25^th Nano Congress for Future Advancements August 16-18, 2018 Dublin, Ireland

Biography:

Animesh Jha is Professor of Applied Materials Science with special research interest in glass based and nano-scale materials, photonic materials, laser gain medium engineering and laser-matter interaction. He obtained his Bachelor and Master of Engineering Degrees in Metallurgy from the University of Roorkee (UP, India) and the Indian Institute of Science Bangalore (India) in 1979 and 1981, respectively. In 1981, he joined the Imperial College of Science & Technology, London for his PhD in thermodynamics of sulphide minerals for metal processing, and acquired significant interest in heterogeneous chemical reaction kinetics and multiphase equilibria. After finishing PhD in Oct 1984, he pursued his interest in the area of phase equilibrium and transformation kinetics in metallic and inorganic glasses as a post-doctoral research fellow at the University of Sheffield (UK) until April 1989, after which he was appointed as a lecturer at Brunel University in Uxbridge (UK). In March 1996 he joined the University of Leeds (Leeds, UK) as a Reader where he has been undertaking original research in nanoscience approaches for bio-materials, glass engineering and 2D-materials technology for device engineering. AJ became Professor in Aug 2000. He is author of more than 400 research papers and has also written a book on “Inorganic Glasses for Photonics” which was published in 2016. He is also inventor/co-inventor on more than 45 patents. AJ was awarded the Fellowships of Institute of Physics (London) and the Royal Society of Chemistry in 2010 and 2016, respectively. He has also won innovation awards (SMART, Yorkshire Concept) for technological demonstration of advanced glasses and fibres for lasers and amplifiers, and their applications. He is actively involved in PhD and PDRF training and promotes emerging scientists in achieving career goals via Marie-Curie and other prestigious Fellowship schemes.

Abstract:

Dental enamel is acellular and avascular mineralized tissue with more than 95% mineral content. Although, the underlying softer dentine is connected with the microvasculature via the soft tissue therefore, possesses intrinsic regenerative capacity for mineralization which lacks in the enamel tissue. Consequently, the oral acid induced erosive damage on enamel is irreversible, and leads to lesion formation. Unattended lesion may lead to hypersensitivity and feeling of pain. Advanced stage of eroded enamel with symptoms of hypersensitivity might lead to tooth loss in adults. Traditional clinical strategies for the repair of acid-eroded enamel include the use of BIS-GMA polymeric materials which has incompatible mechanical properties with the adjoining hard minerals, and this type of bonding leads to failure of restored enamel area in a challenging oral environment. Modern toothpastes provide temporary relief from hypersensitivity; however, there is no long-term solution for treating early stages of acid erosion which may lead to sensitive teeth. Another condition, which affects especially the ageing population, is the tooth wear, which leads to tooth thinning and weakening in the lingual areas of mouth. Rebuilding the entire damaged tissue region remains a challenge. In the absence of any intrinsic regenerative means of restoring damaged tissue, our proposal focusses on developing a novel exogenous tissue re-engineering methodology, in which the mineralization of tooth surface involves: i) application of nano- and amorphous iron-calcium phosphate minerals (e.g. hydroxyapatite, fluorapatite and brushite) in the form of colloidal paste; which is then ii) bonded with the surrounding healthy enamel by irradiating with a femtosecond pulsed near-IR laser. The presence of a homogeneous dispersion of nano-scale of iron oxide in the calcium-iron phosphate matrix acts as resonant antennae for absorbing near-IR pulsed laser radiation, and helps in the dispersion of thermal energy uniformly in the irradiated region without causing damaged to the healthy tissue. The two steps (i) and (ii) are illustrated in Figure 1. The mechanisms of phase transformation and dissipation have been analyzed for different irradiation conditions (e.g. at 1040 nm wavelength, 1 GHz repetition rate and 0.4 W average power), and the resulting phase transformation is compared for understanding the bonding and potential radiation induced damage mechanisms including ablation, thermal and toxicity effects. Potential opportunity for micro-surgical device engineering is discussed for ultimate clinical use. The mechanical properties including brushing trials on restored surfaces of bovine enamels are also reported.

Biography:

Han Yong Jeon is an Geosynthetics/Technical Organic Materials Researcher and he was the 32^nd President of Korean Fiber Society during 2014-2015. He has published more than 843 papers in domestic and international conferences. He wrote 20 texts including 'GEOSYNTHETICS’ and also published 143 papers in domestic and international journals. He has awards of Marquis Who's Who-Science and Engineering in 2003-2017 and also, he got the 33^rd Academy Award of Korean Fiber Society in 2006 and Excellent Paper Award of 2012 by The Korean Federation of Science and Technology Societies.     

Abstract:

Melt-blending method was performed to make nano fibers which have excellent properties of liquid crystal polymer(LCP). If nano fiber is manufactured depending on LCP, there is every possibility of utilizing in a higher value-added industry. Although there are some processes to produce nano fiber such as electrical spinning and sea-island fiber by conjugate spinning etc., it still has difficulties that electrical spinning has a low output and sea-island fiber by conjugate spinning using specified nozzle is restricted to reduce fiber diameter. It will be effective to solve the existing problems as mentioned above if to control of fibrillation shape is able to make a consecutive fiber morphology through spinning process. The research that deal with making continuity through the way to regulate size of fibril by sea-isaland fiber formation has not yet been achieved in existing dissertations of manufacturing of fibers related to spinning fibrillation method. This study is planned to verify control of sea-island fiber formation via study of its behaviors that are influenced by LCP and poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) blend composition and confirms size changes of fibril shape by spinning process. This fibrillation changes show fibril formation and morphology according to the spinning parameters including nozzle and spinning related condition. Distribution of nano fiber fibrillation were observed to LCP and PET blending process for conjugate spinning. Fibrillated fibers of sea-island morpholohy were distributed relatively evenly in the spinning parameters. Also, this phenomenon was assumed that the miscibility of LCP/PET and the flow characteristics correlate with the phenomenon, so conducted the analysis. In this study, effect of LCP/PET blending and spinning parameters on sea-island fibrillation to make nano fibers was investigated through morphological and crystallographical analysis.

Biography:

He is researcher from 2000. He have completed PhD in 2008 from Nara Women’s University and continued postdoctoral studies with Osaka University and Nara educational University. He have published more than 25 papers in reputed journals. He have an interest in iridium complexes and Ruthenium complexes. Recently he also interested  in metal free emission product.

Abstract:

A series of metal-free compounds, i.e., bpyHPF₆ (1), dmbpyHPF₆ (2), phenHPF₆ (3) dpphenPF₆ (4), bqnHPF₆ (5) and ppyHPF₆ (7) were newly prepared and characterized by electrospray ionization mass spectrometry, and UV-vis spectroscopy. Abbreviations used are bpy =　2,2’-bipyridine, dmbpy =　4, 4’-dimethyl-2, 2’-bipyridine, phen = 1,10-phenanthroline, bqn = 2,2’-biquinoline and ppy = phenylpyrizine. The x-ray crystal structures of the four compounds 1, 2, 3, 4 5 and 7 were determined. Monoprotonated pyridine rings are hydrogen bonded intramolecularly to the adjacent pyridine ring in compounds 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5. The p-p* absorption bands in the UV region for 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 in acetonitrile were red-shifted relative to those of the corresponding neutral unprotonated compounds. Density functional theory was applied to interpret the planarity in 1. The attachment of one proton to the one nitrogen in 5 leads to the remarkable emission (F = 0.10). The attachment of one proton to one nitrogen in 4 also gives the large quantum yield.

Biography:

Thomas Maurer is Associate Professor at the University of Technology of Troyes. He has been developing a research activity at the interface of nanotechnology, mechanics and optics, which can be designed as mechanoplasmonics. In parallel, he is a member of the action laboratory of excellence executive committee and responsible of the smart sensors scientific work group whose aim is to integrate sensing functionalities into matter.

Abstract:

For the past twenty years, nano-optics has emerged as a promising research field thanks to huge progress in nanofabrication and offers great technological potential for applications in fields such as biology, medecine or chemistry. Coupling between plasmonic nanoparticles (NPs), well-known as the plasmon ruler equation, was recently investigated by fabricating arrays of NP dimers with various inter-particle distances using e-beam lithography. In this talk, we aim to illustrate how it should be possible to break through frontiers between mechanics and plasmonics in the next future by showing our first results on the use of gold nanogauges for strain investigation as well as recent advances published in the literature. In particular, the opportunity to develop a new generation of color-changing strain sensors will be discussed.

