SCIENCE AT THE SHINE DOME canberra 6 - 8 may 2009

New Fellows Seminar

Thursday, 7 May 2009

Professor Frank Caruso FAA
ARC Federation Fellow and Director for the Centre for Nanoscience and Nanotechnology, Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of Melbourne

Frank Caruso’s research interests focus on developing advanced nano and biomaterials for applications in biotechnology and medicine. He has published over 200 peer-reviewed papers and seven book chapters, and is on the ISI’s most highly cited list. He is also co-inventor of more than 20 patents and is co-founder of Capsulution Nanoscience AG, a drug delivery company. He has been awarded numerous awards for his scientific achievements, including an Alexander von Humboldt Research Fellowship (1997), a German BMBF Biofuture Award (1999), the Royal Australian Chemical Institute (RACI) Rennie Memorial Medal (2000), the Royal Society for Chemistry-RACI Exchange Medal (2001), the Academy’s Le Fèvre Memorial Prize (2005), the RACI David Sangster Polymer Science and Technology Achievement Award (2006), and ARC Federation Fellowships (2001 and 2007). He is an editor of the journal Chemistry of Materials.

Nanoengineered materials for biomedicine applications

During the past few decades, growing interest has been devoted to the design of drug delivery vehicles for transporting therapeutics to specific sites within the body. The use of polymer-based materials has played an important role in the development of such systems. This presentation will give a brief overview of research to develop nanoengineered polymer capsules that are designed to encapsulate a drug and deliver it to specific areas within the body. By manipulating particle and polymer assembly at the nanoscale level, new properties can be introduced to the capsules, controlling how the drug is released. The capsules can also be functionalised with antibodies, which cause them to bind only to specific (cancer) cells. When the capsules bind to the cells, they are phagocytosed (engulfed) and the cargo of the capsules is released using an intracellular degradation mechanism. These drug delivery capsules can perform the dual role of protecting the body from harmful side effects of the drug and preventing the degradation of the drug by the body. This technology is aimed at improving the effectiveness of treatments for cancer, HIV and cardiovascular disease.