Biomimetic Chemistry
Research Group
School of Chemistry
THE UNIVERSITY OF
NEW SOUTH WALES
Dr. Pall Thordarson
(Palli)
Senior Lecturer
Chemistry
UNSW
Tall Poppy
NSW
What has Chemistry ever done for us
and what can
Nanotechnology do for us?
My background:
1971: Born Vopnafjordur, Iceland, grew up on a farm
1991: High School, Egilsstadir, Iceland – Natural Science stream
1995: BSc. Chemistry – University of Iceland, Reykjavik
1996: Research worker – Science Institute
Main project: Polyunsaturated fatty acids from cod liver oil
1997: Came to Australia, PhD at the University of Sydney
Main project: Self-replicating systems
2000: Volunteer at the Olympics (including horse handler)
2001: PhD Graduation, The University of Sydney
2001: Marie Curie Fellow, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
Main project: Mimicking DNA-enzymes
2003: Back to Australia, The University of Sydney
2006: Australian Research Council – Australian Research Fellow
2007: Australian Citizen
2007: Senior Lecturer UNSW
2008: NSW Tall Poppy Science Award
What do I do now?
(not much – my co-workers do it all!)
Light-driven bio-hybrids
e-
terpyridine
complex
My co-workers:
N
OSi
spacer
N
Ru2+ N
N
N
hv (LIGHT SIGNAL)
N
O
O
NO2- + H2O
spacer N
S
e-
O
4 BSc. Hons. students
4 PhD Students
2 Post-doctoral Fellows
Self-assembled gels for drug delivery
1 Research Assistant
Nitrate reductase
ITO
NO3-
e-
Electrode
cytochrome c
Self-assembled gel
Biomimetic Chemistry Research Group
School of Chemistry
THE UNIVERSITY OF NEW SOUTH WALES
What has Chemistry ever done for us
and what can
Nanotechnology do for us?
1. What has Chemistry ever done for us
Would you be alive without modern chemistry?
Would you be alive without modern chemistry?
Penicillin – still saving people from deadly infections
(did you ever get an ear infection?)
Relenza – might save us TOMORROW from the Swine-Flu!
(invented by Australian Chemists in 1989)
Would you be alive without modern chemistry?
Artificial Fertiliser:
Ammonium nitrate (NH4NO3) – has it allowed up to 4 billion
more people on this planet?
World population:
1900 = 2 Billion
2000 = 6 Billion
NH4NO3 first made
in ca. 1910
Coincidence?
Chemistry has also had an enormous social impact
Time 7th April, 1967
Norethisterone
When these two steroids
are mixed we call it
“The pill”
Ethinylestradiol
Chemistry has also had an enormous social impact
30 years later – Chemists at the Drug company Pfizer were
looking for a new drug for high blood pressure:
Time 4th May, 1998
Sildenafil
These scientists discovered some
interesting side-effects in male
patients
The marketing people called it:
VIAGRA
(the “blue pill”)
What has Chemistry ever done for us
and what can
Nanotechnology do for us?
2. So what can Nanotechnology do for us?
What is Nanotechnology?
What is Nanotechnology?
The science of very small things
This is not small, these are micro, not Nano
The making of useful devices or machines where in
at least one dimension the fabrication is controlled
in the nanometer scale
http://mems.sandia.gov/scripts/images.asp
What is nanotechnology?
Device Manufacture
Nanotechnology
Molecular
Science
The Scale in Meters
1025m
~1 billion light
years, the
approximate
range of
universe
observed by
human being
1014m
100 billion km
(or 0.1 Pm,
Petametre)
the complete
orbit of planet
Pluto
1021m
~ 100,000
light years,
roughly the
size of Milky
Way
107m
10,000 km,
we can see
most of the
world
The Scale in Meters
103m
10 m
1 km
we can see the
arrangement of
houses
we can see
the players in
the field
10-2m
10-4m
1 cm
details of the
skin
100 mm
we can see
the cells in a
human body
(~17 mm)
The Scale in Meters
10-6m
10-7m
1mm, clustering
of
chromosomes
100nm, we can
see a strand
of DNA
10-9m
10-10m
1nm, the
molecular
structure of
DNA
100 pm (pico),
the size of an
atom
surrounded
by electron
cloud
The Scale in Meter
10-13 m
10-14m
100fm (femto),
we can see the
nucleus of an
atom
10fm, we can
see the
protons and
neutrons in
the nucleus
10-15m
1fm, we can see
the quarks
which form the
protons and
neutrons
10-16m
100 am (atto),
the quarks in
details (~1019m)
WHY NANOTECHNOLOGY?