Biography:

Jae-Jin Shim received his BS degree from Seoul National University in 1980, MS degree from KAIST in 1982, PhD degree from the University of Texas at Austin in 1990. He has been a Professor in Yeungnam University since 1994 and served as School Chairman and Vice-Dean of Engineering. He was the President of the Korean Society of Clean Technology and Vice President of the Korean Society of Engineering Education. He is the Director of Institute of Clean Technology and Clean Energy Priority Research Center and served as the Chief Editor of  Clean Technology. He has published 150 papers in reputed journals.

Abstract:

Nanomaterials have been employed to improve the performance of the energy storage devices (supercapacitor), sensors, and photocatalysts. Especially, oxides and sulfides of transition metals have been getting attention as they have good electrochemical performances. However, their performances are not satisfactory. Various materials such as graphene and carbon nanotubes have studied to enhance the electrochemical properties owing to their large surface area and high electrical conductivity. Synergistic effects from excellent conductivities of graphene and high electrical properties of metal oxides or sulfides have improved the overall electrochemical performances tremendously. Doping of graphene with nitrogen or sulfur, using metal sulfides instead of metal oxides, and using highly porous materials as substrates also contribute towards performance improvement.

Biography:

Kent Peterson is a graduate with an honors from Boston University’s Graduate School of Management, and a Member of American Mensa Society. He has lead Fluid Imaging Technologies since joining as the founder of the firm 12 years ago. The Company has sold over 600 FlowCams in over 52 countries. Ship-based FlowCam systems have also been at work sampling from every ocean in the world. He has served on a number of boards and is active in community affairs. He has also been named Mainebiz Business Leader of the Year. His achievements include: Fluid Imaging Technologies’ Awards and recognitions include, the Governor’s Award for Business Excellence, the SBA New England Exporter of the Year Award, and the Portland Regional Chamber’s Robert R Masterton Award.

Abstract:

Flow imaging microscopy has proven to be an important tool for the analysis of subvisible particulates in parenteral drugs. Now, due to the combined resolving power of blue LED light and patented oil immersion technology, flow imaging microscopes can image and analyze particles as small as 300 nm. The ability to detect transparent particles and differentiate them based on morphology yields significantly more detailed and accurate information than can be acquired using common laser diffraction and light obscuration techniques. Along with sophisticated statistical pattern recognition algorithms, these systems can be used to distinguish between different particulate types such as silicon oil, protein aggregates, and air bubbles. This presentation will present the techniques used to accomplish this.

Biography:

Robert k Prud’homme is a professor in the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering at Princeton University. He is the founding director of the Program in Engineering Biology. His research program focusses on polymer self-assembly applied to drug delivery. The development of Flash NanoPrecipitation (FNP) in his laboratory enabled the encapsulation of poorly soluble drug compounds and oligonucleotides for therapy directed towards cancer, TB, and injections. FNP is a scalable and continuous process that is enables integrated processing and spray drying for low cost oral and aerosol formulations. Under sponsorship by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the process is being adopted to formulate new compounds coming from TBA, MMV, and DNDi.

Abstract:

The intravenous delivery of composite gel microparticles (cGMPs) offers a platform for localized treatment of lung cancer. We describe a method for fabrication of cGMPs with average diameters of 35 to 100 µm using shear emulsification and microfluidic droplet generation. We characterized the particles and describe the performance of these particles in vivo. Biodistribution of the cGMPs was selective to the lung after intravenous injection and particle clearance from the lung occurred in 7 weeks. One-week biodistribution studies demonstrated that larger, uniform particles produced by microfluidics provided optimal targeting to lung tissue. We demonstrated that highly loaded cGMPs containing a long wavelength fluorophore allow in vivo analysis of particle biodistribution without the need for ex-vivo organ analysis. The release of camptothecin conjugates from the nanopartricles, and thus, gel microparticles, is tuned from minutes to days by altering the polarity of the nanoparticle core.

Biography:

Patrick J Sinko is a Pharmacist (BS, Rutgers 1982) and a Pharmaceutical Scientist (PhD, University of Michigan 1988). He joined Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey in 1991 and rose through the academic ranks where he is currently a Distinguished Professor (II) and the Parke-Davis Endowed Chair in Pharmaceutics and Drug Delivery in the Ernest Mario School of Pharmacy. He is the Principal Investigator of an active research laboratory that focuses on biopharmaceutics, pharmaceutical formulations and molecular-, nano- and micro-scale drug delivery with specific applications to the treatment or prevention of HIV/AIDS, breast, brain and lung cancer, chemical terrorism countermeasures. He has received prestigious National Institutes of Health FIRST and MERIT awards and his lab has been continuously funded by the NIH for over 25 years.

Abstract:

Ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) is a noninvasive breast cancer (BC) with possible microinvasions into the breast stroma. DCIS accounts for more than 16% of new BC diagnoses in women. DCIS progresses to Invasive Ductal Carcinoma (IDC) over time in 39-53% of patients, if left untreated. The vast majority of BC cases originate in the mammary duct. In this presentation, a nanoscale delivery system will be described that utilizes transpapillary delivery to achieve molecularly targeted, pathway-specific therapy in cancerous areas of the mammary duct. Our preliminary results with a nanosuspension of ciclopirox (CPX) in an orthotopic model of BC established the concept that sustained ductal exposure could completely suppress BC occurrence in vivo. For these studies polymeric NPs (nanoparticles) as well as lipid-polymer hybrid (LPH) NPs were the primary delivery vehicles. In order to achieve sustained precision treatment, HER2, transferrin receptor and/or EGFR were targeted using peptide ligands covalently bound to the surface of NPs. Ligand surface densities of 5% and 10% were evaluated and it was found that surface functionalized NPs enhanced binding and uptake into target cells. Cytoxicity was significantly increased with EGFR or TfR targeted NPs as compared to CPX alone or non functionalized CPX-loaded NPs. A synergistic effect was observed when CPX was administered with gedatolisib, a PI3K/Akt/mTOR inhibitor resulting in a dose reduction index of ~6. In addition, the treatments were effective not only in BC cells but also cancer stem-like cells. Our efforts in addition to describing these studies and results, the engineering of the NPs to enhance ductal retention and specificity will also be described.

Biography:

Simon C W Richardson is a Founder, Director and CSO at Intracellular Delivery Solutions Ltd, and Reader (Associate Professor) in Membrane Trafficking and Drug Delivery, at the University of Greenwich, UK. The driving theme behind his research is the intracellular delivery of antisense and RNAi to the cytosol. He is currently leading the Cell Biology Research Cluster within the Faculty of Engineering and Science, located at the Medway campus. His lab is currently working with several technologies based upon attenuated virulence factors that have very low in vitro toxicity profiles (and are minimally disruptive to the cell), and very high efficiency intracellular delivery profiles. We are also examining several methodologies to modulate protein stability and intracellular trafficking to aid the oral delivery of vaccines.

Abstract:

Many protein toxins have evolved to access a variety of relatively inaccessible intracellular compartments in order to exert virulence. Counted among this number are proteins such as ricin toxin, shiga toxin, diphtheria toxin and anthrax toxin. These proteins display diverse architecture ranging from AB5 to AB configurations and depending upon the specific B chain in question, entertain a number of strategies from direct membrane penetration to utilizing retrograde trafficking pathways to access a plethora of intracellular compartments including the cytosol. Typically the A chain will exhibit catalytic activity proportional to both cellular intoxication and virulence. However given the facile nature of protein recombination, attenuation is relatively simple. Here we describe the ability of attenuated anthrax toxin (ATx) to manipulate endocytic cargo sorting for the purposes of drug delivery, traversing intracellular compartmental boundaries for nucleic acid delivery. We report not only the efficiency with which siRNA and antisense effectors are delivered but also the mechanisms they utilize to traverse the barriers responsible for intracellular compartmentalization. Attenuated Atx:ASO complexes had transfection efficiency approximately equivalent to Nucleofection®. In HeLa cells, at 200 pmol ASO expression of the target gene was 5.4±2.0% relative to an untreated control after 24 h. Using 200 pmol ASOs, Nucleofection® reduced Synt5 expression to 8.1±2.1% after 24 h. PA:LFn-GAL4:ASO transfection of non- or terminally-differentiated THP-1 cells and Vero cells resulted in 35.2±19.1%, 36.4±1.8% and 22.9±6.9% (respectively) target gene expression after treatment with 200 pmol of ASO and demonstrated versatility. Nucleofection® with Stealth RNAi™ siRNA reduced HeLa Synt5 levels to 4.6±6.1% whereas treatment with the PA:LFn-PKR:siRNA resulted in 8.5±3.4% Synt5 expression after 24 h (HeLa cells). These data underscore the tractability of this approach to both antisense and siRNA delivery. 

