The Department of Biomedical Engineering at the University of Alberta is a joint effort between the Faculty of Engineering and the Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry. The University is also the host site for the National Research Council’s National Institute of Nanotechnology. Together these entities create a critical mass for research in nanomedicine.
Nanomedicine involves drug delivery using nanopolymers and aerosols to promote bone and tissue regeneration and the development of improved diagnostic tools including MEMS and NEMS. Wound healing and disease diagnosis are areas of active research.
Silver, and specifically silver ions Ag+, are known to be beneficial in the treatment of wounds. In the mid 1990s, nanotechnology provided an opportunity to develop a new silver delivery system that released biologically active species other than Ag+. Nanocrystalline silver releases multiple species species into solution which have different biological properties than Ag+. In vitro, in vivo and clinical studies have clearly demonstrated that this new form of silver has unique anti-inflammatory and anti microbial properties.
Nanotechnology can not only change the chemical properties of a material but also its optical properties. Current work using these modified optical properties is aimed at point of care diagnostics which require no amplification and can be read by eye. Such developments would make it possible to see molecules as small as 2nm on a surface.
The speaker will discuss the use of nanotechnology in the treatment of current medical problems.
Speaker Dr Robert E. Burrell, AOE, CSM, PhD, FCAHS, FNAIDr.
Dr Burrell, is the Sorensen Chair in Commercialization of Biomedical Technology and a Professor of Chemical and Materials Engineering in the Faculty of Engineering as well as Professor and Chair of Biomedical Engineering in the Faculties of Engineering and Medicine & Dentistry at the University of Alberta. He is a former two term Canada Research Chair in Nanostructured Biomaterials. He has been recognized worldwide for his work in wound care. He is a named inventor on >300 patents and patent applications worldwide including those for Acticoat dressings, the world’s first therapeutic application of nanotechnology. In Canada, he has won the two highest awards for Innovation – the Governor General’s Innovation Award and Principal Award from the Manning Foundation. He has also received the Meritorious Service Cross, is a fellow of The Canadian Academy of Health Sciences and has won the Jonas Salk Award, the ASM International – ASM Engineering Materials Achievement Award, World Union of Wound Healing Society Lifetime Achievement Award, Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors and a member of the Alberta Order of Excellence.
Co-sponsored by: CSSE Edmonton Branch
Virtual: https://events.vtools.ieee.org/m/361294
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