Polymer Nanoengineering and Nanofluidics for Biomedical Applications
MIT SEMINAR SERIES IN MANUFACTURING AND
PRODUCTIVITY
Place: Room 35-225 Time: 12:00 P.M. Tuesday, April 11, 2006
Professor L. James Lee
Helen C. Kurtz Professor of Chemical Engineering
Director, NSF Center for Advanced Polymer and Composite Engineering
Ohio State University
Micro/nanofabrication methods from the electronics industry exist for producing miniature devices in silicon and glass. However, the properties of these materials (poor impact strength/toughness, poor biocompatibility) are inappropriate for many biomedical devices. In contrast, polymeric materials possess many attractive properties such as high toughness and recyclability. Some possess excellent biocompatibility, are biodegradable, and can provide various biofunctionalities. Proper combinations of polymers and biomolecules can offer tailored properties for various medical devices, but the ability to process them at the nanoscale is still largely underdeveloped. We have developed non-cleanroom, affordable, environmentally and biologically benign nanoengineering techniques using biocompatible polymers, biomolecules, and nanoparticles as building blocks as well as nanofluidic surface transport as a mechanism to design, synthesize, and fabricate bioMEMS/NEMS devices. Applications of polymer nanoengineering and nanofluidics for enzyme immunoassays, drug delivery and gene therapy will be discussed.
About the Speaker
Dr. Lee is the Helen C. Kurtz Professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at The Ohio State University. He established the NSF I/UCR Center for Advanced Polymer and Composite Engineering (CAPCE) at Ohio State in 1997. He now serves as the Director of NSF Nanoscale Science and Engineering Center for Affordable Nanoengineering of Polymer Biomedical Devices (CANPBD), NSF IGERT Program on Molecular Engineering of Microdevices, and Ohio Center for Multifunctional Polymer Nanomaterials and Devices (CMPND) at Ohio State. He received a BS degree in chemical engineering from National Taiwan University in 1972, and a Ph.D. degree in chemical engineering from University of Minnesota in 1979. Before joining The Ohio State University in 1982, he worked as a research scientist at General Tire and Rubber Company for 4 years. His research interest includes BioMEMS/NEMS, polymer and composite processing, and micro-/nanofabrication. He has more than 200 refereed journal publications, 11 patents and 8 book chapters. Dr. Lee received 12 Best Paper Awards in Society of Plastics Engineers and Society of Plastics Industry Annual Conferences in the last 18 years. He was awarded the OSU Distinguished Scholar Award in 2000 and elected as the Fellow of Society of Plastics Engineers in 2001.