Biography:

Vladimir P Torchilin, PhD, DSc is a University Distinguished Professor of Pharmaceutical Sciences and Director, Center for Pharmaceutical Biotechnology and Nanomedicine of Northeastern University, Boston, USA. His interests include drug delivery and targeting, nanomedicine, multifunctional and stimuli-sensitive pharmaceutical nanocarriers, biomedical polymers, experimental cancer therapy. He has published more than 400 original papers, more than 150 reviews and book chapters, has written and edited 12 books, and holds more than 40 patents. Google Scholar shows more than 52,000 citations of his papers with H-index of 102. He is Editor in Chief of Current Drug Discovery Technologies, Drug Delivery, and OpenNano; Co Editor of Current Pharmaceutical Biotechnology and on the Editorial Boards of many other journals. He received more than $30 M from the governmental and industrial sources in research funding. He has multiple honors and awards and in 2011, Times Higher Education ranked him number 2 among Top World Scientists in Pharmacology for the period of 2000-2010.

Abstract:

Tumor therapy, especially in the case of multidrug resistant cancers, could be significantly enhanced by using siRNA down-regulating the production of proteins, which are involved in cancer cell resistance, such as Pgp or survivin. Even better response could be achieved is such siRNA could be delivered to tumors together with chemotherapeutic agent. This task is complicated by low stability of siRNA in biological surrounding. Thus, the delivery system should simultaneously protect siRNA from degradation. We have developed several types of lipid-core polymeric micelles based on PEG-phospholipid or PEI-phospholipid conjugates, which are biologically inert, demonstrate prolonged circulation in the blood and can firmly bind non-modified or reversibly-modified siRNA. Additionally, these nanopreparations can be loaded into their lipidic core with poorly water soluble chemotherapeutic agents, such as paclitaxel or camptothecin. In experiments with cancer cell monolayers, cancer cell 3D spheroids, and in animals with implanted tumors, it was shown that such co-loaded preparations can significantly down-regulate target proteins in cancer cells, enhance drug activity, and reverse multidrug resistance. This is illustrated by the efficient treatment of MDR (multi-drug resistance) cancer cells with combi-nations of siRNA-Pgp or siRNA-survivin stabilized in polymeric mixed mi-celles and doxorubicin, or tariquidar (Pgp inhibitor) and paclitaxel loaded into the same lipo-some or lipid-core polymeric micelle. In order to specifically unload such nanopreparations inside tumors, we made them sensitive to local tumor-specific stimuli, such as lowered pH, hypoxia, or overexpressed certain enzymes, such as matrix metalloproteases. Using pH-, redox-conditions, hypoxia-, or MMP2-sensitive bonds between different components of nanopreparations co-loaded with siRNA and drugs, we were able to make the systems specifically delivering biologically active agents in tumors, which resulted in significantly improved therapeutic response. We have also developed approaches to target individual intracellular organelles to initiate the apoptosis in resistant cancer cells.

Biography:

Abstract:

Catalytic Abs (catAbs) are multivalent immunoglobulins (Igs) with a capacity to hydrolyze the antigenic (Ag) substrate. In this sense, proteolytic Abs (Ab-proteases) represent Abs to provide proteolytic effects. Abs against myelin basic protein/MBP with proteolytic activity exhibiting sequence-specific cleavage of MBP are of great value to monitor demyelination whilst in MS. The activity of Ab-proteases was first registered at the subclinical stages 1-2 years prior to the clinical illness. And the activity of the Ab-proteases revealed significant correlation with scales of demyelination and the disability of the patients as well. So, the activity of Ab-proteases and its dynamics tested would confirm a high subclinical and predictive (translational) value of the tools as applicable for personalized monitoring protocols. Of tremendous value are Ab-proteases directly affecting remodeling of tissues with multilevel architectonics (for instance, myelin). By changing sequence specificity one may reach reduction of a density of the negative proteolytic effects within the myelin sheath and thus minimizing scales of demyelination. Ab-proteases can be programmed and re-programmed to suit the needs of the body metabolism or could be designed for the development of new catalysts with no natural counterparts. Further studies are needed to secure artificial or edited Ab-proteases as translational tools of the newest generation to diagnose, to monitor, to control and to treat and rehabilitate MS patients at clinical stages and to prevent the disorder at subclinical stages in persons-at-risks to secure the efficacy of regenerative manipulations.

Biography:

Vladimir P Torchilin, PhD, DSc is a University Distinguished Professor of Pharmaceutical Sciences and Director, Center for Pharmaceutical Biotechnology and Nanomedicine of Northeastern University, Boston, USA. His interests include drug delivery and targeting, nanomedicine, multifunctional and stimuli-sensitive pharmaceutical nanocarriers, biomedical polymers, experimental cancer therapy. He has published more than 400 original papers, more than 150 reviews and book chapters, has written and edited 12 books, and holds more than 40 patents. Google Scholar shows more than 52,000 citations of his papers with H-index of 102. He is Editor in Chief of Current Drug Discovery Technologies, Drug Delivery, and OpenNano; Co Editor of Current Pharmaceutical Biotechnology and on the Editorial Boards of many other journals. He received more than $30 M from the governmental and industrial sources in research funding. He has multiple honors and awards and in 2011, Times Higher Education ranked him number 2 among Top World Scientists in Pharmacology for the period of 2000-2010.

Abstract:

Tumor therapy, especially in the case of multidrug resistant cancers, could be significantly enhanced by using siRNA down-regulating the production of proteins, which are involved in cancer cell resistance, such as Pgp or survivin. Even better response could be achieved is such siRNA could be delivered to tumors together with chemotherapeutic agent. This task is complicated by low stability of siRNA in biological surrounding. Thus, the delivery system should simultaneously protect siRNA from degradation. We have developed several types of lipid-core polymeric micelles based on PEG-phospholipid or PEI-phospholipid conjugates, which are biologically inert, demonstrate prolonged circulation in the blood and can firmly bind non-modified or reversibly-modified siRNA. Additionally, these nanopreparations can be loaded into their lipidic core with poorly water soluble chemotherapeutic agents, such as paclitaxel or camptothecin. In experiments with cancer cell monolayers, cancer cell 3D spheroids, and in animals with implanted tumors, it was shown that such co-loaded preparations can significantly down-regulate target proteins in cancer cells, enhance drug activity, and reverse multidrug resistance. This is illustrated by the efficient treatment of MDR (multi-drug resistance) cancer cells with combi-nations of siRNA-Pgp or siRNA-survivin stabilized in polymeric mixed mi-celles and doxorubicin, or tariquidar (Pgp inhibitor) and paclitaxel loaded into the same lipo-some or lipid-core polymeric micelle. In order to specifically unload such nanopreparations inside tumors, we made them sensitive to local tumor-specific stimuli, such as lowered pH, hypoxia, or overexpressed certain enzymes, such as matrix metalloproteases. Using pH-, redox-conditions, hypoxia-, or MMP2-sensitive bonds between different components of nanopreparations co-loaded with siRNA and drugs, we were able to make the systems specifically delivering biologically active agents in tumors, which resulted in significantly improved therapeutic response. We have also developed approaches to target individual intracellular organelles to initiate the apoptosis in resistant cancer cells. 

Biography:

Joong Tark Han has completed his PhD from Pohang University of Science and Technology. He is the Center Director of Nano Hybrid Technology Research Center at KERI in Korea, and a Professor of Department of Electro-Functionality Materials Engineering at UST. He has published more than 90 papers in reputed journals.

Abstract:

Flexible electrodes fabricated with conducting soft electromaterials such as carbon nanotubes (CNTs), graphene and metal nanowires are of great interest for various applications, ranging from alternative electrodes for flexible electronics. However, the difficulty in processing these soft electro materials represents one of the key challenges to researchers working in this area. In this talk, author will present his recent progress in synthesis of nanocarbon hybrid materials and their processing technologies for applications in flexible electrode technology towards soft electronics. The judicious use of supramolecular chemistry and interfacial engineering technology allows fabrication of printable, spinnable, and chemically compatible conducting pastes with high-quality nanocarbon (NC) materials, useful in flexible electronics and textile electronics.

Biography:

Silvia Panseri is a Biologist and has completed her PhD in 2009 at the University of Milan, Italy. Her research activity is mainly focus on nano and regenerative medicine. She has great expertise in cell-biomaterial interactions at the nanoscale, in magnetic cell guiding and 3D cell culture in bioreactor with several scaffolds. She is an author of more than 50 papers published in international peer-reviewed journals, 12 book chapters, co-inventor of two patents and H-index=19. She has been serving as a Guest Editor in International Journal of Molecular Sciences and Frontiers in Bioengineering and Biotechnology.

