Functional Nanoscale Inorganic Materials

2009年12月，恰逢理查德·费曼那篇富有远见的、现在经常被引用的题为《底部有足够的空间》的演讲发表50周年。在任何“纳米”出现之前，费曼的7000字是纳米科学/纳米技术的一个决定性时刻。他说：“我想谈论的是在纳米尺度上操纵和控制事物的问题.....费曼的演讲激励了许多科学家开展纳米尺度的研究。***尽管在过去的一个世纪里取得了许多进步，社会将继续在生物医学、法医和安全（指纹检测、标记爆炸物和文件防伪）方面面临严峻的挑战，除非促进重大的科学和技术突破。所有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早期发现，这两者对于有效治疗至关重要。这些挑战中的许多（如果不是全部的话）将取决于对原子和分子聚集体的性质和行为的理解，这些性质与更大尺度（宏观）的性质有很大不同，以及新纳米材料的合成。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，结构和化学性质。该计划作为一个整体提出了许多挑战，并在理解社区开展纳米材料生物应用研究（生物成像，药物输送，光学传感，光动力治疗和光开关）所面临的挑战方面开辟了新的领域。该计划将提供纳米颗粒与蛋白质相互作用的理解。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。我们还将研究全氟乳剂作为可用于光动力治疗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.