Marc R. Knecht received the BS degree in chemistry from Duquesne University in 2001. In 2004, he received the PhD degree in bioinspired chemistry from Vanderbilt University under the direction of Professor David W. Wright, followed by postdoctoral research at the University of Texas with Professor Richard M. Crooks focused on characterizing the structure/function relationship of nanocatalysts. After completing postdoctoral studies, he began his independent career as an assistant professor of Chemistry at the University of Kentucky. In the summer of 2011, he joined the Department of Chemistry at the University of Miami as an associate professor. During his independent career, he has established a research program focused on elucidating the effects of the biotic/abiotic interface of bio-inspired nanomaterials. In this regard, his group has employed high-resolution characterization, activity studies, and synthetic analyses of peptides to demonstrate that the biological surface of bionanomaterials possesses significant control over the functionality and could serve as modification sites to control the activity. He has published 47 publications in this area.