Date: 21st February, 7 PM – 8.30 PM (California, GMT-8) / 22nd February, 2 PM – 3.30 PM (Sydney, GMT+11)
Speakers:
the winners of 2022 Materials Today Rising Star Awards for Biomaterials
Dr. Wei Gao, Dr. Rona Chandrawati
Registration Link: Materials Today Rising Star Award Webinar I: Biomaterials
Click the above link to register, view local timings, and save the webinar to your calendar.
Dr. Wei GaoDr. Wei Gao
Assistant Professor of Medical Engineering
Ronald and JoAnne Willens Scholar
Investigator, Heritage Medical Research Institute
Division of Engineering and Applied Science
California Institute of Technology
Title:
Skin-Interfaced Wearable Biosensors
Abstract:
The rising research interest in personalized medicine promises to revolutionize traditional medical practices. This presents a tremendous opportunity for developing wearable devices toward predictive analytics and treatment. In this talk, I will introduce our efforts in developing wearable biosensors for non-invasive molecular analysis. Such wearables can autonomously access sweat across activities and continuously measure a broad spectrum of analytes including metabolites, nutrients, hormones, and drugs. Laser-engraving and inkjet printing are used to manufacture these nanomaterials-based biosensors at large scale and low cost. The clinical value of our wearable systems is evaluated through human studies toward metabolic & nutritional monitoring, disease diagnosis, mental health assessment, and drug personalization. I will also discuss our research progress on energy harvesting from the body fluids and human motion to realize battery-free wireless wearable sensing. These wearable technologies could open the door to a wide range of personalized monitoring, diagnostic, and therapeutic applications.
Dr. Rona Chandrawati
Dr. Rona Chandrawati
Scientia Associate Professor and NHMRC Emerging Leadership Fellow
School of Chemical Engineering
Australian Centre for Nanomedicine
UNSW Sydney, Australia
Title:
Polymeric Nanosensors and Nanozymes for Nitric Oxide Delivery
Abstract:
Nanomaterials play an important role in improving therapeutic delivery and in monitoring diseases. In this talk, I will discuss the design, synthesis, and application of nanoparticles for nitric oxide (NO) delivery and biomolecule detection. NO is a potent biological molecule that contributes to a wide spectrum of physiological systems, including the cardiovascular, immune, and central nervous system. However, NO delivery technology remains severely limited due to its short half-life and limited diffusion distance in human tissues. Current strategies for NO delivery focus on the encapsulation of NO donors into biomaterials or an enzyme-prodrug therapy approach. The former is limited by the finite pool of NO donors available, while the latter is challenged by the inherent low stability of natural enzymes. Enzyme mimics are attractive substitutes for their natural counterparts in diverse biomedical applications because they have excellent stability against biological degradation compared with natural enzymes. We present nanoparticles with innate enzymatic activities that catalytically decompose endogenous and exogenous NO donors to generate NO at physiological conditions. Through the nanozyme approach, sustained NO delivery could be achieved by relying on life-long pools of endogenous NO donors, and when needed, on-demand NO delivery at the desired levels of NO could be realized by externally administered exogenous NO prodrugs. We demonstrated the therapeutic activity of NO generated by nanozymes to disperse bacterial biofilms and inhibit cancer cell proliferation. Understanding nano-bio interactions have also allowed us to develop nanomaterial-based sensors to enable low-cost, easy monitoring of food products without the need of specialized equipment. The sensors will provide a real-time indication of food quality or food contamination, to complement the function of traditional best-before dates.
Find out more about the speakers and Materials Today Rising Star Awards at:
2022 Materials Today Rising Star Award Winners Announced