The Art of Falling Apart: Exploiting Nanomaterial Disassembly for Medicine and Pharmacy
Adah Almutairi, PhD.
Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Department of NanoEngineering
and the Materials Science and Engineering Program, UCSD
Wednesday November 2, 2011
11:00 am – 12:00 pm
Fung Auditorium
Abstract
Research in nanotechnology over the last two decades has enabled scientists and engineers to build constructs of shapes, sizes and properties previously unattainable. These efforts have been rewarded with numerous Nobel Prizes. Now is the time to also focus on controlled disassembly of nanomaterial constructs to access properties and enable technologies useful in overcoming medical and pharmaceutical challenges. This presentation will cover two new classes of materials developed. Their usefulness to a number of medical challenges such as gene delivery and inflammatory diseases will be highlighted
Biosketch
Prof. Adah Almutairi moved to Los Angeles in 1997 to attend Occidental College where she was awarded the Rodna Nye Scholarship. After receiving an Advanced Bachelor in Chemistry, Prof. Almutairi was selected to receive a GAANN fellowship to continue her studies at the University of California Riverside. In 2005, she completed her PhD in Materials Chemistry and received both the UC Dissertation Award and the prestigious UC Presidential Postdoctoral Fellowship. Upon completing her postdoctoral studies at the University of California Berkeley in the laboratories of Prof. Jean Fréchet, in Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Prof. Almutairi moved to the University of California San Diego to establish the Laboratory for Bioresponsive Materials as a Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences. In 2009 Prof. Almutairi received the NIH Directors New Innovator Award. Adah has authored numerous publications and presented at conferences worldwide. Her research interests are in interfacing Materials Chemistry and Engineering with Biomedical Sciences for practical applications.