[BNC-all] Reminder to attend the seminar at 3:30 today in MRGN 121, "Nanobiotechnology: A Different Perspective" by Dr. Murali Sastry

[Marris, Melissa J]

  Wednesday, April 9, 2008, 3:30, MRGN 121: "Nanobiotechnology: A
Different Perspective," by Murali Sastry

 

ABSTRACT:  The study of the synthesis, exotic properties,
assembly/packaging and potential commercial application of nanomaterials
is an extremely important topic of research that is expected to have
far-reaching global impact. The focus of my talk will be on an emerging
branch of nanotechnology that derives its inspiration from biology.
Recognizing that some of the most exquisite and highly functional
nanomaterials are grown by biological systems (examples include silica
by diatoms and magnetic nanoparticles by magnetotactic bacteria (1),
many researchers have focused attention on understanding how inorganic
materials are made by biological systems and attempting to replicate
such processes in the lab. In my laboratory, we have investigated the
use of plant organisms such as fungi in the synthesis of nanomaterials
over a range of chemical compositions that include metals [2], metal
sulfides (3) and oxides (4). An exciting development is the use of plant
extracts in nanoparticle synthesis (5) wherein large concentrations of
gold nanotriangles have been obtained that have potential application in
cancer hyperthermia. Organisms such as fungi are not normally exposed to
metal precursor stresses that they should be capable of a broad range of
biochemical transformations to negate these stresses is useful in
materials chemistry and throws up exciting possibilities. Recently, we
have also shown that bacteria may be 'trained' to synthesize magnetite
when challenged with suitable iron complexes under aerobic conditions
(6).  References: [1] Sarikaya, M. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 1999, 96,
14183; [2] Mukherjee, P et al., Angew. Chem. 2001, 40, 3585; [3] Ahmed,
A. et al., J. Am. Chem. Soc, 2002, 124, 12108; [4] Bansal et al., Adv.
Mater. 2005, 17 889; Bharde et al., Small 2006, 2 135; [5] Shankar, S.S.
et al., Nature materials 2004, 3, 482; [6] Bharde et al., J. Am. Chem.
Soc. 2005, 127, 9326.

BIO: Dr Murali Sastry, chief scientist at the Tata Chemicals Innovation
Centre, Pune, India, has an M.Sc. in Physics and a PhD (in thin film

technology) from the prestigious Indian Institute of Technology (IIT)
Madras (now Chennai, 1987). He was a postdoctoral fellow at the
International Centre for Theoretical Physics at Trieste, Italy
(1988-1991); visiting faculty at CNRS in Orsay, France (2001-2003) and
at the University of Maryland at College Park, USA (1998-99); as well as
a federation fellow at RMIT, Melbourne (2006) and DAE professor at
Central University, Hyderabad (2006). Counted among the world's top 15
nanobiotechnologists, Dr. Sastry has close to 25 years of research
experience. A true interdisciplinary scientist, he joined Tata Chemicals
in 2005, after creating a centre for nanotechnology at the renowned
National Chemical Laboratory (NCL), Pune.

Having authored over 300 international publications, 10 chapters in
books and 15 Indian and US patents, he has a number of national and
international awards to his credit including India's most prestigious
award in science, the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize in Chemistry (2003).
Editor

(Nanomaterials) for the Materials Research Bulletin(Elsevier), Dr.
Sastry serves on the international advisory boards of seven leading
chemistry journals, having earlier served on advisory boards for the
Department of Biotechnology, the Department of Science and Technology,
the Presidential Nanotechnology Committee and the Council of Scientific
and Industrial Research (CSIR), Government of India. Dr. Sastry's
current research interests include interfacing biologicals with
inorganic nanomaterials, understanding biological process in their
nanodimensions, developing new industrially relevant renewable materials
and green processes, as well as ethical issues in application of
nanomaterials.

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