Nanotechnology Tools for Improving Medical Diagnostics and Therapeutics

Description:
The novel architectures and associated structure-dependent properties and activities of nanomaterials make them extremely useful as analytical tools in medical diagnostics and therapeutics, including those targeting cancers, COVID-19, and other devastating diseases. Nanoscale probes or agents are often advantageous in terms of delivery, targeting, and potency compared to traditional probes or agents. As such, nanotechnology tools have significantly impacted gene regulation, immunotherapy, drug screening, tissue engineering, cellular analysis and manipulation, and a variety of other areas. Nanomaterials can also be used to uncover new insights into biological mechanisms and nano-bio interactions, and such enhanced understanding at the fundamental level is essential to developing next-generation nanoanalytical tools that will rapidly move from the bench to the clinic. This symposium will highlight numerous examples of nanoscale analytical tools that are transforming biology and medicine. In the spirit of Pittcon, this symposium will strive to advance scientific endeavors through bringing diverse researchers from a variety of subject areas together.

Speaker: Chad Mirkin - Northwestern University
Chad A. Mirkin, PhD is the Director of the International Institute for Nanotechnology and the Rathmann Prof. of Chemistry, Chemical & Biological Engineering, Biomedical Engineering, Materials Science & Engineering, and Medicine at Northwestern Univ. (NU). He is a chemist and nanoscience expert, who has authored >840 manuscripts and >1,200 patent applications (>400 issued). He has founded eight companies and has been recognized with >230 awards. He served on PCAST and is a Member of all three National Academies. Mirkin has served on the Editorial Advisory Boards of >30 journals and is the founding editor of Small. He was an Assoc. Editor of J. Am. Chem. Soc. and is a Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA Editorial Board Member. He has given >870 talks and educated >300 graduate students/postdocs; >120 are faculty members. Mirkin received a BS from Dickinson College (1986) and a PhD from Penn State Univ. (1989). He was an NSF Postdoc. Fellow at MIT prior to becoming a prof. at NU in 1991.