C-MIT Seminar by Dr. Vuk Uskokovic

Abstract:

Structural complexities of ceramic materials in solid or colloidal forms are the key to explaining their displays of broad ranges of interesting properties. However, these complexities are yet to be harnessed to the fullest extent and translated to the medical domain. The first part of this lecture will focus on our studies on calcium phosphate nanoparticles and the discovery of a number of new properties exhibited by them through a precise control of their physical and chemical properties. These properties include tunable drug delivery kinetics, memory effect with biological repercussions, oscillatory behavior, cellular uptake selectivity, intrinsic antibacterial activity, and others. This will be placed in the context of an ongoing effort to expand the application repertoire of calcium phosphate nanoparticles beyond their traditional use as components that impart osteoconductivity and high compressive strength to tissue engineering constructs. The second part of the lecture will center around our work on an aqueous surfactant-free ferrofluid composed of composite magnetic nanoparticles modeled after the stratified structure of the Earth and on its use for transport across  the blood-brain barrier and brain tumor targeting.