Speaker: Prof. Adah Almutari
Director, Center of Excellence in Nanomedicine, University of California, San Diego (UCSD)
Tuesday, December 17 from 10:00 – 11:00 a.m.
Level 0 auditorium between Ibn Al-Haytham and Ibn Sina (buildings 2 and 3)
Abstract:
We have recently introduced several groundbreaking polymers that fall apart specifically in response to light, acidic conditions, or concentrations of reactive oxygen species (ROS) characteristic of inflammation. In other words, we use light as a remote control for medical applications. For example, if the materials are used for an ocular drug delivery, when the patient walks outside and their eye is exposed to light, the encapsulated material falls apart and the drug is released. Or these materials could fall apart in response to inflammatory conditions, say for cancer and heart disease, and we are the first to do that. We wrap diagnostics in this material, and the diagnostics won’t turn on until it senses inflammation. When the body is inflamed, it’s like, “Inflammation on Aisle 7 and 10”—the drug delivery deals only with those areas, and stops when the inflammation subsides.
Biography:
Professor Adah Almutairi has been a faculty member at the University of California, San Diego since 2008. She is the director of UCSD’s Center of Excellence in Nanomedicine, a rapidly expanding interdisciplinary research collaborative team developing tools for the future of biology and medicine. Her primary appointment is in the Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, and she is a member of the departments of NanoEngineering and Radiology. She came to UC San Diego from UC Berkeley, where she worked with Professor Jean Fréchet to develop several nanoprobes for in vivo imaging.