Abstract:

Cell therapy is one of the most exciting and promising areas for disease treatment and regenerative medicine. However the success rate of cell-based therapies, despite their great potential, is limited mainly due the ineffective delivery and retention of therapeutic cells in the specific organ. Magnetic targeting has emerged as a method to overcome these limitations. So far these attempts have used superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (SPIONs), only clinically approved metal oxide nanoparticles. Nevertheless the exposure to SPIONs has always been associated with significant toxic effects such as inflammation, apoptosis and generation of ROS. Our group, by doping hydroxyapatite (HA), the mineral component of bone, with Fe²⁺/Fe³⁺ ions, had obtained novel biocompatible and fully bioresorbable superparamagnetic nanoparticles (FeHA). This work demonstrates the opportunity of FeHA in mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) labeling. MSCs easily internalized the FeHA, and they became magnetic enough to be guided and retained to specific site by a magnet. Magnetic MSCs maintained their morphology and cell viability was not negatively affected. Due the well-known osteoinductive feature of HA, magnetic MSCs overexpress osteogenic genes. We are also investigating the possibility to combine these above-mentioned results with the contrast ability of FeHA for a real time imaging of the magnetic MSCs in vivo by magnetic resonance imaging. In conclusion, due to the intrinsic magnetic properties of FeHA, its fast degradation and very low iron content compared to SPIONs, this approach could be simply transferred to different cell types obtaining an attractive advanced approach for several regenerative medicine applications.

Biography:

Ying Wan received her Ph.D. degree in Industrial Catalysis from the East China University of Science and Technology in 2002. Then, she joined Shanghai Normal University where she was promoted to a full professor in 2006. In 2005-2007, she carried out her postdoctoral research at Fudan University working with Professor Dongyuan Zhao. Currently, Professor Ying Wan is the leader of the Program for Innovative Research Team in University, China. Her research focuses on sintering-, and poisoning-resistance metal nanocatalysts supported on mesoporous carbons, and their applications in green organic synthesis and energy chemistry. She has contributed to about 70 peer-reviewed scientific publications with more than 7000-times citations and 3 books. She has been an associate editor of Journal of Porous Materials since 2013.

Abstract:

Gold nanocatalysts represent a new generation of catalysts for the selective oxidation and reduction using molecular O₂ and H₂, showing great potentials for green chemistry. Activated carbons are one of the most frequently used supports in industry. However, activated carbon has been seldom used for gold deposition. Here a coordination-assisted self-assembly approach is adopted for the intercalation of thermally reduced gold nanoparticles inside ordered mesoporous carbon frameworks. An almost complete conversion of benzyl alcohol to benzoic acid is achieved within 60 min over the Au/C catalyst with gold nanoparticles approximately 9.0 nm under 90 ºC and 1 MPa, using potassium hydroxide as a base. A reduction of gold particle size from 9.0 to 3.4 nm in the catalyst leads to a high activity toward the selective oxidation of benzyl alcohol to benzyl acid and toward the reduction of p-nitrophenol to p-aminophenol at low temperatures such as 0 °C. The electronic modification of the d-orbitals of small particles is extremely important for chemisorption of O₂ at atmosphere pressure and low temperatures. Interstingly, thermally reduced Au/C nanocatalyst with gold nanoparticles approximately 2.8 nm is highly active and selective to convert p-chloronitrobenzene and 4-nitrophenol to corresponding amines using H₂ as a reducing agent, reaching an initial reaction rate of 12.7 and 6.5 min^-1, respectively. By comparison, the commercial Au/C catalyst is inert under the same reaction conditions. Trapping by the SH-functionalized SBA-15 solids confirms the negligible gold leaching and the heterogeneous active centers for thermally reduced Au/C. Obvious changes are undetected for catalytic performance after five runs. These results indicate that the gold-containing mesoporous carbon catalyst is stable and can be reused. The simultaneous thermal reduction of gold nanoparticles and pyrolysis of the matrix may facilitate the involvement of gold inside the carbon matrix, the modification of carbon atoms on the gold surface, and the reconstruction of the surface induced by CO adsorption. The generation of low-coordinated gold atoms possibly reduces the H₂ dissociation barrier, and can therefore significantly improve the hydrogenation activity.

Biography:

Monica Montesi has obtained her PhD in Cellular and Molecular Biology at the University of Bologna and she has 12 years of expertise in cellular and molecular biology associated to material science for nanotechnology, tissue engineering research and regenerative medicine. She is a scientific coordinator of NanoBioMagnetism Laboratory. She is an author of 40 papers published in international journals, several book chapters and more than 30 congress communications. She has been serving as an Editorial Board Member of international Journal of Bone and Mineral Metabolism and Guest Editor of International Journal of Molecular Sciences.

Abstract:

The ever increasing need of more effective and targeted therapies for the treatment of cancer and various degenerative pathologies is pushing material scientists to develop new solutions associating enhanced safety with smart functionality, also permitting the establishment of personalized therapeutic approaches. In this respect, the development and use of nanoparticles is today limited by several factors among which: i) low biodegradability and biocompatibility; ii) toxic by-products; iii) uncontrolled drug release into the bloodstream; iv) limited cell-target specificity and v) low efficiency in crossing biological barriers. In this respect a novel apatite based nanoparticle (NPs) have attracted the attention of scientific community for biological and medical purposes as promising materials in drug or gene delivery, DNA/biomolecules separation, hypothermal treatment of tumours, contrast agents for imaging, and recently in tissue engineering and theranostic applications. Recently, novel biomimetic, fully biodegradable and cytocompatible NPs fabricated by doping hydroxyapatite (HA) with Fe ions (FeHA), avoiding the presence of magnetic secondary phases and coating, were developed and biologically tested as new drug delivery systems. The wide possibility of surface functionalization of apatitic nanoparticles significantly extends the potential to develop smart drug carriers with active or passive ability to cross physiological barriers and to reach relevant organs such as the brain, the lung or the heart.

Biography:

Madaswamy S Muthu earned his Bachelor’s Degree in Pharmacy in 2002; Master’s Degree in Pharmaceutical Technology from India in 2004 and PhD Degree in Pharmaceutics from IIT, Varanasi, India in 2009. He did his Postdoctoral trainings in the Department of Chemical Engineering at National University of Singapore as a Recipient of Boyscast Fellowship and CREST Award from India. He is also an Awardee of DST Young Scientist in 2012. His research interest is to develop advanced nanomedicine as novel platform for diagnosis and therapy. He has authored over 64 peer-reviewed publications with a cumulative impact factor of >240, citation of 2100 and h-index of 24.

Abstract:

Nanotheranostics have shown the development of advanced platforms that can diagnose cancer at early stages, initiate first-line therapy, monitor it, and if needed, rapidly start subsequent treatments. In nanotheranostics, therapeutic and diagnostic agents are loaded with nanomedicine in a single theranostic platform, which can be further developed as clinical formulations for targeting different types of cancer. This speech is concerned about theranostic micelles developed using TPGS (tocopheryl polyethylene glycol succinate), docetaxel and gold nanoclusters for the early diagnosis and therapy of cancer with advanced features. Micelles are amphiphilic spherical nanostructures consisting of hydrophilic shell and hydrophobic core. Micelles have advantages such as thermodynamic stability, kinetic stability, higher payload and smaller dimension (less than 50 nm). In our group, various research studies were done on targeted micelles for cancer diagnosis and therapy. In future, nanotheranostics will be able to provide personalized treatment which can make cancer even curable or at least treatable at the earliest stage.

Biography:

Lorenz De Neve started his carrier as a Researcher with his master thesis on the sorption behavior of cationic surfactants. During this period he obtained experience concerning the preparation and characterization of liposomal dispersions, including viscometry using rotational viscometers, submicron particle sizing by dynamic light scattering and adsorption analysis by both QCM-D and by the traditional depletion technique. Currently he is conducting research on pharmaceutical nanosuspension formulations. More specifically the purpose of his research is to enlarge the fundamental knowledge of the link between the formulation parameters and the macroscopic properties of nanosuspensions and to understand the interactions between the different formulation parameters.

