Assistant professor James Kah, Department of Biomedical Engineering, National University of Singapore, Faculty of Engineering, Biomedical Engineering, Singapore

The Nano-Bio Interface to Probe and Modulate Biological Processes

Nanomaterials can be considered as “pseudo” sub-cellular entities similar to endogenous biomolecules due to their size and ability to interact with other biomolecules. The interaction between nanoparticles and biomolecules gives rise to the nano-bio interface between a nanoparticle its biological environment. This is often defined in terms of the biomolecules that are present on the surface of the nanoparticles. The nano-bio interface alters the surface characteristics and is what the biological system sees and interacts with. The nanoparticle can thus be viewed as a “scaffold” on which molecules are attached. Intelligent design of this nano-bio interface is therefore crucial to the functionality of nanoscale systems in biology. In this talk, I will show how we can make use of the nano-bio interface for useful applications to probe and control biology in at least four ways: (1) to enhance efficiency of protein translation in vitro; (2) tune cellular response using the aggregation of nanoparticles; (3) to enable loading and trigger release of drugs by exploiting the non-specific adsorption of protein corona formed around nanoparticles; and (4) to turn non-specific adsorption of proteins on nanoparticles into a cost-effective and instantaneous protein assay. I will also be sharing some of our current research that involves understanding and designing the nano-bio interface in molecular and cell biology.

Biography
Dr. James Kah received his B.Eng. with first class honours in Electrical Engineering and subsequently completed his Ph.D. (2009) both from National University of Singapore (NUS). Prior to joining the faculty at NUS in 2012, James was a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Biological Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and had previously taught in Temasek Polytechnic. He is currently a Principal Investigator in the Nanomedicine & Nanorobotics Laboratory at NUS. His current research interests focus on understanding the nano-bio interface and developing nanodevices with smart interface strategies to effectively probe and modulate biological processes for diagnostic and therapeutic applications. Throughout his course of research and teaching, he has received various awards and honours, including the NUS Overseas Postdoctoral Fellowship, the Teaching in Higher Education Award from Temasek Polytechnic, the Young Investigators’ Fellowship for 11^th World Congress of the International Photodynamic Association, as well as the NUS President’s Graduate Fellowship Award.

__________

Host: Postdoc Boon Teo, Interdisciplinary Nanoscience Center, Aarhus University