Functional Nanoscale Inorganic Materials

2009年12月，纪念理查德·费曼的远见卓识的演讲50周年，他现在经常被引用的题为《底部有足够的空间》的演讲。费曼的7000字是纳米科学/纳米技术的一个决定性时刻，早在任何“纳米”出现在地平线之前。他说：“我想谈的是在纳米尺度上操纵和控制东西的问题。费曼的演讲激励了许多科学家在纳米尺度上进行研究。 尽管在过去一个世纪里取得了许多进展，但除非推动重大科学和技术突破，否则社会将继续面临生物医学、法医和安全(指纹检测、爆炸物标记和文件防伪)方面的艰巨挑战。这些挑战都可能受益于纳米技术，包括确定许多疾病的分子起源和及早发现，这两者对有效的治疗都是至关重要的。这些挑战中的许多，如果不是全部，将取决于对原子和分子聚集体的性质和行为的理解，在这种情况下，性质与更大规模(宏观)的性质和新纳米材料的合成有很大不同。我们研究计划的首要目标是合成功能纳米材料，表征其光物理、结构和化学特性。作为一个整体，该方案提出了许多挑战，并在了解开展生物应用纳米材料研究(生物成像、药物输送、光学传感、光动力疗法和光开关)的社区面临的挑战方面开辟了新的天地。该计划将提供对纳米颗粒与蛋白质相互作用的了解。这种对NPs与蛋白质相互作用的基本理解将促进材料的长期设计。我们还将研究全氟化乳剂作为可用于光动力疗法的氟化光敏染料的潜在载体。

December 2009, marked the 50th anniversary of Richard Feynman's visionary and now often quoted lecture entitled “There's Plenty of Room at the Bottom.” Feynman's 7000 words were a defining moment in nanoscience/nanotechnology long before anything “nano” appeared on the horizon. “What I want to talk about” he said “is the problem of manipulating and controlling things on a nanoscale.. “Feynman's lecture inspired many scientists to carry out research at the nanoscale. Despite the many advances, which have occurred over the past century, society will continue to be faced with daunting challenges in biomedicine, forensic and security (fingerprint detection, tagging explosives, and anti-forgery of documents) unless major scientific and technological breakthroughs are fostered. These challenges, all of which may benefit from nanotechnology, include identifying the molecular origins of many diseases and early detection both of which are paramount to effective treatment. Many if not all of these challenges will depend on understanding the properties and behaviour of aggregates of atoms and molecules at a scale where properties differ significantly from those at the larger scale (macroscopic) and on the synthesis of new nanomaterials. The overriding objective of our research program is the synthesis of functional nanomaterials, characterize their photophysical , structural and chemical properties. The programme as a whole poses many challenges and breaks new ground in understanding the challenges faced by the community carrying out research on nanomaterials for biological applications (bioimaging, drug delivery, optical sensing, photodynamic therapy and photoswitching). The programme will provide an understanding of the interaction of nanoparticles with proteins. This fundamental understanding of the interaction of the NPs with proteins will foster the long-term design of materials. We will also investigate perfluorinated emulsions as potential carriers of fluorinated photosensitising dyes that can be used for photodynamic therapy.