Abstract:

Poly(ethylene oxide)-poly(propylene oxide)-poly(ethylene oxide) block copolymer surfactants (poloxamers or pluronics) are used as stabilizer in various nanosuspensions, e.g. of rilpivirine, danazol, diclofenac, asulacrine and itraconazole. In order to have a stabilizing effect on hydrophobic particles, these PEO-PPO-PEO surfactants should adsorb to the particle surface. In this research, the adsorption behavior of pluronics with two different ethylene oxide contents (50% and 80%) and three different molecular weights of the propylene oxide part (i.e. 950, 1750 and 3250 g/mol) was studied at 20°C and 37°C onto gold sensors coated with 1-undecanethiol using a quartz crystal microbalance with dissipation (QCM-D). Pluronic solutions with 5 different concentrations were used, ranging from 0.02 mg/ml to 50 mg/ml. Our results indicate a significant (linear) effect of the pluronic concentration on the average adsorption during the adsorption steps. No clear effect could, however, be detected after rinsing of the sensors with ultrapure water. The molecular weight of the PPO part seemed to have a proportional effect on the adsorbed amounts after rinsing, but no clear effect during the adsorption steps. The ethylene oxide content seemed to have an effect during both the adsorption and rinsing steps. Also, our results indicated no significant difference in the average adsorbed amount during both the adsorption and rinsing steps at 20°C and 37°C. The obtained results were useful to gain more insight in the stability differences between nanosuspensions with different pluronic concentrations (and molecular structure).

Biography:

Robert Prudhomme is a Professor in the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering at Princeton University, USA. He is the Founding Director of the Program in Engineering Biology. His research program focusses on polymer self-assembly applied to drug delivery. The development of Flash Nanoprecipitation (FNP) in his laboratory enabled the encapsulation of poorly soluble drug compounds and oligonucleotides for therapy directed towards cancer, TB, and injections. FNP is a scalable and continuous process that is enables integrated processing and spray drying for low cost oral and aerosol formulations. Under sponsorship by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the process is being adopted to formulate new compounds coming from TBA, MMV, and DNDi.

Abstract:

There is an increased demand for fast and inexpensive methods to determine cancer phenotypes and morphologies. Current in vivo diagnostic imaging modalities utilizing X-ray CT, MRI, and PET scans are limited to black-white images that cannot be used to differentiate multiple disease marker contrast agents at a time. In addition, targeting studies in which each nanoparticle (NP) type must be individually administered to an animal result in large numbers of animals that must be used in a study to obtain reliable statistics. This requires both significant time and expense. Photoacoustic (PA) imaging, a hybrid light and sounds imaging technique, has shown to be a safe and inexpensive diagnostic technique with high spatial resolution in 3D. Traditional PA contrast agents, however, tend to have broad absorption peaks in the NIR range which renders it difficult to simultaneously image more than one signal at a time in deep tissue. Here we present the formulation of a series of PA active NPs with sharp and separable absorbance profiles in the NIR range for simultaneous multiplexed imaging. PA dyes are encapsulated inside NPs using the controlled self-assembly mechanism, Flash nanoprecipitation (FNP). Four new contrast agents, with sharp absorbance maxima between 600-900 nm, were created by encapsulating a variety of phthalocyanine derivatives. We were able to simultaneously detect the concentrations of contrast agents mixed together with >95% deconvolution efficacy. As a proof of concept, we co-injected RGD modified NPs and non-modified NPs with different labeling agents and tracked NP biodistributions for both particles simultaneously. Using this technology, we accessed the effect of NP ligand modification on both targeting efficacy onto the tumors and off targeting accumulation in the liver using a single animal model. Over modification of the NPs resulted in rapid liver clearance and poor accumulation in the tumor; at low modifications, the tumor to liver accumulation ratio is 9.9±4.2, while at high RGD modifications the tumor to liver accumulation ratio is 52±22. The ability to simultaneously inject control particles and targeted particles, and to follow their fate greatly enhances the ability to design targeted nanoparticles. The same phthalocyanine dyes effectively chelate PET active cations to enable whole animal PET imaging. The FNP technology enables the production of both NPs that enable PAI and PET imaging. 

Biography:

Tamás Solymosi holds an MSc Degree in Chemical Engineering and currently working on his PhD thesis about the formulation of abiraterone acetate. He has been working at NanGenex, Budapest, Hungary for the past 9 years, gaining experience in the formulation of poorly water soluble active ingredients. He is interested in the physicochemical background of nanoformulation and bioavailability increasing technologies.

Abstract:

Abiraterone acetate (AA) is a poorly water soluble drug molecule indicated for metastatic castration resistant prostate cancer. The drug product Zytiga possesses the highest food effect of all marketed drugs. Despite of the extremely poor absorption of AA in fasted conditions, Zytiga is to be taken strictly without food. We have developed a nano-amorphous abiraterone acetate formulation prepared by controlled precipitation followed by lyophilization. The formulation exhibited higher apparent solubility and passive permeability when compared to either the crystalline AA or Zytiga. DLS (Dynamic Light Scattering) measurements and filtration experiments yielded particle size in the 100-200 nanometer range when the solid formula was reconstituted in water. The active ingredient in the formulation was amorphous by XRD (X-ray Powder Diffraction). Beagle dog studies showed 10-fold increase in exposure from the novel formulation when compared to the marketed drug. Also, the marked food effect seen with Zytiga was not observed for the nano-amorphous AA. A first-in-human clinical trial was conducted with a lyophilized powder-in bottle formulation in healthy male volunteers. The active ingredient was rapidly absorbed in both the fasted and the fed states. Based on the PK (Pharmacokinetics) analysis a 250 mg dose of the novel formulation is predicted to give the same exposure as 1000 mg Zytiga in the fasted state. As in preclinical studies, the significant positive food effect was eliminated. Moreover, variability of exposure was reduced when compared to Zytiga. In conclusion we have developed a novel nano-amorphous AA formulation that significantly outperformed the marketed product in in vitro and in vivo tests. Ultimately, the formulation might allow a 75% dose reduction and negate the restriction of a food label.

Biography:

Nilay Kahya completed her MSc Degree in Chemistry at ITU Graduate School of Science Engineering and Technology in 2016. She is currently a PhD candidate working under the guidance of Professor F Bedia Erim Berker. Her research field of interest are mainly related to the applications of biopolymers in drug delivery systems and adsorption fields. She has four publications in Science Citation Index Expanded journals by March 2018.

Abstract:

Alginate is a biopolymer which is used in several biomedical applications by means of its favorable properties, such as biodegradability, biocompatibility and non-toxicity. In the present study, the availability of alginate gel to encapsulate and release a protein type drug was investigated. The use of alginate has been reported before for the controlled release of bovine serum albumin (BSA), however favorable controlled release behavior was only achieved by the help of clay incorporation to alginate beads. Recently, it was reported that incorporation of anionic surfactant, sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) into alginate increases the Young’s modulus of the alginate beads. Moreover, SDS and bovine serum albumin interaction via complexation mechanism was reported. In the light of the last two works, SDS was incorporated into alginate beads to enhance protein-loading efficiency of hydrogel and to prevent the burst release of protein drug. Bovine serum albumin (BSA) was used as model protein drug. It was found that SDS modified calcium alginate beads encapsulated almost the initial amount of loaded drug. The protein release experiments were done in simulated gastric fluid (SGF) and simulated intestinal fluid (SIF). Results of release experiments showed that SDS modified alginate beads showed controlled and time efficient drug release. Characterization of the beads was performed by Scanning electron microscope (SEM), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), and swelling experiments, respectively.

Biography:

Lucyna Matusewicz graduated with MSc in Biotechnology in 2012. She is currently a PhD student at the University of Wroclaw, Poland. She started her PhD project and for almost 6 years has been focusing mainly on drug delivery systems in anticancer therapy.

Abstract:

Introduction: Epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) was shown to be highly expressed in many types of human cancer, among others, in breast cancers. EGFR overexpression correlates with advanced stage of the disease and with poor response to chemotherapy. One of the promising strategy for the treatment of EGFR-dependent tumors is to inhibit signal transduction from EGFR via disruption of cholesterol rich membrane rafts. We assume that targeted delivery of simvastatin, a popular cholesterol-depleting drug widely prescribed in the treatment of cardiovascular diseases, will specifically disorganize membrane rafts and therefore disturb the EGFR dependent signalling pathways that usually promote cell proliferation and metastases. Statins were shown to exert antitumor effects in high doses, but those may lead to serious side effects. Therefore, the main purpose of this work is to obtain targeted, long circulating liposomes with simvastatin and to test their anticancer activity both in vitro and in vivo.

