11^th International Conference and Expo on Nanoscience and Molecular Nanotechnology October 20-22, 2016 ROME, ITALY

Biography:

Nekane Guarrotxena is a PhD student from the University of Complutense, Madrid-Spain and Post-doctoral researcher at the Ecole Nationale Superieure d´Arts et Metiers (ENSAM), Paris (France) and the University of ScienceII, LEM-Montpellier (France). From 2008-2011, she was visiting Professor in the Department of Chemistry, Biochemistry and Materials at the University of California, Santa Barbara (USA) and the CaSTL at the University of California, Irvine (USA). She is currently Research Scientist at the Institute of Polymer Science and Technology (ICTP), CSIC-Madrid (Spain). Her research interest focuses on the synthesis and assembly of hybrid nanomaterials, nanoplasmonics, and their uses in nanobiotechnology applications (bioimaging, biosensing, drug delivery and therapy).

Abstract:

The ability to quantify multiple proteins in parallel using a single sample allows researchers and clinicians to obtain wide and important information with minimal assay time, sample volume, and cost. Such multiplexed analysis is accompanied by several challenges, including molecular encoding and the need to retain assay sensitivity, specificity, and reproducibility with the use of complex mixtures. In this talk, we present a method based on the electromagnetic surface enhancement of optically encoded nanostructures that combines NP assembly, encoding and probe incorporation into a single process which allow a simultaneous multiplexed protein scan and detection with high sensitivity

Biography:

Stefania Ordanini received her BSc and MSc degree cum laude at Università degli Studi di Milano, Italy. She there completed her PhD in 2015, under the guidance of Prof. Anna Bernardi, dealing with the synthesis and characterization of multivalent glycodendrimers as lectin binders. In 2015, she joined the group of Prof. Francesco Cellesi. Her research project is focused on the design, synthesis and morphological characterization of ultrasmall polymeric nanoparticles as both drug delivery systems and multivalent platforms

Abstract:

Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is a worldwide health threat characterized by a gradual loss in renal function, which often progresses to maintenance dialysis treatment and renal transplantation. The majorities of kidney diseases that lead to CKD starts in the glomerulus, where podocytes, highly specialized polarized cells, are damaged and fail to guarantee selective permeability of the glomerular filtration barrier. CKD drugs are known to have a direct action on podocytes, however they are charged by severe side effects, particularly when a systemic prolonged administration is required. The goal of this work was to develop novel targeted therapies directed to treat glomerular diseases of the kidney. New polymeric nanocarriers as well as liposomal nanoformulations were designed and synthesized to facilitate drug permeation through the glomerular filtration barrier, in order to target podocytes, aiming at reducing dose regime and systemic side effects to CKD patients. New engineered polymeric nanocarriers were synthesized by emulsion polymerization and controlled-living polymerization techniques and produced with a fine tuning of key properties such as size, degradability, surface chemistry, drug loading and release. Alternatively, functional liposomal formulations were also investigated as targeted nanodelivery systems. The effects of these nanomaterials on two-dimensional and three-dimensional cultures of glomerular cells were evaluated in vitro, in order to predict the effect of nanodelivery on glomerular filtration repair. Nanomaterial biodistribution, accumulation and permeability in the kidney glomerulus were assessed in animal models under physiological and pathological conditions

Biography:

Anna Rita Bilia is Associate Professor at the Department of Chemistry of the University of Florence, and Director of the Post-graduate School of Hospital Pharmacy. She is President of the International Society for Medicinal Plant and Natural Product Research and President of the Italian Society of Phytochemistry. She is Italian delegate at the European Scientific Cooperative for Phytotherapy and Expert of the European Pharmacopoeia. She published more than 180 scientific papers, several books chapters and invited reviews in reputed journals. She is Editor and Editorial Board Member of several international scientific journals

Abstract:

