On Tuesday, March 29, the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center (UTHSC) will host a daylong NanoDays celebration.
On Tuesday, March 29, the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center (UTHSC) will host a daylong NanoDays celebration. NanoDays is an annual nationwide effort to inform and educate communities about the impact of nanoscience, an emerging discipline with the potential to transform society in future decades.
UTHSC NanoDays will begin with an 8:30 a.m. presentation from Kattesh V. Katti, MSc Ed, PhD, DSC, FRSC, Director of the University of Missouri Cancer Nanotechnology Platform. Dr. Katti’s keynote speech — “Green Nanotechnology in Medicine and Engineering” — will be delivered at the UT Hamilton Eye Institute, Freeman Auditorium, 930 Madison, 3rd floor. Following his presentation, a NanoMedicine Symposium will be held in the UTHSC Cancer Research Building, 19 S. Manassas Street from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. UTHSC NanoDays events are open to the area scientific and research communities.
Nanotechnology focuses on materials or devices that are 1 to100 nanometers (one nanometer is one billionth of a meter). This technology is now used to develop medical applications such as pregnancy tests, sunscreen lotions and athlete’s foot medications.
The nanoscale consists of particles smaller than cells but larger than atoms. On the nanoscale, it takes 8,000 nanometers to equal the diameter of one red blood cell. One human hair on the nanoscale is made up of roughly 50,000 to 100,000 nanometers. Nanoscale solutions can potentially solve some of the major problems of our time. To view the nanoscale versus the macro, micro and atomic scales, please visit: www.nisenet.org/sites/default/files_static/size_and_scale/FinalScreenLadder.pdf.
NanoDays outreach events are held nationwide each spring to inform communities about nanoscale science, technology and engineering. The events involve community-based educational organizations and nanoscience partners. The annual celebrations are supported by the Nanoscale Informal Science Education Network (www.NISENet.org), a section of the National Science Foundation.
NanoDays are hosted at UTHSC by Pathology Chair and Professor Charles R. Handorf, MD, PhD, and Anand Kulkarni, MD, assistant professor. Many scientists and health care professionals believe that nanoscience has yet untapped potential to produce numerous new jobs in the biotechnology field.
In more than 25 years of research work spanning the areas of chemistry, physics, materials science, biomedicine and nanotechnology, Dr. Katti has championed the development of new scientific approaches to minimize the risks of global catastrophic incidents. Dr. Katti has attained global recognition for his pioneering research on “green nanotechnology” as it relates to the development of biocompatible gold and silver nanoparticles. His latest discovery, which describes the role of plants and plant species for the production of nanoparticles, is directly related to the creation of an important symbiosis between green nanotechnology and nature. This discovery is cited as the editor’s choice in the October 2008 Issue of the Journal of Science (Volume 322, Number 5899, Issue of 10 October 2008;