Methodology: Liposomes were prepared via lipid film hydration method and modified by attachment of antibodies specific to EGFR. Stability, selectivity and toxicity of targeted liposomes were analyzed both in vitro and in vivo. The level of activation of selected kinases involved in transduction of signals stimulated via EGF in cells treated by immunoliposomal statin was examined. Moreover, changes in plasma membrane order of cells exposed to liposomal simvastatin were examined using FLIM (Fluorescence-lifetime imaging) method.

Findings: Designed immunoliposomes were stable over 6 months, selective towards EGFR overexpressing cells and showed antitumor efficacy both in vitro and in vivo. Inhibition of signaling pathway involving Akt in cells treated with immunoliposomal simvastatin and disruption in plasma membrane order were observed.

Conclusions: Presented immunoliposomal formulation of simvastatin seems reasonable solution of a specific delivery of high doses of this drug into tumor cells and a candidate of further evaluation for efficacy either in monotherapy or in combination in anticancer therapies in the future.

Biography:

Laura de Oliveira Nascimento has completed her PhD from University of São Paulo (USP), Brazil in 2011 with Doctoral internship at Boston University, USA, and Postdoctoral studies in USP. She is a Professor at State University of Campinas, Brazil. Her research group is focused on nanotechnology and freeze dried pharmaceutical dosage forms. 

Abstract:

NLCs are composed by at least one solid lipid, one oil, surfactant and water. Previous works used regular purified oils and focused mostly on dosage form optimization; however these approaches present contaminants that can mask or mislead interactions, whereas optimization designs allows few excipients to be tested. Therefore, our goal was to assess physicochemical interactions due to super refined lipids and surfactants in NLCs loaded with lidocaine. Free drug analysis included: drug solubility and partition coefficient, thermal profile of solid excipients. NLC was formulated according to nonregular design of experiment (Hall 2, 2 levels of substance concentration, 8 excipient inputs and 1drug input). NLC outputs included z-average, polydispersity index, zeta potential and entrapment efficiency. Z-average (ZA) presented unimodal distribution, mean size (322±47) nm. The interaction between polysorbate-80 (PS), castor oil (CA) and cetyl palmitate (CP) affected ZA. Polydispersity index (PDI) variated between 0.14 to 0.35, mean (0.23±0.05). The main factors that influenced PDI were PS, CP and CA. Zeta potential (ZP) presented mean value (-46.2±4.4) mV. Surfactants influenced ZP values depending on the liquid lipids. Entrapment efficiency was between 58% and 79%, mean (72±5)% and interaction among liquid lipids was crucial to this output, such as cottonseed (CS) and capric/caprylic (CC) oils. Based on the responses, CA, CP, CC and PS were the most interactive excipients; our innovative approach provided an extensive information base, broad excipient analysis, unpublished interactions and relevant information for further formulation optimization.

Biography:

Anthony N Papathanassiou is leading the Dielectric Spectroscopy Laboratory at the Department of Physics, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (NKUA), Greece. He got his PhD in Solid State Physics from NKUA. He worked as Research Associate in NKUA, Universität Bayreuth and Lyman Physics Laboratory, Harvard University as a Research Scholar or Research Fellow. His current research interest is on electric charge transport and relaxation in electron-conducting polymers and nano-composites, emphasizing on the role of pressure and temperature on electronic properties and phase transitions of condensed matter.

Abstract:

The electronic properties of polymer composites with dispersed nano-graphene platelets (NGPs) depend on the transition rate of charge carrier transport by fluctuation induced tunneling through the insulating polymer. The transition rate is determined by the concentration of conducting islands, pressure and temperature. Different electric charge flow mechanisms are characterized by different transition rates which can be resolved by employing broadband dielectric spectroscopy (BDS). Polyvinylalcohol (PVA) and polyvinylalcohol/polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVA/PVP) 50 w/w, which are flexible, water-soluble, bio-compatible polymers with sufficient optical transparency, were loaded with NGP fractions in the vicinity of electrical percolation threshold. BDS at temperatures below 313 K and pressures up to 30 MPa results in balancing conductivity vs. capacitance effects. A number of interesting phenomena are reported and interpreted, in terms of the critical behavior of the composites around the insulator to conductor transition, as well as to the glass transition of PVA. Pressure-temperature BDS enables a detailed insight into microscopic charge transport processes, providing the knowledge for functionalization and optimization of the physical properties of the nano-composites. The switching behavior of the nano-composites suggests that they may probably be used as pressure sensors.

Biography:

Ewa Kazimierska is Ser Cymru II Recapturing Talent Fellow working in Energy Safety Research Institute at Swansea University in Wales, UK. She came back to academia after prolonged career break and the key research goal of her current project is to develop the next generation materials for electrical power transmission. Her interest is in the integration of carbon materials in metals aiming to develop ultraconductive copper-carbon nanotube composites. She has completed her PhD from City University of New York and Postdoctoral studies from Dublin City University. She completed her Master studies from Warsaw University.          

Abstract:

Ultraconductive copper-carbon nanotubes composites are novel advanced materials for fabrication of lighter and more stable electrical wires to provide more efficient energy transport. To overcome the limitation of copper and CNTs incompatibility various types of pre-functionalised nanotubes were used. The dynamics of electrochemical deposition and dissolution of copper in the presence of amine- and carboxylic- functionalized multiwalled carbon nanotubes has been studied in detail using an electrochemical quartz crystal microbalance. It was found that carbon nanotube functionalization has critical influence on the values of mass and current densities of copper deposition. Presence of amine functionalization increases competitive hydrogen evolution without significantly affecting the total amount of deposited copper, whereas carboxylic groups clearly enhance deposition of larger amounts of smoother copper deposits. Molar mass analysis of deposited species reveals interactions of carbon nanotubes with the electrode surface dependent on the type of functionalization. In the light of present results, the effect of carbon nanotube functionalization should be closely considered in the development of electrochemical strategies for the integration of carbon nanotubes in metallic copper.

Biography:

Carlo Bradac is a Research Fellow at the University of Technology, Sydney. He studied Physics and Engineering at the Polytechnic of Milan, Italy where he achieved his Bachelor’s degree in 2004 and Master’s degree in Engineering for Physics and Mathematics in 2006. He received his PhD in Physics at Macquarie University in 2012. His research focuses on colour centres in diamond and on their potential use in quantum information technologies, biomedical applications and high-resolution single-spin sensing.
 

Abstract:

Probing biological processes down to the single-molecule scale, in vivo, is one of the prime yet unreached goals of biomedicine. This matters because at the most fundamental level human physiology and all biological processes are the result of intricate actions of single proteins such as enzymes, motor proteins, DNA or RNA molecules. Common fluorescence microscopy techniques employ luminescent bio-labels to image biological systems. They are ensemble methods which average over the whole population of molecules and provide a coarse overview of the process under investigation. Specialized, molecule-targeted techniques do exist. They are based on optical tweezers/traps (OTs), which allow for the manipulation of small bio-labels to probe, for instance, pico-Newton forces of molecular motors such as kinesin, dynein and myosin. Whilst being a great tool, OTs are limited by the size-range of objects they can address and the forces they can exert. Classical optical trapping relies on large (~0.1-1 µm) refractive beads to work, which clashes with the push, in biomedicine, towards reaching the (sub)nanometre-scale regime of single-molecule exploration. Also, forces within living cells can be relatively large (~10 pN) and require a high-power laser in the OT; this is not ideal as it can result in cell damage. After reviewing the main limitations of current OTs, author present some of the pioneering work which they are doing to overcome these limits and develop OTs compatible with delicate biological environment and which will potentially allow for reaching size (~tens of nm) and force regimes (~hundreds of pN) unattainable with current techniques.

Biography:

Il-Kwon Oh is the Director of Active Materials and Dynamic Systems Lab and is working as a Full Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at KAIST. He received his PhD degree from the Department of Mechanical Engineering at KAIST and joined LG Digital Appliance Research Laboratory as a Senior Researcher in 2001. And then he became an Assistant Professor at Chonnam National University in 2004 and was promoted as an Associate Professor in 2008. Also, he was a visiting scholar in Stanford University at 2007. In 2010, he moved to KAIST as an Associate Professor and was promoted to a Full Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering in 2015. Currently, he is a Director of the Creative Research Initiative Center for Functionally Antagonistic Nano-Engineering. He is an Editorial Board member in Scientific Reports, Actuators, Graphene and an Associate Editor in International Journal of Smart and Nano-Materials and Frontiers in Materials, Smart Materials Section. Also, he served as a congress chair of the 7^th World Congress on Biomimetics, Artificial Muscles and Nano-Bio, which was held in Jeju Island, in 2013.

