Public Seminar: Concepts in Nanobiotechnology (NEW)

Event Date: 24 Jul 2014 08:00 AM - 24 Jul 2014 09:00 AM

Event Venue: CREATE Theatre (Level 2 Tower Building)

This public seminar is about “Concepts in Nanobiotechnology: From Detection to Nanosafety” The speaker is Professor Mustafa Culha from Genetics and Bioengineering Department. Yeditepe University, Istanbul, Turkey

ABSTRACT OF TALK

A better understanding of interactions of non-living materials with living systems at Interfaces, is an area of ongoing research to discover and construct innovative tools, and develop new methods for detection and identification of microorganisms, biomacromolecles, and prevention and cure of diseases. A powerful technique called surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) is utilized to gather molecular level information from biological systems in contact with nanostructured noble metal surfaces to achieve this goal. The detection and identification of microorganisms, pollen, and proteins with SERS from clinically and environmentally important samples is presented.  The safety of nanomaterials upon their release into the environment is a growing concern and there is an ongoing research effort to clarify their safe use. Our efforts to understand the interaction of nanomaterials with living systems and mitigation of their toxicity through the surface chemistry will also be discussed.  Finally, our studies to use DNA as a material to construct novel nanocarriers will be presented.