Natural products represent a main source of drugs due to their enormous structural and chemical diversity. They may have additive/synergistic or antagonistic effects, or possess unique mechanisms of action (i.e. taxol activity on tubulin polymerization), others can modulate multiple targets or activating multiple pathwaysdriving fundamental biological processes. A paradigmatic example is curcumin, it is a highly pleiotropic molecule with anti-inflammatory, anti-oxidant, chemopreventive, chemosensitization, and radiosensitization activities. In spite of these advantages, several questions concerning the role of natural compounds in the treatment of some diseases remain unanswered, principally due to the transferability of in vitro to in vivo and ultimately to human studies: mostly of promising molecules in cell-based assays fail in phase II and phase III. This passage from impressive in vitro activity to less or no significant in vivo efficacy is generally due to their poor water solubility, high lipophilicity resulting in poor absorption and hence poor systemic bioavailability, resulting in less or no therapeutic effects. Another problem is their instability in biological milieu, premature drug loss through rapid clearance and biotransformation. Over the last ten years, our laboratory has formulated biocompatible and iodegradablenanocarriers encapsulating various imperative natural products including artemisinin and derivatives, curcumin, andrographolide, salvianolic acid, verbascoside, flavonoids. The developed new dosage forms, namely micelles, vesicles, nanoparticles, microemulsions, solid lipid nanoparticles and structured lipid capsules performed several sound characteristics and functions, which are currently unavailable in conventional formulations of natural drugs, such as enhanced solubility and stability, effect of targeting and increasing bioavailability.

Acknowledgments: this work was supported by Ente Cassa di Risparmio di Firenze

Biography:

Bi-Hsuan Lin has completed his PhD from Department of Photonics and Institute of Electro-Optical Engineering, National Chiao Tung University, Hsinchu, Taiwan and Postdoctoral studies from European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF) for one year. Now, he works at National Synchrotron Radiation Research Center as the Assistant Scientist. He is participating in the construction and commission of the X-ray nanoprobe beamlime at Taiwan Photo Source (TPS), and is responsible for development of the XEOL and TR-XEOL

Abstract:

X-ray excited optical luminescence (XEOL) and time-resolved XEOL as well as the 40 nm spatial resolution which is focused by Montel KB mirrors are developed in the X-ray nanoprbe beamline at the new synchrotron facility, Taiwan Photon Source (TPS). Photoluminescence (PL) is one of the efficient and fundamental tools for characterising the optical properties of the wide band gap semiconductor materials. The advantages of using synchrotron radiation as the excitation source are that the tunable X-ray energy allows the preferential excitation of the elements through the X-ray absorption edges, and a suitable time structure of the synchrotron can be used to study the dynamics of luminescence of the materials. Before the nanoprobe beamline constructing completion, the XEOL experiment was measured by unfocus X-ray beam at Taiwan Light Source (TLS). In this study, by means of XEOL to study the optical properties of O and Zn polarity of c-plane ZnO bulks has been achieved successfully. The low temperature (less than 5K) and temperature-dependent XEOL with X-ray excited energy below, at and above the Zn K-edge (9.659keV) were used to obtain the further information of the optical mechanisms of the two polar faces. The first excited state (n=2) of A free exciton was observed at 3.422eV with only for O-polar. The result indicates that O-polar has higher optical quality than Zn-polar. The exciton-phonon (A1-
LO) coupling strength will be changed by using different X-ray excitation energy while the temperature above 150 K. The current design of the nanoprobe beamline and the detail XEOL experimental results will be reported

Biography:

Yanqing Wu has completed his PhD from Fudan University and Post-doctoral studies from Pohang University of Science and Technology. He is the Team Leader of Soft X-ray Team, Shanghai Synchron Radiation Facility. He has published more than 20 papers in reputed journals

Abstract:

A new stitching soft X-ray interference lithography technique is developed in BL08U1B, SSRF. A special multi-beam grating mask for soft X-ray is employed in this technique, which adopted permalloy as the beam stop layer to improve the service life. An order-sorting aperture (OSA) is necessary to block the 0th order diffraction beams from the mask to realize stitching the exposure
area one by one via moving the wafer with a micron precision. And a new in situ monitoring scheme using high harmonics is employed to collimate the mask and OSA. Therefore, the 0th order diffraction beams can be blocked completely and the undesired pattern around the exposed area could be eliminated. In this way, the exposed depth has been increased from less than 100 nm up to 300 nm and the exposed area is no longer decided by the mask and then could be stitched with a micron precision, up to several square centimeters

Biography:

Shao-Chin Tseng has completed his PhD from Department of Materials Science and Engineering, National Taiwan University. He is the Assistant Scientist of National Synchrotron Radiation Research Center. He focuses on Nanotechnology, X-ray nanoprobe, Optoelectronic Materials, Semiconductor Process, Biomedical Sensing. He has published more than 25 papers in reputed journals

Abstract:

