Current Seminars
The Nano Institute is pleased to partner with the Department of Chemistry and Department of Bioengineering to present seminars for the spring 2013 semester.
Monday, March 25, 2013
Christy Haynes, Ph.D.
University of Minnesota
“Nanoparticle Toxicity and Therapeutics"
Abstract: Engineered nanoparticles are found in many everyday products and hold great potential as therapeutic agents. Accordingly, it is critical to consider how engineered nanoparticles interact with physiological and ecological systems. The Haynes lab focuses on functional assessment of immune cell or bacterial cell behavior following exposure to noble metal and metal oxide nanoparticles. Functional considerations include cell delivery of chemical messengers, production of reactive oxygen species, and gene expression, among others. The goal of this work is to discover critical nanoparticle features that determine cellular toxicity and then redesign nanoparticles to minimize unintentional toxicity. In parallel, the Haynes group is focused on designing a nanoscale therapeutic platform based on core-shell mesoporous silica nanoparticles. Their high drug loading capacity, easy surface functionalization, and good biocompatibility position these nanoparticles to have a broad clinical impact. Together these two topics encapsulate the Haynes groups’ viewpoint that engineered nanoparticles can be made safely and sustainably to have significant societal benefits.
Brief Bio: Christy completed her undergraduate work at Macalester College in St. Paul, MN (1998) with a major in Chemistry and minors in Mathematics and Spanish. Christy's doctoral work was done at Northwestern University in Evanston, IL (2003) under the direction of Richard P. Van Duyne. Her doctoral thesis title is "Fundamentals and Applications of Nanoparticle Optics and Surface-Enhanced Raman Scattering." Before arriving at the University of Minnesota, Christy performed postdoctoral research in the laboratory of R. Mark Wightman at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill (2005). Her efforts in the Wightman lab focused on applying microelectrode amperometry to probe single cell exocytosis.
Time: 4:00 pm
Where: 4630 HEB Thatcher Building (4th Floor)
Friday, March 29, 2013
Khaled Greish, Ph.D.
"Can Physiochemical Properties of Nanoconstructs Improve Anticancer Activity?"
University of Otago, New Zealand
Department of Pharmacology & Toxicology, Otago School of Medical Sciences
Abstract: The main limitation of conventional cancer chemotherapy is the systemic toxicity to normal tissue. The discovery of the enhanced permeability and retention (EPR) effect by Matsumura and Maeda in the early 80’s has defined the principle of anticancer nanomedicine tumor targeting. The EPR effect is based on the structural malformations of tumor blood vessels which promotes the accumulation of the nanomedicine at the tumor site by “passive targeting” while preventing its extravasation from normal vessels. Following this landmark description of the EPR principle for tumor targeting, several nanomedicines were developed for anticancer chemotherapy. Central to the development of these new delivery platforms, the size of nanoparticles were found to be critical.
Extensive studies have shown that this criterion will determine their longevity in the blood circulation and their biodistribution when administrated to a patient. Unfortunately, other criteria such as the effect of drug loading, the release rate of active components, as well as connecting those physical properties to cell specific endocytic mechanisms, have not been fully studied.
Self-assembled amphiphilic SMA copolymers form micellar structures in aqueous solution which can accommodate a wide range of hydrophobic drugs. In the current studies, we have generated various SMA- micelles with a loading of 5-40 % as determined by UV spectrophotometry. In this presentation we demonstrate how active drug loading and release rate, influence the biological activity of EPR based nanoconstructs, in a cell type- specific manner.
Brief Bio: Dr Greish had basic training as an oncologist and practiced clinical oncology from 1995-2006. He received his research training in the laboratory of Professor Hiroshi Maeda, who first described the EPR effect. As a JSPS postdoctoral fellow, he developed and carried out in vivo pharmacokinetic studies of various tumour targeted micelles. From 2008-2011, he coordinated in vivo experiments on polymeric drug delivery platforms for solid tumour therapy in the Department of Pharmaceutics and Pharmaceutical Chemistry of the University of Utah. He moved to the University of Otago in 2011 and his current research focuses is on novel nano-systems for selective drug delivery.
Time: 11:30 am
Where: 2650 Sorenson Molecular Biotechnology Building
Friday, April 12, 2013
Katja Schenke-Laylan, Ph.D.
Eberhard Karls Universitat Tubingen & Fraunhofer Stuttgart
"Strategies in Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine"
Abstract: Regenerative medicine offers unique opportunities for developing new therapeutic approaches to treat and ultimately prevent life-threatening diseases. This includes strategies for the replacement, repair, and regeneration of tissues and organs damaged by disease and/or traumatic injury. It is the fabrication of replacement tissues and organs that here is called tissue engineering. This represents a rapidly growing interdisciplinary field within regenerative medicine involving biology, chemistry, physics, engineering and medical sciences. A major focus of tissue engineering is the creation of ex vivo manufactured tissues and organs, even multi-organ systems, in order to explore fundamental questions of (stem) cell, matrix and developmental biology. These in vitro manufactured systems can also be used as sophisticated tissue and organ test systems.
