The development of nanoscale materials and their incorporation into electronics, pharmaceuticals, and other manufactured products has outpaced our understanding of the interactions between these materials and biological systems.  A basic understanding of the toxicity of these materials, how they interact with biological systems, their thresholds of toxicity, modes of action, and impact on the environment is lacking.  

 

NanoBio research in my lab addresses questions such as:

        Are nanoscale metaloxides toxic?

        Can they be developed into novel antimicrobial agents?

        Can they affect the functioning of natural ecosystems?

 

We are addressing these questions with a combination of approaches.  For, example our toxicity studies employ traditional microbiological techniques and controlled laboratory experiments with pure cultures of microorganisms as well as modern molecular microbial ecology techniques to understand community level responses to nanoparticles in an environmental context.  Nanobiotechnology is a rapidly progressing field and much remains to be learned about the fundamental nature of interactions between man made nano-sized particles and living systems.

 

 NanoBio Publications: