maintaining excellence  when it comes to the quality of his work.