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Workshop objectives

• Identify integrated risk analysis approaches to address the unique challenges posed by nanotechnology and nanomaterials.
• Enhance and establish collaborative networks to advance the science and understanding of nanomaterials.

Selected speakers

• Ann Bostrom, PhD (Professor University of Washington)
• Rick Canady, PhD (Senior Science Policy Analyst, FDA Nanotechnology Task Force)
• Kristen Kulinowski, PhD (Director, International Council on Nanotechnology, Rice University)
• Garrick Louis, Ph.D. (Professor, University of Virginia)
• Andrew Maynard, PhD (Science Advisor, Project on Emerging Nanotech, Woodrow Wilson Center)
• Terry McIntyre, PhD (Chief, Environmental Biotechnology Applications, Environment Canada)
• Peter Preuss, PhD (Director, EPA National Center for Environmental Assessment)
• Nancy Rachman, PhD (Senior Director, Grocery Manufacturers Association)
• Lorraine Sheremeta, JD (Research Officer, National Institute for Nanotechnology, Canada)
• Nigel Walker, PhD (Lead, Nanotechnology Safety Initiative, National Toxicology Program)
• Jonathan Wiener, PhD, JD (Duke University Law School; President, Society for Risk Analysis)

Date and Location

10-11 September 2008, Washington DC

More information

Contact: Jo Anne Shatkin, PhD (+1 617 850-1715, Jashatkin@clf.org)
Online: http://srananoworkshop.org/

“One of the biggest challenges in technology transfer is to prove to the FDA that what was made in the lab can be made on a large scale to the same quality standards,” said Lawrence Tamarkin, president and CEO of CytImmune Sciences. Tamarkin presented the first talk of the summer professional development series hosted by the Institute for NanoBioTechnology at Johns Hopkins University. CytImmune Sciences will soon begin Phase 2 clinical trials on a colloidal gold based product that provides targeted and concentrated delivery of a tumor destroying substance.

INBT’s summer professional development series offers students an opportunity to learn from industry representatives on a number of topics related to research and relevant to success in the sciences. Topic range for protecting ones intellectual property to seeking venture capital support,

“These talks allow the students to expand their ideas beyond the focus on their research,” says Denis Wirtz professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering in the Whiting School of Engineering and associate director of INBT. “It also gives them a better perspective on the ways their research can help society.”

Wirtz added that Tamarkin’s talk highlighted the importance of persistence in research. “Tamarkin emphasized how one must multitask—you must care about the science and manage the public perception of nanoscience as well.”

Talks begin at 11 a.m. and are held in room 303 of Shafer Hall. To attend any of the seminar series talks listed below, please RSVP to Ashanti Edwards via e-mail at aedwards@jhu.edu or by phone at 410-516-6572.

Upcoming professional development talks are:

• July 9
• July 23
• August 6

2008 Research Experience for Undergraduates Students at the Institute for
NanoBioTechnology. Credit: INBT / JHU

Conducting original research is not strictly the realm of graduate students and faculty. Undergraduates from universities across the nation have gathered at the Institute for NanoBioTechnology at Johns Hopkins University to participate in the Nanotechnology for Biology and Medicine summer Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) program, funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF). Eleven students were chosen to participate in this highly selective REU from a pool of more than 240 applicants for the opportunity to perform research in nanotechnology—science at the scale of one billionth of a meter. Each student was chosen because of their superior academic performance, interest in pursuing research, and faculty recommendations. This is the first time INBT has offered an REU program.

“INBT’s Nanotechnology for Biology and Medicine summer REU provides opportunities for individuals who demonstrate academic excellence and dedication to research,” says program lead Denis Wirtz, professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering at Johns Hopkins and associate director of the Institute for NanoBioTechnology. “We strive to give our students a truly unique educational experience with research at its core, which will serve as the ideal foundation for future graduate research.”

REU participants will conduct a 10-week research project in a lab supervised by an INBT affiliated faculty member. Two research projects will be based in the School of Medicine and nine will be hosted in the Whiting School of Engineering. Project themes range from basic cell biology to biomedical engineering to materials science.

The following students are participating in the Nanotechnology for Biology and Medicine summer REU program:

Juri Bassuner.

Tiara Byrd.

Nicholas Hagerty.

You K. (Chloe) Kim.

Casey Kirkpatrick.

Deonnae Lopez.

David Nartey.

Colbert Sesanker.

Adongo Tia-Okwee.

Sean Virgile.