Abstract:

Low-dimensional nanostructures such as 0D fullerene, 1D carbon nanotube, and 2D graphene materials have received widespread attention due to their excellent mechanical, electrical, and chemical properties. However, they have not yet reached the stage of engineering applications and industrialization because of problems such as intrinsic defects, dispersion, restacking, and alignment. Therefore, to overcome the limitations of the low-dimensional nano-carbons, it is necessary to develop 3D multifunctional hetero nanostructures that have strong bonding between other nanostructures. Herein, this study will establish innovative defect engineering methods to form 3D multifunctional hetero-nanostructures by intentionally generating defects and using those defects as nucleation sites. And, we will establish a new concept of functionally antagonistic nano-engineering, which will allow us to realize synergistic multifunctionalities with 3D hetero nanostructures having two concurrent antagonistic functions (i.e. energy storage and energy dissipation). During the defect engineering processes, physical and atomic scale defects will be intentionally generated and those defects will be used as functionally active sites for strong bonding among different nanostructures. This study will extend this new preliminary method to make various 3D hetero-nanostructures such as highly porous 3D networked structures with efficient ionic pathways, nanohole-structured and catalyst-embedded porous nanostructures, carbon fabric having anode/cathode nanowire electrodes, and particle damping nanomaterials. 3D multifunctional hetero nanostructures will be applied in functionally antagonistic nano-engineering, which will have a great impact on our lives, allowing the fabrication of integrated composite structural modules with two antagonistic functions such as energy storage and energy dissipation functions needed in next generation electronics and vehicles. Thus, this new technology is expected to lead to new future industries that will greatly contribute to improvements in life quality, pique public interests, and lead to healthy lives for humankind. In addition, the defect engineering synthesis of 3D multifunctional hetero-nanostructures will include fundamental nano-science and will be disruptive technology that will have a great impact on industries involving machinery, energy, electronic instruments, the environment, etc.

Biography:

Jong Seok Woo has completed his PhD from Kyungpook University. He is the Manager of Morgan Advanced Materials in Korea. He has published more than 20 papers in reputed journals.

Abstract:

A smart multifunctional surface of conductive plastics with a superhydrphobic surface having porous micro- and nano-structures can potentially be very useful in many applicatioins of electrostatic dissipation (ESD), electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding, and in transparent film heaters with self-cleaning properties. Here, we demonstrate a facile and rapid method for fabricating superhydrophobic conductive films from transparent conductive films with silver nanowires (AgNWs) and single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) on polycarbonate (PC). This process involves the swelling of the PC surface in a dispersion of multi-walled CNTs (MWCNTs) in methly ethyl ketone (MEK), followed by coaqulation in isopropy alcohol (IPA, nonsolvent for PC). During swelling, the AgNWs and SWCNTs migrated into the plastic, and after that, the swollen PC chains were crystallized in IPA. Notably, by adding MWCNTs in MEK, the crystallization of PC chains was accelerated, and the rapid increase in the eletrical resistivity of the films was minized by reducing the formation of microstructures. Crystallization of the AgNW/SWCNT electrode onto PC and the incorporation of MWCNTs during crystallization provided a flexible superhydrophobic heater for use as a self-cleaning surface. Our results provide a very easy way to fabricate a conductive and superhydrophobic polymer surfaces with lotus-like bionic nanostuctures.

Biography:

Keith H Moss holds a BSc Degree in Biochemistry and Genetics from the University of Cape Town, RSA and an MSc in Engineering (Biotechnology) from the Technical University of Denmark (DTU). Currently, as a first year PhD student at DTU, he is engaged in the development of a novel technology platform for the identification of optimal nanoparticles for therapeutic applications. This project encompasses multiple disciplines and incorporates his interest in human disease and molecular therapeutics as well as nanotechnology and pharmaceutical drug development.

Abstract:

Conventional, untargeted and nonspecific therapies, especially regarding cancer, are commonly associated with a low therapeutic index due to poor drug efficacy and significant adverse effects. Nanoparticles (NPs) as drug delivery vehicles represent a promising strategy to overcome such shortfalls. Development in the field of NPs and clinical translation for therapeutic applications has been limited by technical and regulatory factors. Currently, there are unmet needs in the design, generation and screening of therapeutic NPs such as a consistent and reproducible synthetic technique capable of up-scaling. This is, in part, due to the vast array of parameters that each requires optimization. As a result, current strategies to optimize NPs for therapeutic applications are low-throughput and experimentally time consuming. Nucleic acids and other “hard to drugify” therapeutic macromolecules have been restricted to highly personalized therapeutic strategies such as chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) therapy and other adoptive cell therapy (ACT) applications. A breakthrough regarding the field of CAR T cell therapy would be an in vivo administration approach, which could potentially transform an expensive, patient specific therapy to a generic and widely-available treatment strategy, without the need for patient T-cell gene modification and expansion ex vivo. Such an innovative approach would utilize NPs to systemically deliver messenger RNA (mRNA), encoding for CARs targeting surface antigens expressed on cancer cells to T cells. The CodeSphere platform technology represents a unique strategy to generate and screen for optimized NP/liposome formulations in a high-throughput manner. The novelty in this proposed technology is the use of a DNA barcode as a unique liposome identifier. This DNA-barcode molecular-encoding system was previously developed by Bentzen et al., for the large-scale detection of antigen specific T cells and is now being applied in this new platform. In essence, liposomes will be tagged with a unique DNA barcode encoding for and identifying the composition. The CodeSphere strategy involves the generation of large, diverse DNA-encoded NP libraries which can then be screened in a single-tube assay, allowing the simultaneous assessment of thousands of different NP formulations for the most effective delivery of therapeutic cargo.

Biography:

Robert Prudhomme is a Professor in the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering at Princeton University, USA. He is the Founding Director of the Program in Engineering Biology. His research program focusses on polymer self-assembly applied to drug delivery. The development of Flash Nanoprecipitation (FNP) in his laboratory enabled the encapsulation of poorly soluble drug compounds and oligonucleotides for therapy directed towards cancer, TB, and injections. FNP is a scalable and continuous process that is enables integrated processing and spray drying for low cost oral and aerosol formulations. Under sponsorship by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the process is being adopted to formulate new compounds coming from TBA, MMV, and DNDi.

Abstract:

Biologics, the fastest-growing sector of the pharmaceutical marketplace, are an attractive class of therapeutics because of their impressive potency, high selectivity, and reduced off-target effects. But while the effectiveness of these drugs outclasses many of their small-molecule predecessors, administering biologics remains a challenge. Physiological barriers such as chemical digestion (when taken orally), rapid blood clearance (when injected), or thick pulmonary mucus (when inhaled) chemically or physically prevent biologics from reaching their targets and working as designed. To reduce the frequency of dosing, strategies of protecting these proteins and peptides within delivery vehicles have arisen, but the majority of these processes suffer from high losses and poor scalability. We here present a scalable and continuous method of encapsulating water-soluble charged biologics into polymeric nanoparticles. This is done by simultaneously reversibly ionically modifying the biologics of interest with hydrophobic counterions and controllably precipitating the newly-formed hydrophobic complex into nanoparticles via the polymer-directed Flash NanoPrecipitation technique. This combined technique, termed hydrophobic ion pairing Flash NanoPrecipitation (HIP-FNP), is applicable to a wide variety of peptides and proteins, both anionic and cationic. Importantly, the process is continuous, scalable, and achieves encapsulation efficiencies greater than 95%. We herein demonstrate encapsulation of two model proteins: the cationic enzyme lysozyme (MW 14,300 D) and the anionic protein ovalbumin (MW 42,700 D). By altering the identity or amount of hydrophobic counterion used, we can tune protein release rates, an important consideration for prolonged delivery. Importantly, we also show that the proteins’ activity has been retained throughout the processing steps. We believe this technique offers a route forward for improving the delivery of many biologic therapeutics and may improve patient comfort and compliance by simplifying dosing regimens.

Biography:

Juliana Damasceno Oliveira completed her Bachelor’s Degree in Pharmacy. She is currently a PhD student in the Department of Biochemistry and Tissue Biology at the Institute of Biology of University of Campinas (UNICAMP), Brazil. She has experience in the areas of pharmacology, biochemistry and pharmaceutical technology - working in the development of drug-delivery systems, DDS, mainly ionic gradient liposomes – and biophysical methods applied to the study of the structural, physicochemical, mechanical and biological properties of DDS.