The monitoring of tissue-engineered constructs during their in vitro maturation or post-implantation in vivo is highly relevant for test system or graft evaluation. While traditional methods for studying cell and matrix components in engineered tissues and organs such as histology, immunohistochemistry or biochemistry require invasive tissue processing, resulting in the need to sacrifice the in vitro-engineered structures, multiphoton imaging and Raman spectroscopy allow the non-invasive, marker-free monitoring.
Brief Bio: Prof. Katja Schenke-Layland currently holds a dual appointment as a full professor (W3) at the Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen (UKT) and deputy department head/group leader at the Fraunhofer (IGB) Stuttgart. She is also a visiting scholar at the University of California in Los Angeles (UCLA) and an executive editor for Advanced Drug Delivery Reviews (ADDR). The focus of her work is to decipher cellular and extracellular cues that allow normal human development in order to apply this knowledge in the design of regenerative therapeutic strategies. Katja also focuses on optical non-invasive cell and tissue monitoring technologies for the pre-implantation screening of tissue engineered constructs.
Time: 12:30 pm
Where: 2650 Sorenson Molecular Biotechnology Building
Monday, April 15, 2013
Thomas H. LaBean, Ph.D.
North Carolina State University
Department of Materials Science and Engineering.
"DNA Self-Assembly and DNA-Based Nanofabrication"
Abstract: DNA is well-known as the predominant chemical for duplication and storage of genetic information and has recently become important as an engineering material for construction of micron-scale objects with nanometer-scale feature resolution. Properly designed synthetic DNA can be used as programmable building blocks that will, via specific hybridization of complementary sequences, reliably self-organize to form desired structures and superstructures. Such engineered nanostructures can be used as templates and scaffolds for imposing specific patterns on various other materials (metals, oxides, carbon nanostructures, proteins, etc.). Given diverse mechanical, chemical, catalytic, and electronic properties of these specifically patterned heteromaterials, DNA self-assembly techniques hold great promise for bottom-up nanofabrication in wide ranging fields of technology. We will explore biomedical applications as well as the use of these materials for fabrication of nanoelectronic and nanophotonic devices.
Brief Bio: Thomas H. LaBean earned his PhD at the University of Pennsylvania in 1993. He studied the folding properties of unevolved, arbitrary-sequence proteins expressed by randomized, synthetic DNA libraries. He then moved to Duke University and studied de novo protein design, and then worked on DNA-based molecular computation systems. He now studies self-assembling biomolecular nanostructures as an Associate Professor in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at North Carolina State University.
Time: 4:00 pm
Where: HSEB 4100B
Tuesday, May 14, 2013
Arto Urtti, Ph.D.
University of Helsinki
Department of Pharmacy
“Mechanistic Studies on Nanoparticle Mediated Cellular Targeting”
Abstract: Unavailable
Brief Bio: Director, Center for Drug Research
Time: 4:00 pm
Where: HSEB, Room 3515C
Friday, May 17, 2013
Aliasger K. Salem, Ph.D.
University of Iowa
Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences and Experimental Therapeutics, with additional appointments in the Department of Chemical and Biochemical Engineering, Department of Biomedical Engineering, and the Holden Comprehensive Cancer Center
"The Versatile Utility of Biodegradable Particles in Vaccinations"
Abstract: Antigen-loaded or antigen-coated biodegradable particles are capable of being actively taken up by antigen-presenting cells (APCs), and they have shown promising potential in immunotherapy by initiating a strong immunostimulatory cascade that results in potent antigen-specific immune responses against the target antigen. Such particle based carrier systems offer versatility in that they can simultaneously co-deliver adjuvants with the antigens to enhance APC activation and maturation.
For example, treating mice with biodegradable particles co-loaded with an immunostimulatory adjuvant such as CpG ODN and a model antigen (Ovalbumin/OVA) induced significantly higher amounts of anti-OVA antibody production than other preparations such as the soluble OVA and CpG ODN (P<0.01) and stimulated stronger IgG2a production than delivery of particles entrapping antigen alone.
Biodegradable polymers that can be used to prepare these particles include poly(lactide-co-glycolide) (PLGA) and polyanhydrides. We have shown that the size of particles used to vaccinate mice can affect the magnitude of the antigen-specific immune response stimulated with smaller particles, generating higher antigen-specific cytotoxic T cell responses.
Antigen coated biodegradable particles have also shown strong potential as a prime for heterologous prime-boost adenovirus based vaccines generating antigen-specific CD8+ T cell responses that were equally as effective as homologous adenovirus vaccine prime-boosts but with reduced risk of formation of therapy suppressive anti-adenovirus antibodies and other potential adverse effects.
Brief Bio:Aliasger K. Salem completed his PhD at the School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences at the University of Nottingham in the UK.Cancer Center. Prior to joining the University of Iowa in 2004, he was a postdoctoral fellow at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. Salem was an American Cancer Society Research Scholar from 2009 to 2013. Prof. Salem is currently the program leader of the Cancer Signaling and Experimental Therapeutics (CSET) program at the Holden Comprehensive Cancer Center.
Time: 1:00 pm
Where: 2650 Sorenson Molecular Biotechnology Building
Past Seminars
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