Engineering nanoparticles for sensing and biomedical applications: a themed collection

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Abstract

Guest editors Niveen M. Khashab (KAUST), Jean-Olivier Durand (Université de Montpellier) and Jeffrey I. Zink (UCLA) introduce this themed collection showcasing some of the major advances in engineering organic and inorganic nanosystems to develop superior biomedical materials.

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Niveen M. Khashab

Niveen M. Khashab is an Associate Professor at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST). During her doctoral studies at the University of Florida, Prof. Khashab trained in organic chemistry in the laboratory of Prof. Alan R. Katritzky. During her post-doctoral studies at the University of California, Los Angeles and then at Northwestern University, Prof. Khashab continued her training in Sir Fraser Stoddart's laboratory on supramolecular chemistry. She is the 2017 recipient of the L'Oreal-UNESCO international women in science award. Her lab aims to develop systems that can be triggered on demand using self-assembly and supramolecular tools.

Jean-Olivier Durand

Jean-Olivier Durand graduated from Ecole Nationale Supérieure de Chimie de Paris in 1990 and obtained his PhD in organic chemistry with Prof. J. P. Genêt in 1993. He spent a 20 month post-doctoral position with Prof. W. Oppolzer at Geneva University (Switzerland). After two other post-doctoral studies in Rennes (Prof. Le Corre) and Paris (Dr M. Larchevêque) he was appointed as a CNRS researcher in 1996 at Institut Charles Gerhardt Montpellier. His research interests consist of developing mesoporous silica, silicon and periodic mesoporous organosilica nanoparticles for nanomedicine applications. He is co-author of 99 peer-reviewed articles and 14 patents.

Jeffrey I. Zink

Jeffrey I. Zink received his Bachelor's Degree in chemistry from the University of Wisconsin, Madison, his PhD in Chemistry from the University of Illinois, and is currently Distinguished Professor of Chemistry at the University of California Los Angeles. He is the recipient of the Camille and Henry Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Award, Glenn T. Seaborg Award, Herbert Newby McCoy Award, DOE Sustained Outstanding Research Award, and a John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship. He has over 500 research publications and is a Thomson-Reuters Highly Cited Author. His research interests include excited state properties of large molecules and multi-functional nanomaterials and nanomachines for biomedical applications.

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Smart nanomaterials have taken the research and industry communities by storm, and the field of biomedical applications is no exception. The control of the nanoscale and physicochemical properties of particles, as well as the ability to visualize them via electron microscopy techniques and in cells, has ushered in numerous discoveries. In particular, stimuli-responsive or smart nanomaterials have unique advantages for bioimaging, sensing, and therapeutic applications.

The scale of nanomaterials can be precisely engineered towards specific applications. Furthermore, molecular technology is important for the precise control of the properties of the nanomaterials, their shape, structure, size, porosity, and function, through covalent or supramolecular interactions during the building of the nanosystem and/or with post-functionalization. The control of these interactions allows the assembly of nanoparticles actuated through near-infrared light, magnetic, pH, enzymatic, and cascade stimuli; therefore nano-platforms with unprecedented efficiency for their biomedical aim have been designed. The main targeted applications of these nano-platforms are sensitive detection, cancer theranostics and antibacterial activity.

Indeed these nanoplatforms allow multiplexing imaging for efficient pathogen detection. From the nanomedicine side, these nanoplatforms also allow the reduction of important side-effects of classical treatments by delivering the drug with very high selectivity and by combining several diagnostic and therapeutic properties in only one nano-object. The nanoplatforms overcome limitations of classical treatments such as low solubility of anti-cancer and antibacterial drugs, protect the drug from degradation and metabolism, and increase circulation times and bio-availability.

With this collection of invited papers we showcase some of the major advances in engineering organic and inorganic nanosystems to develop superior biomedical materials.

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