In this study, we developed a new method.based on laser-induced jets of nanoparticles (NPs) and air drag forces.to select the particle size and control alloy ratio of NP arrays. First, thin metal (Au, Ag) films having a thickness of 35 nm were deposited on fused silica substrates through a sputter system. In addition, we can control the metal thin film ratio (Au/Ag, Ag/Au/Al) to manufacture variety alloy NPs. The pulsed laser light (Excimer laser) was irradiated on the rear side of the metal film-deposited fused silica substrates to generate jets of NPs. The incident wavelength of an excimer laser was varied to ensure good photo-to-thermal energy conversion e.ciency. We then exploited air drag forces to select NPs with sizes ranging from 5 to 50 nm at di.erent captured distances. Controlling the jet distances allowed us to finely tune the localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) wavelength. We further calculated the relationship between the air drag force and the diameter of the NPs to provide good control over the mean NP size (capture size >300 ƒÊm) by varying the capture distance. Laser-induced jets of NPs could also be used to fabricate NP arrays on a variety of substrates, including Si, glass, plastic, and paper. This method has the attractive features of rapid, large-area preparation in an ambient environment, no need for further thermal annealing treatment, ready control over mean particle size, and high selectivity in the positioning of NP arrays. Detailed analysis and results will be reported in the conference

Biography:

Wei Zong has completed her Master’s from Harbin Institute of Technology University. She is a PhD candidate in Harbin Institute of Technology University now

Abstract:

We report the stimuli-responsive poly-dopamine protected liposomes (liposome@PDA) drug carriers. The novel drug carriers are pH sensitive drug delivery systems. 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) which is the typical chemotherapeutic agent was loaded into the nano-size liposome@PDA capsules. The release percentages of 5-FU are 2.9%, 23.7%, 48.4%, 77.2% in the solution with pH 7.42, 6.87, 4.11 and 3.16, respectively. The in vitro cell cytotoxicity experiment showed that the capsules presented positive cell viability (above 90%). The capsule can easily pass the cell membranes and then up taken by the cells, thus leading to inhibition of cancer cell activity. The drug-loaded capsules performed better than free drug. Our finding demonstrates the great potential of liposome@PDA capsules as carriers in biomedical applications

Biography:

Yi Jun Liang, as a PhD candidate, joined the Lad of Nano Biological Materials and Devices in Southeast University, 2013, under the supervision of prof. Dr. Gu and Prof. Dr. Zhang. Currently, his research interests include the preparation of multifunctional magnetic nanoparticles for integration of diagnosis and treatment of cancer, and developing the microwave ultra-fast strategy for achieving magnetic nanomaterials production in commercial scale

Abstract:

In the past few years, numerous investigations have utilized the high quality magnetic nanoparticles in bio-applications, ranging from cancer therapy to bio-sensing applications for specific diagnosis, all due to their unique magnetic properties to solve mass practical issues. To the best of our knowledge, the magnetic nanoparticles can be synthesized by chemical methods, such as sol-gel, thermal decomposition, sol-or hydrothermal reaction and co-precipitation. Recent studies have demonstrated this issue to be promising and exciting. However, these approaches mentioned above centrally, over some points, have restricted further supporting of the reliability and stability of mass fabrication, though they were known as the conventional technique that possess long been recommended as well as well-defined morphology and narrow size distribution. In microwave matrix, energy output and thermal feedback is uniformly distributed and responsive to minimize thermal gradient, hence could be leading enhanced reaction rate and should be more appropriate to achieve the aim. Here, attention is focused on demonstrating that hypothesis. We engaged, in this issue, to develop a universal synthesis strategy for the magnetic nanoparticles preparation, and the products own the outstanding performance which can be differentially modified to expand and/or improve their functions, thus considered as the highly promising biomedical nanomaterials. As stated, our powerful strategy is of relevance for a broad range of applications, which could also be extended to exploit other monodisperse NPs benefiting from its important advantageous features

Biography:

Xunan Zhang is pursuing his PhD at Harbin Institute of Technology. He is a Member of Professor Xiaojun Han’s group which has published more than 40 papers in the fields of artificial cell membranes, controlled drug release, biosensors and microfluidics since established, in 2012.

