Course Number
545.628
Course Format
Onsite

Nanomedicine is a quickly growing area that exploits the novel chemical, physical, and biological properties of nanostructures and nanostructured materials for medical treatments. This course presents basic design principles of constructing nanomaterials for use in drug delivery, disease diagnosis and imaging, and tissue engineering. Three major topics will be discussed, including (1) nanocarriers for drug delivery that are formed through soft matter assembly (e.g., surfactants, lipids, block copolymers, DNA, polyelectrolytes, peptides); 2) inorganic nanostructures for disease diagnosis and imaging (e.g., nanoparticles of gold and silver, quantum dots and carbon nanotubes); and (3) supramolecular scaffolds for tissue engineering and regenerative medicine. Students are expected to learn the physical, chemical and biological properties of each nanomaterial, the underlying physics and chemistry of fabricating such material, as well as their advantages and potential issues when used for biomedical applications. This course will also provide students opportunities for case studies on commercialized nanomedicine products. After this class, students should have a deeper understanding of current challenges in translating nanoscience and nanotechnology into medical therapies.