Jessica Wang.

The Institute for NanoBioTechnology at Johns Hopkins promotes programs in research, education, outreach, and technology transfer designed to foster the next wave of nanobiotechnology innovation. More than 155 faculty members are affiliated with INBT and also are members of Johns Hopkins Krieger School of Arts and Sciences, Whiting School of Engineering, School of Medicine, Bloomberg School of Public Health, and Applied Physics Laboratory. For more information about INBT’s programs for graduate research or independent study, go to http://inbt.jhu.edu.

Story by Mary Spiro

Cross-sectional autoradiograms of rodent brains showing (A) control physiological state; and
(B) and (C) showing distribution of brain injury from an injected neurotoxicant. Red areas
indicate the highest concentrations of a biomarker that identifies brain areas that are damaged
by the neurotoxicant. Credit: Guilarte Lab

Little is known about how engineered nanomaterials and nanoparticles impact human health and the environment. Particles at the scale of one-billionth of a meter—so small they can slip across the blood-brain barrier—pose many questions about the safety of nanotechnology used in products consumed and used by humans. The Institute for NanoBioTechnology at Johns Hopkins University recently awarded $100,000 to fund research projects that seek to answer these questions. Four $25,000 seed grants were given to multidisciplinary research teams to fund pilot projects across Johns Hopkins.

Risk assessment performed in tandem with research into beneficial applications will help researchers make better decisions about how nanotechnology is used in the future, says Jon Links, professor at the Bloomberg School of Public Health and INBT’s director of Health and Environment research. “The history of technological research and development is full of examples of unrecognized risks to health and the environment—chlorofluorocarbons or asbestos are examples,” Links says. ”It is imperative to study potential risks to human health and the environment hand-in-hand with benefit-driven research and development. Doing so provides the best chance to minimize risk, because risk assessment can inform research and development at an early stage, leading to alternative pathways.”

Nanoparticles made of silica, for example, can be used to deliver pharmaceuticals. But despite the potential benefits, scientists don’t have much information on what happens to these particles after they have offloaded their cargo. Principal investigators from the Bloomberg School of Public Health (BSPH) and the Whiting School of Engineering (WSE) plan to use a protein to measure the toxicity of silica nanoparticles in the brain cells of rodents.

“There is a tremendous interest in using nanomaterials in various aspects of medicine, including delivery of drugs to the brain,” says Tomas Guilarte, professor of environmental health sciences in the BSPH and a co-investigator on this study. “However, the possibility that the nanomaterial itself produces brain injury has not been evaluated.”

In another proposed study, collaborators from the BSPH and WSE will measure how the shape, size, and function of engineered silica-silicone hybrid nanomaterials affect cellular uptake and response using advanced methods for cell imaging and biomarker assessment. This research also will address questions relating to dose and exposure.

The Katz Lab is looking at ways to bind fluorescent dyes to nanoparticles for use in tumor tissue imaging. Shown are nanoparticles containing 1048 dye after deposition for scanning electron microscopy. Credit: Katz Group / JHU

“Once these particles reach cells, it is important to know whether they penetrate into cells, whether cells survive this penetration, and whether the biochemistry inside these cells is altered,” says Howard Katz, professor of materials science and engineering. “These methods will permit us to visualize where nanomaterials are located in cells, and the nature of any response by these cells,” adds Ellen Silbergeld, professor of Environmental Health Sciences.

Multi-walled carbon nanotubes are commonly used engineered nanoparticles that have been exploited for their exceptional strength, as well as their chemical, optical and electrical properties. But these particles also are known to bind toxic heavy metals. If the nanotubes wind up in the food chain, they could deposit toxic metals in the stomachs of animals or humans. The fate of these metals will be examined in an in vitro study developed by researchers from the Krieger School of Arts and Sciences, (KSAS), WSE and BSPH.

“Given their extremely high surface area to mass ratios, small amounts of carbon nanotubes have the potential to transport relatively large amounts of adsorbed toxins,” says William Ball, professor of Geography and Environmental Engineering. “In this way, the carbon nanotubes could effectively act as ‘Trojan horses’ that may bring toxic contaminants to locations that they may not otherwise reach.”

Nanoparticles made of silver oxide, silver nitrate, silver chloride and titanium dioxide can be found in many household products–from the coatings on washing machines to personal care products. These particles may enter the ecosystem through waste water and affect aquatic life. Investigators from public health, arts and sciences, and engineering will track those particles to see if any show up in oysters commercially harvested from the Chesapeake Bay.

