An internationally recognized nanosystems and nanobiotechnology researcher will share his insights and experience with a West Virginia University audience at 3 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 7 at the Hostler auditorium of the Robert C. Byrd Health Sciences Center. It is part of the WVU NanoSAFE Fall Distinguished Speakers Program.

Dr. Andr� Nel, whose work on nano research and allergy and immunology at the University of California Los Angeles has attracted awards from a host of prestigious international medical organizations, will present a talk titled “Nanomaterial Toxicity Testing in the 21st Century: Use of High Throughput Approaches to Understand Oxide Nanoparticle Toxicity.”

His presentation will discuss the assessment of potentially hazardous nanomaterial properties that can be used to make predictions of adverse health effects outcomes. He will demonstrate how new approaches can predict the acute inflammatory effects of 24 oxide nanoparticles in the lung.

Dr. Nel currently serves as professor of medicine and chief of nanomedicine, UCLA School of Medicine.

His chief research interests are nanomedicine and nanobiology including nanomaterial therapeutic devices and the study of nanomaterial properties that lead to interactions in humans and the environment. He has also done extensive research into the role of air pollutants in asthma, with particular emphasis on the role of ultrafine particle-induced oxidative stress in the generation of airway inflammation and asthma. The research is funded by grants from the National Institutes of Health, the NIAID-funded Asthma and Immunology Disease Clinical Research Center, an EPA STAR award, a $24 million NSF award for a NSF Science Engineering Center.

Dr. Nel is director of the UC Center for the Environmental Impact of Nanotechnology (CEIN), director of the UCLA Asthma and Immunology Disease Center, co-director of the Southern California Particle Center, and co-director of the UCLA Nanomachine Center. The Nanomachine Center develops smart nanoparticle delivery systems that can target and control drug release at cancer and disease sites. The mission of the multi-campus UC CEIN is to develop an early warning system for nanomaterial hazards and safe design, particularly as it relates to interactions with biological systems and ecological life forms.

NanoSAFE stands for Nanotechnology Sensing Advances in Field and Environment. It is West Virginia’s initiative for nanoscale science, engineering and education and includes researchers at Marshall University and West Virginia State University.
NanoSAFE is fully aligned with Vision 2015, the state’s science and technology plan, in which research and innovation are key drivers of West Virginia’s new, diverse and competitive economy.

Its goal is to provide the infrastructure necessary to stimulate innovative research in the area of nano-enabled science, engineering and medicine while integrating education, workforce development and outreach programs. NanoSAFE provides research and education experiences for a diverse group of undergraduate and graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, high school teachers and institutions in the state and enhances the prosperity of the nation by preparing our citizens for an increasingly knowledge-based economy.

-WVU-

gg/10/30/12

CONTACT: Aniketa Shinde, education coordinator at NanoSAFE
304.293.7382, aniketa.shinde@mail.wvu.edu

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