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Syracuse University takes great pride in its R1 designation as a world-class leader in research according to the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education.

One of the visible examples of how the University is leading the way in research excellence is the , an interdisciplinary institute whose members examine complex biological systems, developing and designing programmable smart materials to address global challenges in health, medicine and materials innovation.

BioInspired serves as a framework for Syracuse University’s talented faculty and student researchers, supporting researchers from such disciplines as life sciences, engineering, physics and chemistry. It collaborates with both industry partners and other academic institutions, including , and others.

Helping the current and next generation of Syracuse researchers achieve their goals fuels , who served as BioInspired’s founding director beginning in April 2019, and , who took over as director on July 1. The two have frequently collaborated to provide a roadmap for successful research endeavors on campus.

“BioInspired is at the intersection of materials and living systems. The idea is there’s types of materials called biomaterials that interact with living systems, and there are types of materials that are bioinspired, which means they have features or functions or can execute tasks like intelligent new types of materials that act like living systems,” says Manning, the William R. Kenan Jr. Professor of Physics in the College of Arts and Sciences. “There’s this idea that organisms are actually secretly a material. By thinking about living systems as materials or having mechanical interactions, we can come up with new hypotheses that might even someday drive treatments for a disease.”

“We’re trying to figure out ways to solve really big problems like antimicrobial resistance to antibiotics or how we can better treat injuries when they occur,” says Henderson, professor of biomedical and chemical engineering in the College of Engineering and Computer Science. “How can we use materials to try to do those things? Some of the biggest challenges facing our society might have solutions rooted in the materials we could use to address them, whether it’s treating an injury or a disease, or capturing energy in some way that it can’t currently be captured to address things like global warming or combating COVID. These are problems we’re going to continue to face in the future.”

On this “’Cuse Conversation,” Henderson and Manning share how BioInspired embraces an interdisciplinary approach to research, discuss the importance of introducing students to research opportunities early in their academic careers and explain how BioInspired and Syracuse University are helping more women and students from underrepresented populations get involved in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) fields.

They also explore the Cluster Hires Initiative—a key part of the intended to significantly invest in faculty recruitment and retention in areas of distinction for the University—preview the second annual BioInspired Symposium, scheduled for Oct. 19-20, and explain how they became passionate about research.

Check out featuring Henderson and Manning. A transcript [PDF] is also available.