Abstract:

We discovered the unique release behavior of aqueous two phase system (ATPS) within liposomes, which might pave new revenue for long-circulating liposomes. ATPS is composed of PEG and dextran. The unique release behavior is based on the disproportional distribution of DOX in each polymer phase. The release time was prolonged 3 h more than regular liposomes. Lipid vesicles were fabricated by electro-formation and extrusion methods. Furthermore, cytotoxicity and localization in HeLa cells of nanoscale vesicles were estimated. The inhibition rate was twice than pure drug

Biography:

Alaaldin M Alkilany obtained his PhD at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, USA (under the supervision of Professor Catherine Murphy). Afterward, he joined the Georgia Regents University (USA) as a Post-doctoral research fellow and then the University of Jordan as an Assistant Professor of Pharmaceutics and Pharmaceutical Technology in the Faculty of Pharmacy (Jordan). His research focuses on understanding the nano-bio interface toward desighning effective and safe nanotherapeutics. He has published more than 25 papers in reputed journals

Abstract:

Polymeric nanoparticles are promising candidates as a selective drug delivery platform with tremendous number of biomedical  applications. PLGA, poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid), is the most used polymer to prepare polymeric nanoparticles due to its well documented safety and biodegradability, high drug loading, ease of synthesis and being commercially available at reasonable cost. However, the fate of PLGA nanocarriers (PLGA-NCs), as well as other polymeric nanoparticles, in biological compartments is poorly understood. Available labelling approaches with fluorescent agents suffer from serious drawbacks such as photobleaching and desorption of the conjugated flourophores from nanoparticles. Herein, we report on loading PLGA-NCs with gold nanoparticles (GNPs) that serve as a probe for quantification and visualization of the hosting PLGA-NCs. In this contribution, we describe a facile method to encapsulate GNPs efficiently into PLGA-NCs. Moreover, we describe an interesting trend where the type of the capping agent on GNPs plays a crucial role in controlling the encapsulation efficiency into PLGA nanomatrix. Finally, we show preliminary results on visualizing “transparent” PLGA nanocarriers inside cancer cells using encapsulated GNPs as probes

Biography:

Dr. Paula Obreja has expertize in materials, processes and 3D microfabrication and manufacturing of optical components and photonic devices. She’s main areas of interest are in the applied research for development of new materials with improved physical properties and innovative processes for thin films preparation. In its projects she developed polymer and hybride nanocomposite materials for MOEMS and sensors microstructures, synthesis of CuInSe2 and other semiconductor, sol-gel, self- assembly, soft lithography or microstructuring techniques for micro and nano-photonics, light-emitting diodes, IR diodes and photodetectors for optical communications

Abstract:

Statement of the Problem: Zinc oxide (ZnO) nanowires have been widely studied due to their use in many devices, such as UV lasers, light-emitting diodes, solar cells, nanogenerators, gas sensors, photodetectors, and photocatalysts to inactivate bacteria and for the degradation of environmental pollutants. ZnO NWs have been synthesized by wet chemical methods, sputtering, physical vapor deposition, pulsed laser deposition, metal–organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) and molecular beam epitaxy (MBE). But, the relationship between the properties desired in applications and the preparation conditions is not clearly revealed. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the morphology and the physical properties of ZnO nanowires growth in different preparation conditions according to application requirements. Methodology: ZnO nanowires have been synthesized by hydrothermal method on a seed layer prepared by sol-gel process on different substrate materials (silicon oxide, indium-tin oxide, gold, graphene oxide, reduced graphene oxide) and in different conditions. The size of ZnO nanowires was evaluated using scanning electron microscopy. The morphology, structure and optical properties were investigated by X- ray diffraction, photoluminescence and UV-Vis spectra. The photorespons of ZnO nanowires growth on pre-patterned electrodes was evaluated from photocurrent measurement in different illumination conditions. Findings: The morphology and properties of ZnO nanowires can be easy and effectively controlled by a variety of parameters such as concentration and pH of solution, temperature and time of hydrothermal process. The choice of substrate may be another option to improve some applications based on ZnO nanowires. Conclusion & Significance: This study point out that ZnO nanowires grown on silicon oxide and indium-tin oxide are suitable for solar cells, those grown on gold are suitable for sensors and those grown on graphene oxide and reduced graphene oxide for UV photodetectors

Biography:

Marzieh Aghababie is a PhD student at University of Isfahan since September 2012. She is working on her PhD thesis entitled “Developing an Enzymatic Nanocomposite Membrane Bioreactor Using Immobilized Lipase on Magnetic Nanoparticle for the Production of Biodiesel”. In her Master’s, she published three papers in Journal of Food Engineering, Food and Bioproducts Processing Journal and Nutrition and Food Sciences Research. Last year, she had oral presentation about enzymatic nanocomposite membranes in the international conference on membrane science and technology. The present work is a small part of her thesis work

Abstract:

Lipase enzymes are biocatalysts which can catalyze different reactions such as oil hydrolysis, esterification, transesterification, biodiesel production and polymer synthesis. Due to the high cost of enzymes, immobilization offers a promising way for enzyme reusability and improving operational stability. Magnetic nanoparticles are a promising supports for enzyme immobilization due to their ease of preparation and recycling. In this study, Fe₃O₄ nanoparticle was synthetized and coated with silica to provide a silane group for further reaction with (3-aminopropyl)triethoxysilane (APTS). Afterwards, 3 different coupling agents, i.e., epichlorohydrin, glutaraldehyde, and cyanuric chloride were used for covalent attachment of lipase on magnetic nanoparticles. Various techniques such as SEM, TEM, XRD and FTIR were applied to characterize the MNPs. According to SEM and TEM results, size of magnetic nanoparticles was about 20-30 nm. The results showed that these immobilization processes were successful in terms of enzyme activity and immobilization efficiency. However, glutaraldehyde and cyanuric chloride functionalized magnetic nanobiocatalysts (MNBCs) had a higher activity than epichlorohydrin functionalized ones. This must be due to the side reactions of epichlorohydrin with amino functionalized MNPs which has opened the epoxy group in an improper condition. Further modifications in functionalization process with epichlorohydrin may provide a better support for enzyme immobilization. These MNBCs were used for biodiesel production in further experiments which showed a suitable biocatalyst for this purpose

Biography:

Nazanin Ghafari has completed her BS in Textile Engineering/Textile Chemistry Major in 2013 and her MSc in Nanofibrous Structure in 2015 from Islamic Azad University, Yadegar Imam, Shar-e-rey Branch; and has been pursuing PhD degree in Science and Research University. She has submitted papers in several conferences like: 1st Conference on Textile Engineering with latest Methods in Related Industry at Islamic Azad University Tehran Branch, Iran; 4^th National Conference on Textile Engineering, Polymer at Islamic Azad University Yazd Branch, Iran, and so on

Abstract:

Nanotechnology is the study and application of extremely small things (about 1 to 100 nanometers) and can be used across all the other science fields, such as chemistry, biology, physics, materials sciences and engineering. Polymeric nanofibers are one of the most known nanotechnology products and have huge potential applications in many fields due their high aspect ratio and porosity. The three dimensional feature of the product, results in having high capability for mechanical and biological applications. Electrospinning is a simple and inexpensive method of producing nanofibers in which, because of their unique structure, can be used in tissue engineering. Polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) is a biocompatible and water soluble synthetic polymer that is easily electrospun. Typically, PVA is soluble in water but in fact water can decrease the solubility of some polymers, hence blending these polymers with PVA can solve this problem. In this work, PVA was prepared by acetic acid which has less affection to degradation and is of low toxicity. The main objective of this work focuses on effect of distance and voltage parameters on morphology and diameter of nanofibers. The morphology of electrospun PVA nanofibers were characterized by using scanning electron microscope (SEM) and Fourier transform infrared spectrometer (FTIR)

Biography:

Marzieh Aghababie is a PhD student at University of Isfahan. She is working on her PhD thesis entitled, “Developing an enzymatic nanocomposite membrane bioreactor using immobilized lipase on magnetic nanoparticle for the production of biodiesel”. In her Master’s, she published three papers in “Journal of Food Engineering”, “Food and Bioproducts Processing Journal” and “Nutrition and Food Sciences Research”. Last year, she gave an oral presentation about enzymatic nanocomposite membranes in the international conference on membrane science and technology and published a paper in this regard in “Food and Bioproducts Processing Journal”.

Abstract:

Enzymatic nanocomposite membranes which are the combination of nanocomposite membranes and immobilized enzymes have received increasing attention, recently. In this study, poly acrylonitrile ultrafiltration membrane was aminated and then magnetic nanoparticles which were modified by glutaraldehyde or cyanuric chloride were covalently attached on the surface of membrane. Afterwards, Candida rugosa lipase (CRL) was covalently immobilized on this nanocomposite membrane. Nanoparticles and nanocomposite membrane were characterized with various techniques such as SEM, TEM, XRD, FTIR, ATR, AFM, contact angle goniometry and surface free energy measurement. The evidence of immobilization was also done by ATR, enzyme activity and loading efficiency. It was found that the PAN nanocomposite membrane increased the relative activity and loading capacity in comparison to UF membrane. The K_m and v_max values represents the increasing of substrate affinity and decreasing of catalytic activity of immobilized enzyme due to the mass transfer limitation for both nanocomposite membranes. Thermal, storage, and operational stability of immobilized enzyme increased significantly which make it a suitable candidate for to bio-catalytic processes