“In the water, engineered nanoparticles can alter oyster immune defense mechanisms, making them more susceptible to oyster diseases,” says Thaddeus Graczyk, associate professor in the Bloomberg School of Public Health. “As oysters are predominantly consumed raw, nanoparticles recovered from the water by oysters and retained in their tissue will enter the human food chain.”

These pilot projects represent some of the ongoing research at INBT, which seeks to balance benefit-driven applications of nanotechnology with risk assessment. Finding from these investigations will no doubt have policy implications for the use of nanoparticles. “Since inaccurately perceived risks by the public and legislators can slow development and adoption of beneficial technologies, accurate assessment and timely dissemination of the actual risks is becoming more and more critical,” Links says. “Relatively little is known about the potential ecologic and human toxicity of nanomaterials, so INBT’s pilot project program is critical.”

Below is a complete list of pilot program titles and the names of the members of each research team involved:

INBT GRANT PROPOSAL SERVICE

INBT offers help to Johns Hopkins University faculty that wish to submit a nanobiotechnology related grant proposal. Seed grants awarded by INBT must have more than one principal investigator. Principal investigators must be from different schools or departments. To learn more about INBT’s grant proposal service, please contact Sue Porterfield at sporterfield@jhu.edu or call 410-516-3423.

Click here to learn more about funding opportunities through INBT.

Story by Mary Spiro

Peter Searson, professor of Materials Science and Engineering in the Whiting School of Engineering at Johns Hopkins University and director of the Institute for Nanobiotechnology, has been named the inaugural Joseph R. and Lynn C. Reynolds Professor.

Searson’s research interests include the synthesis and characterization of nanostructured materials, electrodeposition and patterning, and applications for nanotechnology in biology and medicine. He led the launch of the Institute for Nanobiotechnology, which was established May 15, 2006 as a cross-divisional center with research interests in the basic sciences, engineering, medicine and public health. Searson joined the Department of Materials Science and Engineering in 1990, having received his PhD in 1982 from the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology.

Joseph Reynolds earned his bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from Johns Hopkins in 1969. He is the founder and CEO of RTI Consulting LLP, founded FTI Consulting Inc., is a university trustee, and is the current chair of the National Advisory Council. In making the gift of this professorship, Reynolds’ vision was to give the dean and the school the flexibility to select a recipient from any department in the Whiting School of Engineering.

For more information about the Searson Group go to http://www.jhu.edu/matsci/people/faculty/searson/PCSgrouphome.html

To optimize the strength of materials and structures used in biomedical applications, one must apply the principles of mechanics. This can become a challenging task in these multiphysics settings, says Lindsey Smith, a second year doctoral student in civil engineering at Johns Hopkins University. Smith is a member of the NanoBio IGERT with the Institute for NanoBioTechnology. Funded by the National Science Foundation, IGERT stands for Integrative Graduate Education and Research Traineeship.

Smith’s interest in structures and engineering blossomed after taking a high school introductory course on the topic. “I was always strong in math and science,” she says. “I also was fascinated with architecture and large buildings.” Smith graduated in 2003 from Columbia University with a major in Engineering Mechanics, which she describes as the study of the application of mechanics to civil engineering.

Since optimization is among her research interests, she has found a research home in the lab of INBT affiliated faculty member Jamie Guest, an assistant professor of civil engineering who is focused on studying ways to generate new ultimate shapes for material microstructures.

“Composite materials have been designed somewhat by trial and error,” Smith says. “Designers have an intuitive sense of how to arrange fibers in a matrix to make the material as strong as possible. The Guest Lab is coming up with computational algorithms for determining exactly where those fibers should be. These algorithms would determine the structure at the microscale to make a material mathematically optimal for a desired performance property, such as stiffness or conductivity.”

Her co-advisers include INBT affiliated faculty member Ben Schafer, associate professor of civil engineering, and INBT associate director Denis Wirtz, professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering. Smith will be a fully participating member of their labs as well.

So far, she says, her biggest challenge has been learning the biology needed for her multidisciplinary nanobio training. Reading papers from disciplines outside her area of expertise through INBT’s Journal Club has helped. “The Journal Club is great,” she says. “There is a group of us, and we are all at different levels so we are helping each other out.”

Raised in Poughkeepsie, New York, Smith is an outdoor enthusiast, accomplished climber and college rugby player. Beyond her interest in engineering, Smith says she would be happiest if she could spend most of her time outside.