Abstract:

Statement of the Problem: Liposomes are lipid carriers widely used in drug-delivery, and a number of liposome-based products have been approved for clinical application, so far. Local anesthetics interact with liposomes, distributing themselves in the lipid bilayer and in the inner aqueous core, prolonging the anesthesia time. In ionic gradient liposomes (IGL) the ionizable drug is loaded in preformed vesicles that exhibit a trans-membrane ionic gradient leading to high drug upload and, subsequently, prolonged drug release.

Objectives: The objective of this work is to develop IGL for the sustained release of etidocaine (EDC).

Methodology: Large unilamellar vesicles (LUV, 20 mM) composed of soy phosphatidylcholine:cholesterol (6:4 mol%) plus 250 mM sulfate gradient, were prepared for the upload of 0.5% EDC. Dynamic light scattering (DLS), nanotracking analysis (NTA) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) were used to characterize the liposomes’ size, polydispersity (PDI), zeta potential (PZ) and number of particles. The in vitro release of EDC was measured in Franz diffusion cells, at 37°C. Cell-viability assays were done in primary cell cultures (Schwann or sciatic nerve cells from Wistar rats).

Results: IGL were successfully prepared with size, PDI, PZ and concentration in the range 500 nm, 0.2 and -20 mV, and 4-5.10¹², respectively, and they kept stable over 60 days at 37±37°C. TEM data revealed the spherical morphology of the liposomes that was able to encapsulate 41% of EDC. At 37°C, the time for 100% release of the anesthetic increased from 3 h (EDC in solution) to 24h in IGL_EDC. Cytotoxicity tests revealed that encapsulation into liposomes decreased the intrinsic toxicity of the anaesthetic.

Conclusions: IGL are very interesting carriers for the delivery of local anesthetics. In this study sulphate-gradient LUV (large unilamellar vesicles) were found promising increase the upload, and release of etidocaine. In vivo tests are under course to evaluate the antinociceptive effects of the formulation.

Biography:

Samaneh Kabirian, a Chemist completed her Bachelor’s Degree in Pure Chemistry; Master’s Degree in Analytical Chemistry (detection of biomolecule in blood). She has her expertise in synthesis, characterization of nanoparticles conjugated to aptamers and passion in improving its application in biology of cancer. She is always curious and enthusiastic to work on multidisciplinary project and bridging gap between different domains of science. She is currently pursuing a double degree PhD in Molecular and Cellular Biology at the University of Lyon (France) and in Analytical Chemistry at Isfahan University (Iran). She has been studying and working in biochemistry and biology laboratory of cancer research center of Lyon (France) for the past 3 years. She gave her a good point of view to biological aspects of applications of nanoparticles in biology of cancer. With strong background in chemistry and specially analytical chemistry, she is also trained in all common molecular and cellular biology manipulations like cell culture, protein and DNA analysis and so on. Her double skilled ability helps build a good connection in multidisciplinary project especially cancer biology and pharmaceutical chemistry.

Abstract:

AS1411 is a G-rich oligodeoxynucleotide aptamer that has been used in phase II clinical trials for the potential treatment of cancers. Forming a G-quartet structure, AS1411 binds to cell surface nucleolin specifically, and is subsequently internalized into the tumor cell. It remains unclear how AS1411 binding to nucleolin leads to cell proliferation inhibition and cell death. Despite remarkable AS1411 results in a few patients, the overall rate of response has been low, possibly because it has less than optimal pharmacology and relatively low potency. Attaching AS1411 to gold nanospheres (AS1411-GNSs) increases its accumulation in cancer cells and enhances its antitumor efficacy by binding to cellular nucleolin. Nucleolin is associated with ribosomal DNA (rDNA) and is absolutely required for rRNA synthesis. It binds with nanomolar affinities the G-quadruplex rDNA sequences to increase the rate of RNA polymerase I (POL1) transcription. We developed a new complex of AS1411 conjugated to Gold nanospheres (GACGs). This complex was more stable and effective than AS1411 in treated tumor cell lines. GACGs decrease nucleolin expression affecting tumor cell proliferation and POLI targeting genes transcription such as 5’ETS and 18s. Thus, GACGs targeting Nucleolin/rDNA complexes inhibit POLI and represents a novel, nucleolar targeting approach to selectively disrupt proliferation in cancer cells and induce cell death.

Biography:

Robert Prudhomme is a Professor in the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering at Princeton University, USA. He is the Founding Director of the Program in Engineering Biology. His research program focusses on polymer self-assembly applied to drug delivery. The development of Flash Nanoprecipitation (FNP) in his laboratory enabled the encapsulation of poorly soluble drug compounds and oligonucleotides for therapy directed towards cancer, TB, and injections. FNP is a scalable and continuous process that is enables integrated processing and spray drying for low cost oral and aerosol formulations. Under sponsorship by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the process is being adopted to formulate new compounds coming from TBA, MMV, and DNDi.

Abstract:

Nanotechnology in drug delivery has a schizophrenic dichotomy of goals. One goal is to make drugs more bioavailable, which is normally associated with oral drug delivery. This bioavailability is associated with rapidly releasing drugs. The goal is achieved by making nanocarriers (NCs) with high surface-to-volume ratios, and with the drug in an amorphous state. The other goal is to encapsulate and deliver drugs to specific disease sites. This requires retaining the drug in the NC until targeted delivery is achieved. We will discuss examples of nanoparticle formulations based on our rapid micromixing platform – Flash Nanoprecipitation  (FNP)– that address both of these goals. Targeted, sustained-release NCs require degradable block copolymers that enable targeting, but also clearance. Sustained release is achieved either by making insoluble ion pairs or through pro-drug synthesis. Enhanced dissolution, for oral delivery of poorly bioavailable therapeutics, requires the development of low-cost NC stabilizers. We demonstrate NC formation using lecithin, HPMC, and the corn protein, zein. The coupling of FNP to a spray drier enables a continuous, integrated, one step and scalable process for the production of powders for oral administration. The unexpected stability of these NC powders to high temperature and humidity, and the scalability of the platform were major reasons that the Gates Foundation has funded our group to prepare NC formulations of several drugs coming through their pipeline. While FNP was initially developed for encapsulation of hydrophobic actives, soluble peptides and proteins are now the fastest growing segment of the pharmaceutical market. We will present a new inverse Flash Nanoprecipitation process (iFNP) which enables encapsulation of peptides and biologics at 90% loading with 95% loading efficiency. The encapsulation at these loadings has not been achieved by other technologies.

Biography:

Regina Herma is PhD candidate at Jan Evangelista Purkyne University(UJEP),Czech Republic. Her work is mainly focused on the effect of type, generation and surface modification of carbosilane dendrimers on the interaction with selected nucleic acids for applications in biomedicine (transport molecules for drug targeting, vectors for gene therapy, potential treatment of lung cancer). She is part of a research team for a number of projects.

Abstract:

Gene therapy is a rapidly growing field of biomedical research which has sparked great interest because it offers the possibility of a permanent cure a variety of genetic-based diseases. The success of gene therapy depends on the development of suitable vectors for the delivery nucleic acids into cells. Our work is focused on the comparative study of the two types of cationic carbosilane dendrimers terminated with the ammonium and phosphonium groups for their use as non-viral vectors for siRNA transfection. We present a part of work devoted to characterization of dendriplexes formed from generation 1-3 (G1-3) of carbosilane dendrimers and model siRNA. We used a number of biophysical methods (e.g. Gel retardation electrophoresis, DLS, ξ (zeta)-potential, AFM) for characterization of dendriplexes. Transfection efficiency was evaluated by Fluorescence Microscopy and Flow Cytometry. Both types of dendrimers G2-G3 form stable complexes with siRNA due to positive charge of surface groups of dendrimers and negative charge of siRNA backbone. Formation of dendriplexes was investigated at different charge ratio (1/5 – 10/1 (+/-)) to find the optimal properties of complexes (e.g. stability, surface charge, dimensions) for transfection of cells. In vitro transfection experiments proved the ability of both G3 dendriplex structures to enter the cells, with maximal achieved transfection efficiency at 7/1 (+/-) charge ratio. Ammonium dendrimers achieved max. 30% of transfected cells. More than 70% of cells were transfected under the same conditions with phosphonium terminated dendrimers. With the aim to optimize the properties of phosphonium dendriplexes we incorporated new periphery substituents (P(Et₂)₂(CH₂)₃OH, P(Ph)_3, P(C₆H₄-OMe)₃, PBu₃) into dendrimer structure. Similar cytotoxicity (except PBu₃₎ and transfection efficiencies were obtained with the exception of P(Ph)₃ peripheral substituent. This type of dendrimer exhibits more than 80% transfection efficiency and seems to be the “hot” candidate for further improvements of gene delivery by phosphonium carbosilane dendrimer vectors.