Sunday, February 22, 2009
Brent Sumerlin Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Department of Chemistry, SMU

A New Pill to Swallow: Chemistry on the Cutting Edge of Medicine

Although advances in the sciences have led to significant progress in modern medicine, many diseases remain impossible to treat effectively with existing technology. Innovations in chemistry continue to provide new drugs and new delivery methods. For instance, new polymeric materials make it possible to control the release of pharmaceutical compounds in the body at a specific time, place, and rate.  Advances of this type rely on recently-developed chemistry techniques to design and build large molecules in the same manner that architects and engineers design buildings.  While most engineering projects are intended to design objects that are of appreciable size, this area of science, commonly called "nanotechnology," is concerned with structures that are a few nanometers, or 1/10,000th the width of a human hair.  Despite their diminutive nature, these materials may serve as biocompatible or biodegradable materials for controlled drug delivery, advanced surface coatings so that particular objects may become less prone to corrosion, and new nanoparticles that allow chemical reactions to be conducted with more environmentally friendly conditions. 

Now, it is possible to choose the particular number and type of atoms and bonds necessary to assemble molecules with a specific size and shape to potentially address a given need.  After designating preliminary details, chemists use these "blueprints" to outline how to construct the macromolecules in the laboratory.  Then, the molecules are built, piece-by-piece, into larger structures that can be tested for their ability to enhance the delivery of new pharmaceutical compounds. Indeed, nanotechnology is likely to have its greatest impact in the areas of medicine and drug delivery.


 Galapagos - Close Encounters of the Wild Kind

October 9-19, 2009

Join Collegium da Vinci members and Huffington Department of Earth Sciences Professor Louis Jacobs on this National Geographic Expeditions experience.  more