Nanotechnology has impacted us primarily in:
Information Technology
Defense
Health and Medicine
Minerals/Chemical Processing
Cosmetics
WHY NANOTECHNOLOGY?
Fundamentally new properties
Exciting new mechanisms
Strange and Fancy Size Dependent Behavior!!
Colour of nanophase materials vary according to
the size of their constituent grains, or
clusters.
All four vials above contain Cadmium Selenide. But because these
otherwise identical samples all have different-size clusters, each
takes on different hue under white light (left) and ultraviolet light
(right).
From Nature to Science
The lotus leaf is
considered sacred
in Oriental religions
for its ability to stay
dry and clean.
When water drops
on the leaf, it beads
up and rolls off the
waxy surface,
washing away dirt
as it goes.
When a lotus leaf is examined under a highpowered microscope, it does not have the
waxy, smooth surface that appears to the
naked eye. Rather, it is bumpy—a
characteristic that aids repelling water
NanoPowders
– It’s what you can’t see
Nanopowders are transparent to visible light.
Biomimetic Nanotechnology
Cheap solar cells from nanocrystalline TiO2 to
reduce greenhouse gas emission
(Electricity from the Sun)
Conducting
glass
TiO2 film
Porphyrin
dye
Biomimicry
Biomimetic Chemistry Research Group
School of Chemistry
THE UNIVERSITY OF NEW SOUTH WALES
-
Electrolyte
with I-/I-3
What do I do?
Light-driven bio-hybrids
eterpyridine
complex
N
OSi
spacer
N
Ru2+ N
N
N
hv (LIGHT SIGNAL)
N
O
O
NO2- + H2O
spacer N
S
e-
O
Nitrate reductase
ITO
NO3-
e-
Electrode
cytochrome c
Biomimetic Chemistry Research Group
School of Chemistry
THE UNIVERSITY OF NEW SOUTH WALES
Nanotechnology in Medicine
Tiny detectives: this
optical nanofiber can be
used to study a
particular cell without
destroying it.
Nanofiber gels and tissue engineering
Hydrophobic
Hydrophilic
C18-GlyGlyGlyGlyAlaAlaAlaGluIleLysValAlaVal
(C18-GGGAAAAEIKVAV)
O
N
H
H
N
O
O
N
H
H
N
O
O
N
H
H
N
O
O
N
H
O
H
N
N
H
O
HO
H
N
O
O
N
H
H
N
O
O
N
H
H
N
O
O
O
NH2
Growth promotor
for neural cells
(epitope)
G. A. Silva, C. Czeisler, K. L. Niece, E. Beniash, D. A. Harrington, J. A. Kessler and S. I. Stupp,
Science, 2004, 303, 1352.
OH
Nanofiber gels and tissue engineering
Self-assembly
Self-assembly
Promotes neural
regrowth in spinal
injuries!
1 mm
G. A. Silva, C. Czeisler, K. L. Niece, E. Beniash, D. A. Harrington, J. A. Kessler and S. I. Stupp,
Science, 2004, 303, 1352.
Nanofiber gels and tissue engineering
Self-assembly
Promotes neural
regrowth in spinal
injuries!
Movies
G. A. Silva, C. Czeisler, K. L. Niece, E. Beniash, D. A. Harrington, J. A. Kessler and S. I. Stupp,
Science, 2004, 303, 1352.
Self-assembled gels and Tissue Engineering
Mimicking the Extracellular Matrix (ECM)
The ECM controls cell-cell interactions and growth
Important for tissue regeneration, tumour growth…
What do I do?
Self-assembled gels for drug delivery
Self-assembled gel
Drug release from selfassembled gels
Cancer drug
release
Biomimetic Chemistry Research Group
School of Chemistry
THE UNIVERSITY OF NEW SOUTH WALES
Thanks to:
My group:
Sabrina, Josh, Alex, Shiva, Katie,
Danny, David, Lip Son, Warren,
Ski, Ben and Alice
$$$ for my work:
Australian Research Council
NSW Cancer Institute
My wife for her patience
For giving me the opportunity to speak to you:
Australian Institute of Policy & Science/The Tall Poppy Champaign
And finally
YOU!