Amir Zadpoor appointed Antoni van Leeuwenhoek professor

On 10 October 2017 TU Delft’s executive board has decided to appoint Amir Zadpoor Antoni van Leeuwenhoek professor. Amir Zadpoor is chair of biomaterials & tissue biomechanics at the Department of BioMechanical Engineering. 

The executive board can only award the Antoni van Leeuwenhoek distinction to a limited number of professors who are appointed through the internal procedure and who perform exceptionally well. It is an honorary title. 

Amir Zadpoor: ‘I am honoured and humbled to be appointed Antoni van Leeuwenhoek professor by the university’s executive board,’ Zadpoor says. ‘This is a great achievement for me that would not have been possible without the help and contribution of Dean Theun Baller, Department Head DirkJan Veeger, numerous colleagues, mentors, students, PhD researchers, and postdocs who I have had the privilege of working with throughout my years at TU Delft.’

Amir Zadpoor has become the expert in the area of 3D printing and origami techniques in recent years. Amir Zadpoor and his team combine the traditional Japanese paper-folding technique with the latest technology in 3D-printing. They use it to develop all kinds of constructions that can be rolled up, shaped into a helix, unrolled and crunched into each other in various 3D structures, which is referred to as shape-shifting. The team uses new materials, which are built up from several 3D-printed layers and which can change shape by means of external stimuli (for example, an increase in temperature). These materials are a first small step towards application in medical implants. Also read 3D printing and origami.

Recently Amir Zadpoor developed an entirely new origami technique in which you can use a regular, amateur 3D printer to bend flat surfaces into 3D structures. The flat surface is bent in various stages (sequential shape-shifting). Amir Zadpoor’s publication about this new technique will appear in Materials Horizons in the near future.