BME Seminar Series

Content

Nanobottles for Controlled Release and Theranostic Applications
with Younan Xia, PhD
Johns Hopkins University

Bottles have been around for over 10,000 years and they are indispensable for the storage and transport of liquid and solid goods. The unique design of a bottle offers advantages in terms of easiness and convenience for packaging, storage, and transportation. With the help of a simple cork or cap, the bottle can be used to hold the loaded content for a long period of time by protecting it from evaporation, decomposition, contamination, or deterioration. We are working to reduce the dimensions of bottles to the nanometer scale by developing colloidal particles with a hollow interior and small opening(s) in the wall. Their bottle-like features make them universal carriers for the encapsulation, controlled release, and delivery of various types of theranostic agents for biomedical applications. The hollow interior gives them a high loading capacity while the opening(s) enables quick loading and controlled release of the payload(s). More significantly, on-demand release can be achieved by adding a stimuli-responsive material as the inner matrix or cork stopper. In this talk, I will begin with a brief introduction to the general structures and properties of nanobottles, followed by a discussion on the fabrication methods. I will then showcase the use of nanobottles for different types of payloads, including small-molecule drugs, biomacromolecules, imaging contrast agents, and functional nanoparticles. I will also highlight strategies for controlling the release by integrating with a stimuli-responsive material. It is hoped that the audience will be inspired to work on this class of nanomaterials and push them toward greater success in terms of commercial/clinical applications.

About Younan Xia: Dr. Younan Xia is the Brock Family Chair and Georgia Research Alliance (GRA) Eminent Scholar at the Georgia Institute of Technology. He received his B.S. degree in chemical physics from the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC) in 1987, M.S. degree in chemistry from University of Pennsylvania (with Alan G. MacDiarmid) in 1993, and Ph.D. degree in physical chemistry from Harvard University (with George M. Whitesides) in 1996. His group invented numerous nanomaterials with well-controlled properties for use in applications related to plasmonics, electronics, display, catalysis, energy conversion, controlled release, drug delivery, nanomedicine, and regenerative medicine. Notably, the silver nanowires invented by his group has been commercialized for the manufacturing of flexible, transparent, and conductive coatings pivotal to applications such as touchscreen display, flexible electronics, and photovoltaics. His technology on the alignment of electrospun nanofibers has been commercialized for multiple clinical products in regenerative medicine, including those for the management of surgical and trauma wounds. Xia has co-authored more than 900 publications in peer-reviewed journals, together with a total citation of about 200,000 and an h-index of 222. He has been named a Top 10 Chemist and Materials Scientist based on the citation data. He has received many prestigious awards, including the Linus Pauling Medal (2024), ACS Award for Creative Invention (2023), MRS Medal (2017), ACS Award in the Chemistry of Materials (2013), NIH Director's Pioneer Award (2006), and NSF CAREER Award (2000). More information can be found at http://www.nanocages.com.

LSL N610 or via Zoom (meeting ID: 413 545 2017)