Links

To understand electrical activity of nerve cells, the Asthagiri Lab develops simulations that
show selectivity of channel proteins (in green) for potassium ions (in purple). Credit: Asthagiri
Group / JHU

In his book “Life’s Matrix: A biography of water,” author and Nature consulting editor Philip Ball declares that water is the “weirdest liquid.” Dilip Asthagiri, assistant professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering, would agree. “There are very many puzzling features in all of aqueous chemistry and biology,” says Asthagiri, an affiliated faculty member of the Institute for NanoBioTechnology. With a sub nanoscale diameter of about 3 Angstroms (0.3 nanometer), Asthagiri says, the water molecule is “more ‘nano’ than nano” and an understanding of water is integral to this emerging science.

Despite the fact that scientists have been studying water and its properties for about two centuries, Asthagiri says, it has only been in the last 15 years or so that a framework of knowledge has begun to emerge, one that attempts to connect the chemical nature of interactions in water with the physics of the aqueous solution. His particular field of research—hydration and how it affects the interaction between water and the substances dissolved in it (solutes)—is just a piece of this puzzle.

“We are trying to understand water, why solutes behave the way they do in water, and how hydration affects proteins,” he says. And although he and his students study water, his labs are far from wet. The students use complex mathematical modeling to investigate why solutes behave the way they do.

Dilip Asthagiri. Credit: INBT / JHU

Take for example, the Hofmeister effect, named for the scientist who in 1888 observed that some salts will cause a protein to fall out of solution, while others will increase protein solubility. The reasons for this behavior are not well understood.

“Protein solubility, which is an important matter for pharmaceutical companies, will be different in sodium chloride than it will be in potassium chloride, even if you adjust the concentrations of the salt to be the same.” Asthagiri explains. “So there is something in the way the sodium ion interacts with water and the way the potassium ion interacts with water that is causing the difference. There is currently no compelling theory to explain this phenomenon.”

Studying these properties may not seem very “sexy,” Asthagiri says, but chemistry and biology are full of such conundrums. “If I want to make any progress, I will have to address them.”

Before coming to Johns Hopkins, Asthagiri worked at the Los Alamos National Laboratory, where he was first a postdoctoral researcher and then a staff scientist. He says his move to Hopkins has allowed him the opportunity to interact with students as a mentor and teacher. Currently, Asthagiri has three graduate students and says he is happiest when heavily involved in the development of his students’ projects.

For more information on the Asthagiri lab, visit: http://shiva.che.jhu.edu/index.html

Lamia Wahba, pre-doctoral student in biology and a member of the Institute for NanoBioTechnology’s IGERT program, contributed to this article, which was written as part of the Intersession 2008 course requirements of Science Writing for Scientists and Engineers. IGERT stands for Integrative Graduate Education and Research Traineeship. More information on http://www.igert.org.

Assistant Professor Sharon Gerecht, an affiliated faculty member of the Institute for NanoBioTechnology in the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at Johns Hopkins University, recently earned the Maryland Academy of Science’s 2008 Outstanding Young Engineering (OYE) award. The OYE award recognizes the extraordinary scientific contributions of Maryland residents under the age of 35.

Gerecht studies how changes in micro- and nano-scale environment can affect the growth and function of stem cells with focus on vascular development and regeneration. Gerecht is looking at ways to direct stem cell differentiation by engineering different chemical, mechanical and physical environments upon which the cells grow. This may have implications on how stem cells could be used in medical therapy.

“I believe that we are now in a unique position in which we know more about stem cells, their isolation, characterization, and have a basic understanding of their biology,” says Gerecht. “This enables us to integrate advanced microengineering tools to better control their behavior both in the lab and in the body after transplantation”

As part of her award, Gerecht received a $2,500 cash prize and the Allan C. Davis Medal, named for the former Science Center board chairman whose gift helped fund construction of the Davis Planetarium. The Maryland Science Center, located at Baltimore’s Inner Harbor, is visited by more than 500,000 people each year.

Gerecht is the third INBT affiliated faculty member to be honored with an award from the Maryland Science Center. In 2007 David Gracias, also an assistant professor in the in the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, received the OYE award. And in 2006, Anirban Maitra, associate professor of oncology and pathology at the Sol Goldman Pancreatic Cancer Research Center, was awarded the center’s Outstanding Young Scientist Award.

More about Gerecht’s research: http://www.jhu.edu/chembe/gerecht/